Blogging practice

I am committed to making an honest attempt at posting on a more regular basis, especially with my going to Germany. I think it will probably be easier because I do believe people are more interested in what I'll be doing in Germany than what I've been doing the past year...but I also realize that I just haven't sat down and posted often enough. It isn't necessarily that I have nothing to write about, but rather that I haven't made the effort. So here goes.

I took a sick day Friday because I was feeling a bit yick, and I definitely needed it. Saturday I spent the day with Julie, my now former roommate (she moved out yesterday; we'll get there). We went and just walked around in mid-town, very relaxed-like, on our way to J&R to get a case for my new external hard drive (please see previous post). It was a lot of fun--we went into Crate & Barrel, which was fabulous. We fantasized about getting the beautiful furniture and kitchen gear there...so fantastic and posh. I was impressed that they had a (very nice) restroom. So...FYI, if you're in Manhattan, go to the Upper East Side to use restrooms. The rest of the island they are really stingy about their bathrooms. We rounded out the day with some Magnolia Bakery cupcakes (I will miss those...!). Good day

Then yesterday (Sunday), I somehow managed to get suckered into driving the Uhaul van for Julie. Now, I really do sort of miss driving, as much as I truly hate to admit that. Not the getting stuck in traffic part so much, and I wish I had a manual, BUT, I miss being on the open road and just listening to music in my own little world; singing at the top of my lungs or doing silly little ridiculous dances or what have you. Julie was super-freaked out at the prospect of driving through Manhattan, so I figured what the heck. I did it before when I moved my stuff and bought my wardrobe and dresser.

So I accompanied Julie to the Bronx location of the Uhaul place and we headed to our apartment. She drove there, no big deal; it was pretty close to the apartment and easy to get to. Of course it began raining though once we'd picked up the van, so we were loading stuff into the van in the rain. Julie also decided to pack "environmentally"--she just stuffed things into bags. I'm not saying that's the worst idea....but it made it sort of difficult to move everything. Luckily, there were 3 of us (me, Julie and Scott, my still-current roommate). So whatever. The only big thing we had to move was the mattress with boxspring, so it wasn't really a big deal. And we were off to Brooklyn. First off, it began pouring, way harder than before. The kind of pouring that you have to slow down on the highway for. So I was driving on the West Side highway in that...gross and scary. There were lakes of puddles all the way down, which was a bit frightening. But we survived. Once we got to the Southern tip of the island, we were told that we couldn't enter the Battery Tunnel the easy obvious way because we were not a car. After several turn-arounds, we did find the entrance and made it into the totally empty tunnel. We couldn't believe that no one was there...but whatever. So we sped through that, I think we then went past on of the exits...but we did eventually make it to the house.

Julie's new place is cute--in a real neighborhood in Flatbush, the room is nice. We moved everything in, this time with the help of her new roommates, she and Scott smoked one last cigarette, and we headed back to the Bronx to drop off the van. It had stopped raining at that point, so that was nice; there was traffic the other way that we didn't have to sit through, which was also nice. And it took a while (an hour?) but we made it. And then Julie bought me some delicious ice cream. A long but good day. I hope Julie will be happy in her new place. There's actually sort of a yard and they have several porches, so in that sense it's really awesome. Her roommates are very chill and laid-back; hopefully that will promote those traits in her instead of bringing out the crazy (trying to create missing structure).

There's no real news on the Germany front--should be speaking with the family again sometime this week. I'm still extremely excited, but I'm also really trying to enjoy the last month or so that I have here, and I'm exceedingly happy at the moment, both with where I am and with where I'm going. I think I am happiest when I am in a place I am used to and relatively happy with, but going towards something new and exciting. Enjoying things that have no end are not something I am particularly good at, not that I've been able to experience that much.

Until next time--nos vemos!