give or take a week or few
I do not like time. You don't have it, it goes by too fast, it goes by too slow. Maybe you even have too much of it?
It's almost midnight, August 10, as I write this. On August 11, if everything goes well, we'll be on our way to California. It'll be me, Asma, the five kiddies (three of which are now members of the Timothy Club), and essentials for the road and the first few days in the new apartment.
The apartment is surprisingly emptied. The past few days have been intensified purging of the apartment. We just mailed off eleven box (six through media mail). As for furniture, we sold some of it and my in-laws took the rest (along with a lot of our other junk). But all these stragglers lying around keep making me feel like there's still a lot more to do as far as packing.
We haven't really addressed the cleaning and painting issue, either, and we've got plans to hang out with the family and a couple of friends tomorrow. I really think we'll be leaving Tuesday, but Asma thinks we can take care of everything by tomorrow.
So it's finally here. We're only a couple of weeks off from the ‘end of July’ timeframe I mentioned back in April. I feel like the last few weeks have been focused more on getting prepared for the move than anything else. Outside of the apartment, for me, much of that also entailed winding things down at AARP, even though I'll still be working remote for the next three months (perhaps until the end of the year or beginning of next even). As much as I actually look forward to working remotely, I'm sadder than I thought I'd be at knowing I won't actually be seeing anyone for some time. And I haven't said proper good-byes to some people, nor will I be able to.
I'm so bad at posting that I didn't mention I was in the Bay in early July for a week. It still feels like foreign land. And I'm surprised at how much like home DC is now. And California is beautiful, but so is Maryland if you just drive out a few miles. It's more lush here, maybe that's the best way to describe it. The greens are richer. California has tinges of desert to it.
There's probably a ton of things we never took advantage of living here. But maybe we'll actually do more in DC when we visit.
The move will be good, though. Aside from being a friendlier place [in theory] for our lifestyle, the packing process has exposed all the useless junk we've accumulated over the past four years. It's disappointing when you start to tally the dollar value then and how much of a burden it is now to find a good way to get rid of it (short of throwing it away). With this fresh start, we're hoping to buy things we'd want to take with us on our next move.
Gotta get back to packing. I hope I don't exhaust myself too much before the trip. Our first stop will be at my parents' house.
Wish us luck! And hopefully nothing bad will happen during the drive, but I love you, my family and friends, and I apologize pre-mortem for not keeping in touch.
Flickr updates will be coming throughout the week, maybe?
S/he said…
Good luck duder. I’ll have to come visit Cali and crash at your pad.
Warm up the house shorts.