Ah, yes, here I am, online again finally after the move. Took almost a week, but I think we can blame that mostly on the incompetents at Qwest who failed to hook up our phone till yesterday.

After a difficult week at work (I was, because of scheduling nightmares, filling in for two people at the same time, hence working my ass off and still falling behind) during which Mason was working non-stop on reassembling the apartment, it has been nice this weekend relax-working, emptying a box then watching TV, hanging some blinds then reading a book, assembling computer parts then ... well, you get the idea.

One thing that really amazes me is that I feel more at home here, in this new place, than I have anywhere I've lived since leaving home to join the Coast Guard. I can lay in the middle of the living room floor, spread-eagled, wave my various extremities about and not hit anything. All the furniture is nice, but not too nice, very Danish Modern to suit Mason's tastes (since I had almost none to contribute to the household except a nice hutch that has been spray-painted green and was serving as a bar in our old place).

My artwork, including some photos from my old days on the Coast Guard Cutter Eagle, adorns the walls. One wall of our entryway is purple, another a lovely dark shade of red (I know it sounds weird, but really, the colors work very nicely. New bamboo blinds adorn the glass back wall of our apartment, which looks out on our modest backyard, which is beginning to resemble a jungle from all the plants we've subjected it to.

Moving day itself was, predictably, a bear. Whosever idea it was to move in July needs to be beheaded. Oh wait, it was both of us. The expected number of workers failed to materialize, partly because Mason couldn't convince any of his physical activity-allergic friends to join us and partly because a few of my friends bowed out at the last moment. Consequently, we were left with Mason and me, my pregnant sister, my brother-in-law and our next-door neighbor from the old place.

At some point, we discovered a quaint little grocery filled with overpriced imported food items, wines, funky sodas, fresh-baked breads from a local celebrity baker, etc. We fell in love with it instantly. It stands near a horribly pretentious wine bar with a fantastic selection of beers and wines and across from a similarly pretentious Italian restaurant I've never been to.

Photos will follow as soon as I can get the film developed, mostly because I'd like to show the contrast between the crampedness of our old place (liked the place very much, especially the patio, but it did get a bit close from time to time) and our new place.

I also find it endlessly fascinating and a bit sad watching my dwelling gradually lose its soul as things go away. But perhaps I imbue material objects with too much of my own self. It has been fascinating watching this place's soul, on the other hand, emerging, totally different despite the fact that the contents are almost entirely the same.

So that's it for now. Back to WCIII. Yay!