Beginning Again

I have so much to talk about that there is no possible way I will ever be able to update you on everything. I guess that's what happens when you move across the country.

As for that drive across the country (okay, so it wasn't the ENTIRE country, it was just like, 2/3rds of it, but close enough) it actually wasn't too bad. This drive was a milestone for me because I managed to cross my 25th state off the "States I Have Visited" list, so now I'm officially halfway to my goal of visiting every state in my lifetime. [In case you care, I count any state where I have either spent at least one night or driven across the entire state (or a substantial enough part of the state to require a meal break if it's an exceptionally large state)] This trip also means that I have now driven across the entire country from coast to coast, although thank god I did it in two separate road trips several years apart because driving across the entire country on one road trip is not something I ever want to do, EVER.
So yeah, I still don't have anything coherent to say about the road trip. I'm glad my dad was driving with me for most of the trip. He's fun. He made us drinks in the hotel room every night and took good care of his "granddog". He also got excited every time we passed a river, which was actually pretty often, and if he was driving he insisted that I tell him the name of the river and give a report on how big and full it looked. So the biggest highlight was crossing the Mississippi, of course. We also had really good barbecue for lunch in Memphis one day, we saw Barry Bonds finally break the homerun record at a sports bar in Knoxville (and about damn time it was, too, because between Dad and my brother I was being forced to watch way too much baseball the past few weeks), we kept calling my mom to make her Wikipedia the facts about Civil War battlefields we passed, and I was surprised at how beautiful the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains are. I decided I'd like to take a real vacation there someday when I actually have time to chill and enjoy it.
In summary, the drive went smoother than I expected it to go, although I don't think it's a drive I'll willingly make again any time in the near future...or preferably anytime, period. I'd do it in little segments, but 30+ hours of driving in one trip is a bit much.

As for my new home, I'm really enjoying it so far. I just hope this good trend continues into next week when I start my job and studies.
The apartment is really nice. I lucked out through that move-in day mix up I wrote about, because not only did I get the only newly-renovated apartment in the whole complex (not the only renovated building, the only renovated unit!), I also ended up getting $40 back from my renter's insurance company because for whatever reason insurance in this building is cheaper than in the other one. I have absolutely no clue why that would be the case, but I'm certainly not going to complain about it!
The new apartment is not that much bigger than my old apartment, although the layout makes it feel quite a bit bigger. I actually have the space to make a living room space that is separate from my office space. So I have a space with my desk and recliner and a couple of bookshelves, and then I have a completely separate space for my sofa and the TV. I'm sure I'll still end up doing more work on the couch than anywhere else, but at least now I'll have the space to put work-in-progress in the "office" and get it out of my relaxation space sometimes. I do have all new appliances and berber carpeting, which is a tiny thing but it makes me happy because I really hate that generic beige carpeting you get in most apartments. I also have a big balcony. It's a little hot here to use it right now, but my dog loves the balcony and spends half the day lying out there watching the goings-on in the apartment complex. I even let the cat go out there sometimes, too, the first time he has ever been allowed to venture outside of the apartment (I always lived on the ground floor before and didn't trust him not to run away). The apartment faces south so it's nice and sunny all day long, and I actually have screens on the windows and patio door so I can sleep with my windows open for circulation without having to worry about the cat escaping (my last apartment didn't have screens on the windows, which always really annoyed me). Another reason I can sleep with the windows open is that I live on the 2nd floor (which is technically the third floor; don't ask) so I don't have to worry about anyone breaking in through the window. In theory I guess someone could do it, although it would be quite the climbing challenge and I don't know why anyone would go through the trouble unless they were specifically after me. So that's good.
I also like the location of my apartment a lot. I like its location within the complex. It's pretty much right in the center so I don't get any noise from the road and so far I haven't noticed any noise from the nearby park, either. Speaking of the park, it's one of my favorite perks: there's a small lake (large pond?) and a little park right near my apartment complex! It only takes thirty seconds to walk there and then there's a jogging path around the lake that is almost exactly a mile long. That's going to make working out and exercising the dog so easy that there will be no excuse not to do it. There's also a fitness room in the apartment that actually has several treadmills and weight machines (unlike the "fitness room" at my college apartment that just had a single weight machine) and a really nice-looking pool, although I haven't had time to swim yet. The apartment complex is also ideally situated in the neighborhood. I'm most excited about the fact that I'm within true walking distance of a grocery store. At my college apartment I was technically within walking distance of a Super Target, but it was about a 3o+ minute roundtrip walk down a busy street. At this apartment, I'm right across the street from the shopping center where the supermarket is located. The store is on the far side of the lot from the apartment complex, but even then it only takes about ten minutes to get there and back. I've always had this theory that if I lived close to a grocery store I'd eat healthier because I'd be able to just stroll over to the store and buy milk and fresh fruit and ingredients for healthy recipes every few days instead of buying tons of frozen food because I was too lazy to drive to the grocery store more than about once a month. We'll see if this theory actually ends up being true. I think it's a good goal, at least until it gets brutally cold around here.
Anyway, I also live within easy walking distance of a big hardware/home supplies store, a dry cleaner, two sandwich shops, a burrito restaurant, five or six other sitdown restaurants, a liquor store...I can walk to pretty much everything I need. And the things that aren't within walking distance (my bank, the pet supply store) are less than a five minute drive away.
This is great because I do have a bit of a commute to school. The good thing about where I live is that I'm conveniently located to three different routes to campus. The bad thing is that even though it's only a few miles down the road, the drive apparently sometimes takes up to 40 minutes during rush hour. Still, I'm not too worried about it. I'll experiment with the different routes and hopefully find some short cuts over time. And even if, worst case scenario, I really am spending 40 minutes in traffic each way every day (which definitely won't happen because while I can't control what time I have to get to campus for work and class, I do have control over when I leave so I'll just plan my drive home for not-so-busy hours) at least I don't really have to do any driving at all for errands. Woohoo for not having to spend a ton of gas money, hopefully!
Public transportation is pretty good here, too. It is possible for me to take buses or a bus/subway combination to campus, although I don't know how often I'll bother to do that since the route takes an hour and involves at least one transfer no matter how you do it. Still, it's nice to know that it's an option when weather is bad or if I ever feel like reading a book while someone else deals with the traffic. I did use the subway system a lot this week and was pretty happy with it. I've used subways in five different cities and this was by far the easiest system I have come across (except for Rome, but they only have two lines with just a few stops on each so that hardly counts).
So all in all, I'm happy with my new home. I'm sure I'll discover some downsides eventually, but for now I'm satisfied.

