Rotate the foodstuffs!

My new roommate moves in on Saturday, or maybe Sunday (depending on exactly how the timing falls over on her end).  I have to clean out the front room (until recently the study) and make it suitable for someone to move all their stuff into (that is to say, clean and inviting).  I've *really* been putting this off, for a couple of reasons.  First, I HATE change.  So changing my bedroom back into a bedroom/office is not only distasteful, but kind of upsetting.  When you pile on the fact that cleaning out the study basically means doing the last of the major de-Kevining in the apartment, there's a whole 'nother level of emotional weird going on there.

But I've got it.  I went to Target today and bought a new desk.  It's a Mission-style computer desk, which basically means -- for someone with a laptop -- that it's convertible into a large writing table.  I love it, not only because it was on sale, but because it feels like a more grownup desk.  It's not the light blue desk that's been passed around from family member to family member (since, what, the 70s?), it's not the desk that I abused all through undergrad, it's not the desk that, once upon a time, was my changing table.*  It's a new start, which I need right now.

So now I finally feel good.  I have a new desk, my computer sound system is finally hooked back up, I've started moving my books.  It's a good thing.

*No need to worry that I'm throwing away precious heirlooms.  First off, it's going to Goodwill.  Second, it was a cheap purchase from Montgomery Ward back in the day -- it's a wonder it's survived as long as it has.

Hello out there!  This isn't going to be too terribly long, since I'm pretty tired.  The drive up was not really eventful; we stopped in White House, TN (just a few miles north of Nashville), then in Cincinnati, then finally came to Columbus on Labor Day.  Got all my stuff moved in (and boy, was there a lot of it... I grossly underestimated the amount of crap I have, to the surprise of no one), went to eat with the parents and Liz at Aladdin's, came back home.  Looked around despondently at all the boxes.  Sent the parents off back to Cincy and puttered.

Good things about the new place:
    -So light and airy!  Lots of windows, very spacious.
    -Nice, quiet street.  I can't hear High St. from here at all, and even in the midmorning I mostly hear crickets, not cars.
    -There are yellow cherry tomatoes growing in the back yard.  Also grapes on the vine.  Also some squash.  How cool is that?
    -Etc.

Bad things:
    -It's an old place, and I think the building owner got the wiring redone at some point, but only partially.  So there's generally only one three-prong outlet in any given room, which is a little maddening.
    -Baton Rouge recycling?  Far superior.  Here you actually have to pay extra for curbside recycling (admittedly only $5/mo, but still).  So I'll be doing the dropoff game, I think.
    -None of my MEMK girls :(
    -Slightly white trashy neighbors, who are having a loud argument outside at 1:45am, because he accidentally locked her out and she's "been knockin' on the door for thirty fuckin' minutes!"  (First such incident while I've been here, though.)

In the time since moving in, I have:
1.  Unpacked pretty much everything, except for the books.
2.  Done a shit-ton of walking, which is AWESOME.  Most of it hasn't even been purposeful, it's just been walking for walking's sake.  My legs are kinda sore, but that'll pass if I just keep on truckin'.
3.  Bought a mattress and box spring, which were delivered today by the Original Mattress Factory.  Full bed!  Yay!  I'm looking forward to sleep tonight.
4.  Met the boy and approved.  Muchly.
5.  Spent too much money at various nearby eateries that I love deeply (oh well).
6. Hung around with lit_girl and Liz quite a lot.

It's going to be a good year, I think.  Once I get cable TV hooked up, I'll be totally good to go (we're splitting internet with the upstairs neighbors, woot wireless).  Oh, and buy bookshelves.  Must go on a bookshelf safari.

Updated contact info will follow in a locked entry; non-lj folk should email me for updates.

Wow, I'm just really not normal, am I?  I was sitting here, and I thought "I'm still hungry, but not enough for a whole 'nother meal" (take that, Taco Bell's so-called Fourth Meal!).  So what did I do?  Did I... run to Taco Bell anyway?  Heat up some leftovers?  Go hungry?  Eat jellybeans?  Or did I go into the kitchen and make a little tiny portion of lentils?  If you guessed the lentils, you know my madness too well.  I dunno, I just LURVE LENTILS.  They're so filling, and they cost almost nothing, and they're absolutely delicious, so nutty and fantastic.  Throw in some minced onion, a little cumin, maybe some curry powder (or hell, just straight up turmeric and coriander)... you've got a party.  A delicious, nutritious, economical party.  I am such a dork :)

So, the weekend's events.  First off, since I know everybody's been wondering, the brisket was amazing :)  It was so tempting... a vegetarian even ate it!  In my defense on that count, I didn't even pressure him, I just turned around and he was eating it.  As he said when I questioned him, "It's a brisket made by a Texan, how can I not?"  I can't say I disagree.  The party was also fabulous!  The rain played nice, and though it was overcast the whole time it only sprinkled briefly, so we still boated, grilled, and swam, huzzah!  And then a large portion of Jägermeister seems to have disappeared over at Angélique's house, which was good times.  I think I may have taken... 6 shots?  I don't know.  I'd had quite a lot of beer at that point, plus swigs from a bottle of mezcal (the cinnamon-flavored magic that Michele brought me from Oaxaca).  Other highlights?  Black bean pupusas, crawfish pies right off the grill, fresh cracklins (read: still warm from the fryer), seeing quite a large number of my friends, staying up talking to Gél until quite late.  Lowlights are composed entirely of injuries: I cut my fingers a couple of times on twist-offs (did they start putting those on tighter or something?!), and I burnt my arm on the oven coil as I was warming the brisket: there's a really cool dark-colored blister full of liquid on my arm!

Failures, however, happened today.  Mainly these failures are sartorial.  See, I went through my clothes and got rid of things I no longer wear.  The thing is... I now have no cold-weather clothes.  I can list the cold-weather garments I have: a few pairs of jeans, a hoodie, a flannel, a weird cowboyish double-breasted corduroy shirt, and a couple of fleece jackets.  That's it.  See, two things have happened in the past few years.  First, right toward the end of undergrad, my arms grew a little bit.  This means that quite a lot of dress shirts just don't fit right, but unlike down here, I can't pull off the "look at me, I'm so casual with my rolled-up sleeves" look throughout most of the year.  Second, my style changed (for the better).  I've become much more comfortable and happy with my body in the last couple of years, and thus I've gotten away from wearing baggy clothes.  So I've got a lot of clothes, and not really bad ones, but they all need to be, like, a size smaller.  And I'm done growing.  So away they go.  I was really quite frustrated by this earlier, now I just find it ridiculous.  I'm going to be spending a lot of time in thrift stores.

Still, the day was not a complete loss.  Tasty pasta happened for supper (leftover brisket and carne asada pasta with dry gnocchi), the girls gave me a very sweet going-away gift (giant picture collage), and I finally bought a hands-free kit for my phone, thus enabling me to drive and talk at the same time without feeling like I have one less hand than I need for phone, wheel, and stick.  Plus I watched an inordinate amount of Sports Night, did laundry, and boxed up books (I have 14 boxes of books, total -- that's ridiculous).  And of course my tasty lentils :)