Keeper of the Keys

I really love this house, despite all its quirks. Actually the imperfections make me like it more. It's more than 100 years old, but it's been updated and expanded over the years, so there's a ton of things I haven't seen since going to my grandmother's as a kid. Some of the doors still have big keyholes, the air vents are antiquated, and half the power outlets are two-pronged.

We bought a set of four locks and four deadbolts that all use the same key, and changed all the locks in the house. The thing is, each lock and each deadbolt included three keys. So we now have 24 identical keys to this house. Seems a little excessive, but at least I can give some to close friends and family members.

We're Really, Really Here

Well... *huff huff* We're finally... *huff huff* ...completely out of Nashville. We've technically owned our new home since the beginning of the month, but we had a deal that allowed us to stay in the old house until the 18th. And boy did we need it. Between snow delays, unexpected expenses, and backbreaking work, it's been a hell of a month.

The movers came last week. They worked all day long, but had to stop when the semi was full. They managed to get all of our furniture, but only about two-thirds of our stuff. I swear we're not hoarders. We're collectors. It's not like we had stacks of old newspapers or used diapers in the corner.

For my part, I have a lot of hobbies - D&D, video games, writing, toys, and so on. I love my stuff and I'm glad I finally have a house big enough to display everything. As for my wife, she is creative and loves crafting, and she jumps from project to project such as painting, wood burning, crochet, jewelry making, and so on. She's also an avid reader and owns hundreds of books. Plus we have a large DVD collection.

These hobbies require a lot of space, and I'm surprised we fit all that stuff in our old, 1,024 square foot house. Nothing could have prepared me for how much time and space it took to move at all. There's an old saying about how the things you own end up owning you. I never believed that until now. Still, I like my stuff and want to keep as much of it as possible.

So, after spending an ungodly amount of money on the movers, we still had plenty to move. We spent several days driving up and down, almost three hours each way, loading up our Rogue with boxes. A friend in Nashville offered to let us store some stuff in his garage, so we rented a U-Haul van and put some of our things there.

But the final day was coming, and there was plenty left that had to go. We had to pick out what was important to us, and hired a junk guy to haul off the rest. That was yesterday.

We spent all day working yesterday, packing the Rogue, dropping more stuff off at my friend's garage, filling up both cars for the final load, and cleaning the house. We finished around 10 PM, and finally got home around 2 AM.

Today I'm going to take it easy. Every muscle is screaming at me, and I can't find the energy to do much. The last few weeks have been nothing but packing and moving boxes around, and now I can barely see straight. My wife, who suffers from chronic pain, will probably be in and out of consciousness all day.

The good news is, I found a few cool things I hadn't seen in years. We lived at our old house for 18 years, and some of the stuff in the attic had been there the entire time. I found an original X-Box as well as a PS1 (the cute little slim model they released later) with several games:

I haven't found a controller yet for the PS1, but it's still a nice find. I also found a ton of cool action figures I hadn't seen in a long time.

But we didn't have time to go through all the boxes, so the junk guys probably took away a few things we would have liked to have. We just ran out of time and energy. Oh well, if we didn't miss it in 18 years, it can't have been that important.

I'm going to go to sleep until Tuesday.

Dream: Space 'n' Vader

Last night I dreamed that I got a new job, working as a valet on the Death Star. I'm not exactly sure how one drives to the Death Star, but hey, I just park the cars, I don't ask questions. A couple of Autobots (specifically Springer and Kup from the 80's movie) worked in the parking garage, repairing cars. Sometimes they would convert people's ordinary cars into Transformers while they were parked.

While I was working, an ambassador came to visit. She was an evil witch queen, and she actually went by the name "Evil Witch Queen." She wore a red dress and her face was painted white, like an evil version of Queen Amidala. She floated through the halls with little crackles of electricity sparking around her, and she gave orders to the Stormtroopers like she was their boss. But the Stormtroopers just stood around looking confused, unsure if they should follow her orders.

At one point she went too far with her demands, and Darth Vader came out to see what was causing the commotion. Vader was in his normal outfit, but also wearing bunny slippers and carrying a coffee mug and a newspaper, like he'd just woken up. Barely giving the Evil Witch Queen more than a thought, he pointed at her and used the Force to slam her into the walls a few times, then turned around and left.

Looking a bit like Loki after his run-in with the Hulk, the Evil Witch Queen groaned and asked for her car keys. I handed them back, worried about what she'd do when she found out her car was now a Transformer. That's all I remember.

We’re Really Here

Things are simultaneously moving super-fast and super-slow. We haven't offically "moved" yet, but I have spent a night in my new house. I can’t believe how big it is compared to the old one. Our old house was a measly 1,024 square feet, and it was so cramped with all our hobbies. Our new house is nearly triple that size.

But even cooler, it actually feels like our own house. Our old house was a unit in a fourplex, and we shared our walls with other homeowners. One of the adjacent units was owned by a landlord who rented it out, so neighbors moved in and out a lot, and some of them were really loud.

Never buy a unit in a multi-house dwelling. Just don’t. You end up with all the disadvantages of renting, only now you’re responsible for all the maintenance. Plus you have all the questions – when the shared driveway needs repaving, who pays for it? If your neighbors play loud music, who do you complain to?

Honestly, it’s weird to me that I can “own” a piece of a building. I mean, who owns the wall between me and my neighbor’s unit? What if I decided to knock down the wall that leads to my neighbor’s bedroom? I mean, I own the wall, I paid for it. But she did too, which is the confusing part.

But now… I have a house. My own house. With a little fenced-in backyard, a garage, a basement… and I don’t have to share my walls with anyone.

Now I just have to make sure I can afford the damn thing. I have a severance package to live on, so getting a new job isn’t an emergency. But it would still be nice to make double paychecks for a few months, so I’m not going to rest on my laurels, either. My goal is to have a job by the end of January, and use the extra income to pay off some debts and furnish the new place.

With a little luck, I’ll get something I actually enjoy.