The Shuffle is Complete

So I didn't write anything on Friday, which was probably a little lazy of me. But there's a reason for that; The Epic House Shuffle. My good friends and landlords are expecting their first child later this year, and as such need the two-bedroom space on the main floor of the house I live in. In a move that may prove unwise, I agreed to take on a greater rent burden, and have moved from the basement to the converted attic of the house. Our other friend who was living on the main floor elected to move down to the basement. So we were left with a complete rotation of who's living in what space.

This hastily made diagram describes the attempt to create a flow of movement.

As I illustrate above, we concocted a scheme where we would be moving through the spaces in one direction. We largely achieved it too, but really only due to the friendliness all our lovely helpers maintained. The fact that the weather was nice was a big help too.

My stuff was relatively easy to take care of. Since I spent 2010-11 in Korea, a lot of my little things are still boxed up, and I haven't gotten very many big things since returning. I took the day on Friday to get most of my stuff out to the garage, and I feel that proved to be a pretty important step in getting the move done quickly for everyone. I'll admit to a sullen impulse through the early part of the day. It was born of being disproportionately prepared, and my general dislike of group projects, and was at best, an ignoble feeling, and I knew that. I like being independent and tending to my things myself, so when group action is needed, I sometimes find it frustrating. But regardless of my perceptions early on in the day, things did come together quite well.

My new bedroom window. I thought this was an interesting angle.

I really can't say enough about the great friends who showed up to help us out. The perfect combination of effort and levity which makes a load of crappy hard work so much easier to bear! And thanks to their effort and our attempt to be organized, we managed to get everyone into their new spaces in about 5 hours of work. Things were kinda slow to get started, but there was this point, and I don't know what caused it, but suddenly everything was moving all at once. I felt as if the first three hours were painful, and the last two blew past. Isn't time a funny thing?

My new space is basically two large rooms with a bit of hallway (and the bathroom, of course). I got my bedroom space set up first, as that's where my largest pieces of furniture go, and was able to host a few of the boys kicking around still at about 4:20 that afternoon. I'm really happy with the bedroom because it's long enough and organized in such a way that it works as two rooms in one. I'm able to have a good living room-type space, and a distinct bedroom space, which feels really nice. It also means I'll have to make an effort to remember to make my bed. At any rate, it's a comfortable space and I'm happy with it.

This would be the living room/bedroom

I had a date yesterday afternoon, so I had to get the kitchen set up on Sunday morning. With that, the apartment was set up for the most part. The kitchen is also a hybrid space, as I'm using part of it as my office space. I have temporary arrangements set up, and am working from them now. But I am fortunate to have a lovely roll-top desk at my mom's place which I am looking forward to getting set up here. I'm sure it'll help me to feel like a real writer, but whether I deserve that feeling or even if there's merit to having that feeling remains to be seen.

Real high-powered business stuff here. . .

It's working so far. I got my employment insurance claim filed this morning from here, although I'm still confused on how exactly to input my banking information with them, and am concerned about that. Doubly so that I can't even be put on hold to talk to someone at EI to check. I'm sure it'll work out. I also got my application for repayment assistance on my forever-taking student loans (I've never been great with money, and am more interested in getting out of the credit system than working within it.) done this morning. I also got the grocery shopping done, watched Game of Thrones, and set up an interview at the Beer Store down the street from me tomorrow. Guess I've got to call that productive!