It’s hip to blog square…

I sit here poised on the eve of Mega-Call, my final 36-hour dance with the call gods. Today was a day off for me, my 4th in as many weeks. I have 6 days of work remaining before freedom, sweet freedom embraces me and sets me loose. I wish for freedom so much these days, I feel like President Bush.

Unfortunately today, like most of my days off this month, was spent moving. Sweet Gwendolyn helped me today – we went to the old place and finished up a lot of cleaning. What remains now in my old place is the following: my kitchen table which is disassembled and ready to be hauled to Petes, 6 accompanying chairs, my bike, a basketball, my broom, my vacuum, some supplies to wash my car with, some papertowels, a bottle of 409 for the final wipe-down, and my old computer.

Speaking of the old computer, I fired it up today – it was sluggish, downright slow even. But once it warmed up, it really started to hum and I searched the old hard drive for usable stuff. There was some old written stuff, some MLOM stuff, and a ton of MP3’s and little video shorts (like Kids in the Hall and SNL sketched). After a quick conversation with Eryn, I decided to keep it and use it as an MP3 server. The monitor will have to go. I trashed the old printer today, as well as old, near-useless scanner. We hauled off a bunch more stuff to good will – good old action desk is mine no longer.

I will have something to say, I’m sure, regarding the nature of moving when all is said and done. It hit me today, as the final steps were occurring at the old pad, that I was leaving it. I spent the last 2 years of my life there. Tumultuous years, at the least, grossly unstable years with more thought. It’s always a little emotional to finally leave a place you’ve called home. The room I slept in – my kitchen, my family room. My old comfort zones. All will be gone soon, out of my reach. This used to be my playground…

I have a foolish little ritual whenever I say the final good bye to a place. I walk into each room, stand there for 10 seconds or so, and think about some of the things that have happened there. It’s a tad ridiculous, I realize, but in some weird way it’s like a movie scene where a character has a split-second flashback. I walk to the door frame. I pause, I think, and several key events play themselves out in my head in a manner of seconds while I stand there staring. Then I say goodbye, and the room is dismissed. I don’t know why I do it – I suppose it’s because I’m emotional at good byes. I’ve done it ever since junior high. I remember my old bedroom in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Ever since, I’ve done it to every room in every place I’ve ever been to. Odd, I know. I still recall the old Lakewood pad from senior year of college. A defining year – saying goodbye to that place was tough.

It’s interesting to think how my life changed at 5016 Fairwood Blvd. Apt 268. I can sure as hell say I’m a different man now than when I walked into the place. Wow. I’m certainly not gifted enough a writer to try and describe the change. But I can say that I have definitely adopted a newer, onward and upward type theme. I’ve said good-bye to a lot of my old crap the last few weeks. Stuff I’d hung onto over the years more out of nostalgia than anything else. With this move,I ’ve turned from a nostalgic softie into a Darwinian utilitarian – only the strong and useful items amongst my stuff hath survived.

I’m looking forward to the day when my old place is completely behind me. There is a view of Mount Rainier that I will miss. In the summer, I could stare at it for hours on a clear day. I think I have a picture of it somewhere on one of my digital camera flash cards. But I’ve traded that view now, for a different kind of view. I’ve gone from peaceful mountain to dynamic skyline, from silent contemplation to urban madness. One year in the city, coming up. Nothing beats the anticipation of that. There will be other mountain views in my life, I suspect. But this may very well be my only year to live IN the city. The anticipation of that fact, I must say, has me definitively giddy.

More to follow.