October 15, 2007

• Where you been, girl?

  Greetings from my new home in Manhattan!

  While its been ages since I last wrote, my blog absence is not for lack of things to write about. Since my last entry was compiled at a kitchen table an ocean away, I’ve lived through the following:

  * Shaun and I said goodbye to friends, life, and work in Scotland. Behold some Goodbye Party Pics:
  
  Chipmunk friends: Dan, Bryony, and Steve.
  
  Shaun and Dan act creepy with a fake moustache.
  
  Me, Saulka, Suzie, and Bryony act like shellfish.
  
  Dan, Steve, Shaun, and Alan as wales. The animal, not the country.

  * Next, in what was the two most stressful days of my life, Shaun and I stayed in a roach motel in Queens while we worked with an illiterate broker who had only an intermediate-level grasp of English to secure a two bedroom lease in Washington Heights, an Uptown neighborhood in Manhattan.

  * Ten hours after signing the lease, we boarded a plane to Flint, Michigan, where we were picked up by Shaun’s family and whisked away to his childhood home, where we took lodging while visiting friends and family for ten days.
  
  While we were visiting, I arranged for some family portraits to be taken. Cute!

  * In addition to non-stop visiting, we also freed our belongings from storage (we were renting a furnished apartment in Scotland – our stuff was packed away in Michigan), arranged for a moving company to drive it 13 hours to NYC for us, reclaimed our cat Giles, and attended my mom’s pirate wedding on Mackinac Island. Here is a picture of some vow-takin’ pirates:
  

  * Monday, October 8 at 6.30 am, the day after the pirate wedding activities wrapped up, Shaun and I boarded a plane headed to NYC with our cat Giles in tow. Note to self: Cats and airplanes should never, EVER mix. Not unless you want to receive the dirtiest looks of your life on account of the howling bag of cat that you’re holding; caterwauling is NOT the noise that people want to hear before sunrise.

  * We slept on the dirty floor of our apartment on Monday, as our stuff wasn’t scheduled to arrive until Tuesday. Here are some pictures of our empty, empty place:
  
  The bedroom, sans bed.
  
  Guest room/home office
  
  Living room, with cat!
  
  Kitchen
  
  Bathroom

  * We moved in on Tuesday, as best we could. We are still living out of a lot of boxes; we have to make time to visit Salvation Army for shelves and cabinets and stuff to actually unpack the items into. As so much of our furniture came from various Chicago alley’s, we didn’t feel the need to bring it with us: it just wasn’t worth its weight in shipping.

  * I started my new job on Wednesday. I like my boss a great deal. And I get to rewrite/edit scripts, which keeps my mind awake and alive. I’ve been working a lot of late nights, trying to keep on deadline AND learn the job that I’m doing simotaniously. I think this will get better soon. Fingers crossed.

  * On Saturday, Shaun and I started the new improv class we signed up for at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. My hope is that we make new friends while stretching the creative muscles that will help us generate cool ideas faster and be able to present them with greater confidence. These are skills handy for any writer, I think. And so far, the class is great.

  * Sunday, I was knocked on my ass by a killer head cold. Seriously: my neck was unable to hold my snot-filled cranium upright. I laid in bed, slept, whined, and watched Weeds on DVD.

  Today I feel a LOT better. Plus, I get to take the morning off(ish), as I worked so many late nights last week. And what better thing to do than check in on the blog?!

  I wish I could have been writing during the insanity of the past few weeks. There were some juicy bits, for sure. But over the next few weeks, I’m going to be writing about my first handful of true New York Moments. I’ve been making a list so that I don’t forget any.

  But for now, I just wanted to throw a quick blog up to let you all know that I’m here. I’m alive. And I’m happy.
  

  • 10:20 am
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