On Why I Hate Moving But Love My Friends

In which a thing that is normally terrible becomes much less so.

Moving blows.

Once everything is in the new place and it is all set up it's pretty sweet.  But I hate, hate moving.  Boxing up all the nonsense that I have accumlated and tell myself not to get rid of for one reason or another¹.  Carrying said boxes in 95 degree heat.  Trying not to damage, ding or destroy my furniture, or the walls, as I move my furniture out of or into a house.  However, the worst part is cleaning the house after you get everything out.  Mopping floors, scrubbing counters, washing behind the toilet, avoiding electric shock while cleaning a refridgerator², spackling over nail holes...it's all terrible.  Then, when you finish the insane cleaning marathon the landlord tries, and usually succeeds, at sticking you with a bogus charge.  If I wasn't morally opposed to arson I would just burn the place down and walk away.

This year, however, is a little different.  Back in April Carrie and Tim (the roommates) bought their first house.  It was kind of a hole, well that's not totally accurate, it was a total hole.  But it had potential and it backed up against the Rose's house with whom we are trying to live intentionally.  They took possession at the beginning of July and we went to work fixing it up.  You can read about the process here, here and even here.  Carrie is a terrible individual and hasn't finished writing about the renovation project, so if you are looking for closure look elsewhere.  Namely, the next sentence.

We finished, nearly³, all of the projects and were ready to move in the second week of August, which is good because the next weekend we had to be out of the old place.  A few weeks back our friends Seth, Julie and Mark (who live in Columbus, Ohio) invited come college friends to come visit them.  Carrie, Tim and I politely declined since we would be in the midst of fixing the house and/or moving.  So the three of them suggested, why don't we come to Bloomington and help you move.  Which is exactly what happened.  Seth, Julie, Mark, Nick, Ellie, and Kristen all came into town, stayed for the weekend and helped us move (along with some friends from in town who were just as great).  It was an amazing experience, seeing such a generous outpouring of love blew my mind.  On Saturday I had to work at the farmers market Saturday morning⁴, when I got back the old house was empty and almost entirely cleaned.  When everyone was gone by Sunday afternoon Tim and Carrie and I simply had to do some minor touchup stuff and clean out the basement, it was easy.

If every move went that well and was so surrounded by awesome people I probably wouldn't mind it as much.  But our jerk of a landlord is going to stick us with a bogus charge.  Somethings never change.
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¹ You never know when you may have to urge to bust out Cool Boaders 2.
² This totally happened to me two years ago.
³ A few small projects remain, trim and kitchen cabinets are the big ones.
⁴ I'll be there twice a month if you want to come and say hello, and avoid salmonella in your eggs. Also, I might be at the Broadripple market some weekends, I'll let you know.

On the Sad Realizations of Life

Wherein a life is boxed, changes are made, and a question is asked.

For the last two and a half years I lived with my good friend Tim Street. In fact, since graduating from high school I have lived with Tim more than anyone else, for five years actually. Thinking back Tim was an awesome roommate, lots of fun and lots of stories. Wall pie, the naked blanket, Anne Frank memorials, and the title of the blog you are now reading...all courtesy of living with Tim.

Sadly, those times have come to an end. Tim and I have parted ways and moved on to new places. But first was the pack and clean. When we moved into our place it was super dirty and gross, but we cleaned that place up right and it was looking good. Clean apartment? Check. Packed up all my stuff? Check. Moved it to my new place..............uh, about that. So didn't know where I was headed jobwise when we moved out so I dumped all of my stuff into a storage unit in Elletsville. I would just like to point out how sad it is when your entire life can fit into a 10x10 storage unit. Quite sad. However, it did lead me to a temporary living arrangement at Hotel Felton, with my friends Tim and Carrie. They graciously offered a room while I figured out what I was doing.

Living with the Felton's has been great. They are amazing people but the best thing about the situation is the community that I have become a part of. Tim and Carrie, along with Will, Colleen and Kevin Rose (of Rose Backyard Pizza fame), have been very intentional about surrounding themselves with community. We all get together on Monday evenings and have dinner, after we spend some time talking about how we can make a positive impact on our community and those around us. We also talk about things that have been going on in our lives, our hopes and concerns, then we spend some time praying for one another. It is pretty special.

Now, before you think that everything at the Felton's is some magical fairly land where everything is perfect and wonderful, trust me, it's not. First of all there is only one bathroom, so sometimes there is what I like to call the dance of the toothbrush. Some evenings you can witness us all wandering around brushing our teeth in various rooms in the house while we share the one sink, terrible. Also, Carrie keeps bring home random used furniture. First it was a recliner (which admittedly was pretty nice) then it was a giant picnic table that is all peeling and gross. My guess is that her next find will be a half filled garbage can that reeks of decades of use. But at least she will have gotten a good deal on it. But that is not even the worst part. The worst part is that I have to live with this guy. Yeah, I can't really believe it either.

My tease for this blog promised a question, so here it is. What's next? That's what I have been trying to determine lately. I'm still looking for full-time work and while I'd love to stay in Bloomington and stay surrounded by this community. However, I am coming to the realization that this may not be a possibility. So I'm keeping my eyes open for a job, no matter where it takes me. As soon as I know, you will know. Okay, maybe not that fast, but shortly after I update my family and friends I probably get around to let you know.

Blogging, this stuff just got real.