Erica, etc

Amber's friend Erica (from Michigan) visited us this weekend. It was really cool because I think for the first time ever we really connected as friends too. We didn't used to get along very well, and have long since reconciled, but I think that mostly meant that we started getting along. This was different. There was nothing forced about it. There didn't seem to be any mediation through Amber. I think thats a rare thing too, as I think it's hard for people to become friends with their spouse's / sig. other's friends without the weird mediation. Mediation makes them an acquaintance. I really felt comfortable around Erica and I enjoyed her presence. I think she probably noticed the difference in our interaction too and had a good time hanging out with me.

It makes me really happy to be able to say all of this, because I know how important Erica is to Amber. They have a special sister-like connection that I've always admired.

We had a pretty cool weekend. We hung out and I worked on my collage and organized my photographs while they made clothes and jewelry. We also walked through the short north and showed Erica around a bit. She walked quite a ways too- and she's 6 months pregnant!

Lori and Robert called us spontaneously and let us know that they would be in town from West Virginia, but unfortunately they got delayed by some circumstances and were not able to make it here before Erica had to leave. We are supposed to meet them for a bit tomorrow afternoon before they had back.

My parents also visited today while Amber was at work. It was nice to chat, but I think they just don't quite understand what exactly it is Amber and I are trying to do. They seem to have a steady stream of reservations about all the stuff that we're exited about. I just don't think I should really have to justify all of my actions to them. Sometimes I think they wish I would just kind of fall in line and settle for some modern version of what they have. My mother kinda swooped in today and started making plans to get a U-Haul and to get all this stuff loaded into it that I don't even want to keep. She tried to convince me to at least get a more sensible camper than the 71 VW we are trying to get. She even kind of assigned me to look into a storage facility in West Virginia, because I told her we were going to store a select few items like winter clothes, 1 of our tvs, our bookshelves, computer chairs, and a bare minimum set of dishes and cookware. We wanted to just load up that stuff in the back of my pickup truck and take it down. If we can't fit it all in the back of the truck then we probably need to get rid of some more stuff. I think she thinks that we are not really getting rid of anything, but instead that we are taking it all. Weird, because I keep telling her we are getting rid of all of our stuff. In fact, I've emphasized the fact that we are only keeping stuff that's really important to us. It's also hard to not keep them in the loop about things because they ask alot of questions and follow up... often. I guess spontaneity is okay with them... just only if you plan for it immensely before hand. Anyways I think it will all work out. We'll probably just end up getting the van and moving our stuff one day and giving away the rest and then we'll say "oh yeah- we did that all yesterday- no need for all the special arrangements-etc"

I called my grandma today to wish her a happy birthday. I don't talk much with her anymore. I also don't talk much with my aunt Flo. I haven't seen her in years, it seems, and I love her dearly. She has a pure, kind heart. I've been thinking of her for a while now and wanting to send her pictures of this apartment and columbus with a nice long letter telling her all the things we have been doing. Maybe I still will do so before we move away. I found a picture today that she gave me. It's of her and my mother and my grandma. The more I looked at the picture the more I thought about how nobody treats her the way that Amber and I do. It made me kinda sad actually, and I think perhaps the photograph may make me realize my idea of sending her a letter from us both.

Down With Apartments!

After spending my entire rare break from school searching for an apartment that is short term and affordable, we have come to a consensus on one solution: Not to get one. Down with apartments! Why spend all that money on an apartment that we'd live in for only 2 months when we can spend it on something that we can keep; something we've both wanted for a long time; something that we can live in. That's right, we've decided to buy an old VW poptop camper van. We figure that living in it for 2 months shouldn't be too bad. We plan to park it in various locations in Columbus, including the 24hour Walmart and just up the street from our then-ex-apartment so that we can mooch off of Vic's (a coffee shop) wireless interet signal from the van. We can take showers at friends houses (a preemptive thanks to Buzz and Mark-- love you guys) or probably at my sisters in Marysville whom I have not asked but who I'm sure will not mind. This will also help us lighten our load of 'stuff'... because we'll have to. We have too much stuff. We are now attempting to get rid of it all so that we can live more simply. We wish to keep only 'a long vacations worth' of clothing, all of our stuff that pertains to art or music, our laptops, and just a small load of necessary items.

So now we are done looking at apartments and we've started scouring Columbus, the classifieds, ebay, and the rest of the internet for an old VW poptop. I've got to note that it's a much more pleasant search.

Apartments Hunted

So after a long week of scouring the city for short term lease apartments, I'm starting my term at school almost as exhausted as I left it. So far we've found a house for 675/mo for 3 months, a cool apartment in the short north above retrocat vintage clothing store for 625/mo for 6 months, an efficiency for 630/mo utilities paid for 4 months, and a bunch of other junk. It's come between the house and the retrocat place. We've also come to consider getting a cheap place for 300/mo and signing a 9 or 12 month lease. This would allow us a place to stay in Columbus any time we wanted and would make it easier to visit friends, visit family, sell at the gallery hop, play gigs or open mics, or escape to the city.

Amber and I love living in the city. We love all of the people. There are so many things to see and experience here. We'll both miss it and I know we'll both want to visit often.

Apartment hunting

Amber and I went apartment hunting today. Our property manger just sprung it on us that we have to either sign another year lease or get out at the end of Aug. We were supposed to have the option to pay month to month at the end of this lease term, but i guess they changed their mind at the last minute. We planned on moving to West Virginia in late October immediately after I graduate. That leaves us without a place to live for 2 months. You cannot rent an apartment in Columbus for only 2 months. Most are a 1 year lease. We found that you can talk some people down to a 6 months.

Anyways, today we were stood up for 2 seperate meetings to view apartments. We spent our entire afternoon and evening walking about and calling every number we came across on a for rent sign. We actually thought it would be pretty sweet to try to move right up onto high st. in the short north and live in the arts district above some business like the coffee table, the retrocat vintage store, or a gallery. Unfortunately, these appts are even more expensive than the ones in the victorian village.

We looked at these efficiency appts just north of the short north. To get to them, you had to go in from high street, up some stairs, through a hallway where some regular appts were, back out a door, on a catwalk, in another door, and around a little hallway. We also looked at some places on campus. A hotel-like building's ad claimed to have flexible leasing. We'll find that out tomorrow.

I guess we thought it would be cool to kind of engulf ourselves in the city before we move. We are very stoked about moving down with Lori and Robert to live on the mountain in West Virginia. We just want to completely enjoy and experience the city while we are still here. This is why being forced to move from our current appt can be either a curse that sends us farther from the action or the opprotunity that sends us closer to it. Either way it seems to be the event that may drive us broke.

Well we maybe tomorrows search will be more conclusive...

A blog?

Odd as it is, i now have a blog. I've never even been able to keep up writing in a journal. Maybe this will somehow draw me into it. Maybe it will just sit here unused. There is a lot of exiting, crazy stuff happening this year, so it would be cool to have both an outlet for it and a sort of record of how i felt about things at the time. Anyways, on with the experiment...