Pur
For some reason nothing seems quite so right in a new home as Cocteau Twins on the stereo, spinach potato gnocchi on the stove, and a bottle of red wine on the table.
Today I accomplished a significant amount of unpacking, probably 30% of the results of which went straight into a giveaway box. It's amazing how much crap I've collected. I refuse to even consider how much of my moving costs went towards things I didn't want to keep in the first place.
At the very least, my building has a great recycling room, which, in addition to bins for paper, cardboard, plastic, glass, and plain trash, also has a wonderful unofficial corner for furniture, appliances, and other items deemed no longer needed by their owners and in search of a new home. So far anything I've left down there is gone within a matter of hours. So this time around I've put together a whole box containing things like: a George Foreman grill — I hate that thing because it's messy and hard to clean, a handy backpack-style laundry basket — great if you have to hike to your washer/dryer (I bought it when I was living in my Walnut Hill apartment and the closest laundry room was on the other side of the creek), a fan left here by the previous owners (actually they left three, but one was non-operational and the other I'm keeping for now — I gather it gets hot in this unit in the summer), a laptop bag from my old company (they should consider it free advertising), a decent-but-only set of computer speakers which I won in a contest from emusic.com several years back, a set of wine tools received as a gift which I'm now regifting, and the accessories to the vacuum which I didn't bring with me (I also wound up with the hardware to the bed which I left behind — funny how that works). If you're interested, speak now.
Late this afternoon, after having reassembled a great deal of my kitchen, cleared off my couch enough for lounging on, and unpacking at least some of my clothes, I decided my job today was done, so I put the aforementioned gnocchi on the stove, opened a bottle of wine, and [actually before all that, but it sounds best third in the list] ran downstairs to the video shop on the street level of my building and rented a movie to watch with my cozy winter night meal.
I'm so ecstatic to be in the apartment I'm in (still no regrets at all about my choice) and the city I wound up in, especially having moved here on as much blind faith as I did. Now I'm starting to try to figure out what I need to do to stay here, instead of getting booted out when my visa expires.
I have the qualifications to be eligible for permanent resident status after a year of residnecy here, but I've heard that it's still very expensive and time-consuming to go through the legal process involved. Perhaps a Vancouver wife is the easier route? I don't know. (I'm joking, but only mostly).
Today I accomplished a significant amount of unpacking, probably 30% of the results of which went straight into a giveaway box. It's amazing how much crap I've collected. I refuse to even consider how much of my moving costs went towards things I didn't want to keep in the first place.
At the very least, my building has a great recycling room, which, in addition to bins for paper, cardboard, plastic, glass, and plain trash, also has a wonderful unofficial corner for furniture, appliances, and other items deemed no longer needed by their owners and in search of a new home. So far anything I've left down there is gone within a matter of hours. So this time around I've put together a whole box containing things like: a George Foreman grill — I hate that thing because it's messy and hard to clean, a handy backpack-style laundry basket — great if you have to hike to your washer/dryer (I bought it when I was living in my Walnut Hill apartment and the closest laundry room was on the other side of the creek), a fan left here by the previous owners (actually they left three, but one was non-operational and the other I'm keeping for now — I gather it gets hot in this unit in the summer), a laptop bag from my old company (they should consider it free advertising), a decent-but-only set of computer speakers which I won in a contest from emusic.com several years back, a set of wine tools received as a gift which I'm now regifting, and the accessories to the vacuum which I didn't bring with me (I also wound up with the hardware to the bed which I left behind — funny how that works). If you're interested, speak now.
Late this afternoon, after having reassembled a great deal of my kitchen, cleared off my couch enough for lounging on, and unpacking at least some of my clothes, I decided my job today was done, so I put the aforementioned gnocchi on the stove, opened a bottle of wine, and [actually before all that, but it sounds best third in the list] ran downstairs to the video shop on the street level of my building and rented a movie to watch with my cozy winter night meal.
I'm so ecstatic to be in the apartment I'm in (still no regrets at all about my choice) and the city I wound up in, especially having moved here on as much blind faith as I did. Now I'm starting to try to figure out what I need to do to stay here, instead of getting booted out when my visa expires.
I have the qualifications to be eligible for permanent resident status after a year of residnecy here, but I've heard that it's still very expensive and time-consuming to go through the legal process involved. Perhaps a Vancouver wife is the easier route? I don't know. (I'm joking, but only mostly).