Camping in the new place, a meme, and 80’s Sunday all mooshed in a really big ball

Wow, where to begin? We’re in Philadelphia and have been since Sunday. Our stuff still is not here. As of yesterday it was scheduled to arrive tonight. Then this morning it was pushed back to tomorrow. I was not surprised, but actually thankful that they were willing to bring it to us on a Sunday and not wait until Tuesday with Memorial Day and all. That’s what I’d expected when they started saying it wouldn’t be until the evening. I guess I’ll believe it will be here when I see it though.

Hubby, Sam, our two cats and I have been living on the floor of our very spacious apartment for a full week now. I’m sure it will look lovely with furniture. We still have no internet service. That won’t work until Tuesday. I am writing this on the laptop and then tonight we are going to go back to this sandwich place where we had lunch because we realized while sitting there that they had free wireless. I have to say, not having the internet may be just as bad as not having our furniture. This is for two reasons primarily. One is that it is extremely difficult to find one’s way around a new city without the web. I didn’t realize how dependent on it we were. And two: I have really, really missed blogging. Not only writing and posting, but reading everyone’s and commenting as well…and checking comments of course. Again, a dependency I had not quite realized had taken such hold so soon.

There was something nice about knowing I might sit down and write each night. I paid more attention to things maybe, knowing I’d be taking that time to reflect later. I was better able to organize my thoughts and the goings on of the day, especially anything in relation to Sam. I lost that for the past two weeks and have missed it terribly. Everything has been scattered. And yes, I know that is mainly due to the ridiculous situations in which I have found myself, like arriving to the apartment after driving with a screaming Sam for three hours, only to find out that the key they gave us to the bottom lock doesn’t actually work. Sometimes it has all just felt like too much, and I can’t help but think that had I been unloading and uploading some of it throughout this process I maybe could have handled it better. And certainly having a cheering section would have felt good too. I felt better after writing the post that shared some of the details of the moving day and reading your comments made me feel even better after that, so thank you all for that.

And then I was cut off. I’d written my 80’s Sunday ahead of time and just posted it up the morning we left, fully believing I’d be back by about Tuesday to write more and read more. But no, that’s not how it happened. And now my thoughts are so disorganized I can’t even narrow down anything to say. When I realized we’d be able to go back to the sandwich place and get online (as long as we were willing to have the same sandwiches for dinner that we’d had for lunch) I was totally overwhelmed. What to post with such a short amount of time? Do I do one of the tags that I still need to do from a few days before I left? Do I write about the new place? Complain more about all the crap that has happened in the past week? Post an early 80’s Sunday challenge for fear that I won’t get to put one up on Sunday since the movers are supposedly coming tomorrow? Write about what it feels like to be in a new place? I still have no idea what this post is about and it’s already ridiculously long. What do I need to say? Because we write these for ourselves, right? Boy, that’s a post all its own…I guess I’ll try and do a little of everything.

I’ve learned some things in the past 2 weeks. I want to get them all out. That’s more important to me right now than paragraphs with transition sentences.

1) I have “control issues.” I do not handle it well when I feel that things are beyond my control. I’ve always known this, but finding out that all of your belongings are not even on their way to where you are and no one is doing anything about it and you can’t do anything either has a special way of really bringing out these…issues. Recall two posts ago when I wanted to scream or sleep. Yeah, that’s been a continuing theme.

2) My son is the sweatiest baby ever. He sweats when he eats, when he sleeps, when he plays, when he smiles. This kid sweats. We’re talking wet through the clothes, visible dampness on the bed. And I have to tell you, it’s not that hot.

3) Having a washer/dryer in my apartment is just as great as I’d imagined.

4) Having trees outside one’s windows is exponentially better for one’s psyche than looking at a gas station and highway.

5) Moving from a very flat place, like Chicago, to a very hilly place, like Philadelphia, is very hard on one’s calves. I think I need new shoes with better arch support.

6) While in many ways it is good to recognize that many people do not do what they say they are going to do and that often things go wrong, expecting that to always be the case is not a nice way to live; it feels bad. I want to be more optimistic, especially for Sam and for Hubby, who always manages to look on the bright side and generally trusts people.

And now I think I’ll go ahead and post a meme that Rachelle tagged me with like 2 weeks ago, maybe even more, I can’t even remember. I have one more meme for her and one from Cmommy coming up. I promise I won’t drop the ball, it’s just taking a long time for fairly obvious reasons.

Four jobs I've had:
Arts Education Program Manager, Actor – Got paid $10 per show so technically it was a job, right?, Café Barista (latter 2 were simultaneous – you do the math), Teacher


Four movies I watch over and over:
Clue, Sense and Sensibility, Amelie, Dead Poets Society

Four places I have lived:
Texas, Maryland, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Chicago, Philadelphia

Four TV shows I love to watch:
The Office (did you see that finale!?), 24 (missed this finale due to TV being in storage in Illinois), American Idol (again, no TV but I know who won.), Survivor (saw this finale but wish I hadn’t. So lame.)

Four places I have been on vacation:
Alaska, Bermuda, Grand Cayman, London


Four Places I'd Love to Go to On Vacation:
Thailand, Greece, Italy, Great Barrier Reef

Four websites I visit often:
My blog, your blog, others’ blogs, weather channel

Four favorite foods:
Sushi, chocolate chip cookies, doughnuts, my mom’s chicken and dumplings

Four Places I would like to be right now:
About 2 feet higher, then I wouldn’t be on the floor but on my couch, which is hopefully at least in the right state by now; in my bed, see above and know that Hubby and I have been on an air mattress for 6 nights now; my tree house from childhood; back in Chicago.

I’m not sure who to tag because I’ve been so out of the loop that I don’t know who has not done this one yet. And I know Hubby is not going to sit in the sandwich place while I go through everyone’s blogs – that would be dangerous anyway since I’d probably want to sit and read everyone’s posts for the past week. So for now, if you have not done this meme yet and would like to, consider yourself it!

And last but not least, for those of you still reading this horrifically long post: 80’s Sunday, That’s My Fun Day. Yes, I realize it is Saturday but if I don’t post this today then I’ll miss it altogether since I am sure that tomorrow I will not be returning for more sandwiches in the midst of the movers finally bringing me my bed. And I’d rather get to have the 80’s challenge early than to not have it at all. Next week I will be back on track and on schedule…at least I hope so…nothing else could possibly go wrong, right? Right? So obviously I can’t see your comments here, but I will read them when I get to the internet sandwich place to see if anyone guessed that last week’s song was “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” by Kim Wilde. Oh, the dance routines I had to that one…I think one involved me hanging on to an imaginary rope…ahem anyway, if you were the first to guess it then congrats to you!

Below are the lyrics to a popular 80’s song. Be the first to guess the song and artist and name them in your comment. First to do so correctly is deemed 80’s Goddess Divine for the week (or God Divine, I suppose. Pretty sure the only males that have ever seen this site are Hubby and my Dad). Here goes:

You know I call you

I call you on the telephone

I’m only hoping that you’re home

So I can hear you

When you say those words to me
And whisper so softly

Signing off until who knows when. Can’t wait to read everyone again!