I think quitting my job really made this whole cross-country move seem more real than it did when I had a job that was not going to end in a few weeks. I have a lot to do. But because I’m me, and because I am slightly, oh, let’s say, neurotic, then I have created bigger problems for myself than just selling my furniture or finding insurance after mine runs out in a few weeks. Cause, you know, those problems aren’t big enough. Here are the problems I’m creating on my own:
Post office conspiracy—So in my time in Seattle, I accumulated approximately 719023798908 books, thanks to those frigging library sales where I bought like there was no tomorrow. Now, because the library sales were so cheap, and because the media mail rate is also cheap, I don’t have a problem with the idea of spending some money to ship all these books back to the east coast. My problem comes in that I have somehow developed the idea that every postal worker is against me.
First, I’m convinced that the postal people who man the desk are going to come to resent me when I start bringing in 20+ boxes, and they will take it out on me by losing my boxes. I have a real fear that the post office will figure out I’m using them to move cheaply. So I am trying to be strategic in which post office I go to, and how often I allow myself to go there, and how many boxes I can take each time. The problem is, most post offices have the same hours as the hours I work. I can’t really get boxes to work because they’re so big, and there’s only so many post offices I can get to after work but before they close. So I’m really hindered by my post office choices, yet terrified to use the same post office over and over. So you know what I’m doing Saturday? Driving around to every post office in the city and dropping off two boxes at each of them.
Part two of the post office conspiracy is that the people delivering the boxes will manhandle the boxes and they’ll break, with 20-30 books going everywhere and my heart breaking into a million little pieces. I am trying to counteract this thought with lots and lots of tape, and after I pack the box, I have been throwing it around my apartment a little bit, just to see how it holds up. I just don’t have time to do this.
Library holds—I think I have mentioned before that the Seattle Public Library subsidizes my entertainment habits, to the point where renting a movie or buying a CD kind of seems like a ridiculous expense, because they’re all free at the library. You get to see/hear the newest stuff by placing holds, and I know my days of placing holds are coming to an end, but I desperately want the holds I have now to come in before I move. So I obsessively check them about every ten minutes to see if I am any closer to the top of the line. Has anyone returned their copy of the new Spoon CD yet? What oh what will I do if I don’t get to see Season 2 of Weeds? (it’s worth noting that I do not have time to watch Season 2 of Weeds, or any DVD I have a hold on, at this point in my life, but I want to watch it, for free from the library, all the same)
Cable—I thought I was doing a good thing by canceling the cable/internet when I did. It ends about 5 days before I move. You know what else happens 5 days before I move? All the new TV shows start. How will I watch television?!? (see above, where I note that I do not have time to watch television. I worry about this all the same)
Blogging—Why oh why did I get on this streak of blogging every day? Now I’m too scared to break the streak! So at the end of a day of packing boxes, I still have to think of a blog! Why have I done this to myself?
Food—I would like to note that my food situation is not a problem. It was for awhile, and it does require planning---no one wants to have a whole lot of food left over that will just be thrown away. I have decided to just eat toaster waffles for the rest of my meals here. It’s easy to count how many you have left at any given time and buy accordingly. Plus, they’re cheap—you’ll never find a store that doesn’t have toaster waffles on sale. Best of all, they’re delicious.
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3 comments:
Yeesh, sounds stressful. Yet for all your worries, I'm happy this blog ended on an optimistic note. Sometimes it's the little things in life, like toaster waffles being delicious, that let us know everything will be OK.
Make sure when you pack your boxes you put your address inside the box as well as on the outside. One of my boxes got lost in my transition. It actually wasn't lost but it was STOLEN. They sent me a note that said that one of my labels fell off of the box and they now need me to figure out what was in the box and claim it. The sent me the label as well AND the label was CUT off of my package. I taped that label on the box so well that I know for a fact that it was cut off. Damn post office!
That is some good advice. But I'm going to pretend that this story ended very happily, with all the boxes arriving intact and without delay, because my mental state is too fragile to think about this happening to me.
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