I spent Thursday and Friday moving in and getting things organized, with tons of help from my dad and from my sister, who flew up on Thursday to help out. We had time to do some fun things, too. One night we drove to City B* to watch the major league baseball team play. It was a terrific game, by far the most exciting baseball game I have ever watched. I actually watched the entire game, which is saying a lot considering watching baseball is usually about as interesting to me as watching paint dry. I generally only go to the games for the hot dogs and beer. This was a riveting game, though: a big rivalry, a very close game, a bird that hung out in the outfield for six whole innings, much to the amusement of me and my sister...
My dad flew home a few days ago, but my sister stayed here with me until today, which is why I haven't had time to update. She and I had a really great time. We spent three days doing a ton of sight seeing in City A*. This is one of those times where I really wish I hadn't decided to be mostly anonymous. I would love to tell you about all the fun and interesting things we did, but anything I mentioned would completely give away my location. Suffice it to say we went to museums, historical points of interest, ritzy shopping districts, and we barely even scratched the surface of all the things one can do and see in my new location. I don't know how much time I'll have to hang out down there once school starts, but I hope many more people want to come visit me so that I have an excuse to do more exploring. [I am going to post pictures, so if you want to see what I was up to you'll be able to get to the pictures from a link in my AIM profile eventually]

There is definitely going to be some adjusting on my part. My biggest issue so far is that I can't seem to get used to how everyone drives here. I thought there were some aggressive-driving areas in my home state, but even the worst place I can think of was nothing compared to this. If the speed limit says 55 most people are going 75, and apparently nobody up here ever learned how to use turn signals. Oh, and it's perfectly acceptable to make turns from whatever the hell lane you feel like making them from, apparently. I want to blend in with the flow of traffic, but a) I don't really know where I'm going half the time and b) I'm extremely paranoid about getting a speeding ticket because I can't really afford unexpected expenses like that anymore. So I don't really know what to do. I'm quite seriously afraid that I will die if I don't get aggressive and start driving like everyone else, but knowing my luck I'm the one person that will get pulled over for going 20 mph over the posted limit. I am also going to have to adjust to the weather. I can handle the humidity, although I hate it, but today when I was walking around the lake I saw a sign that said "No Swimming, No Ice Skating," and my first thought was, "Dude, is it really going to get cold enough here that the top of this lake will look frozen enough for ice skating?!" Perhaps I didn't really think this whole "four seasons" thing through as completely as I should have...

So yeah. I'll have to figure some things out and get used to some other things. But overall I'm just really freakin' excited to be here and to be starting this new chapter of my life.

*I live within driving distance of two big cities, which I have just now decided I will refer to as City A and City B.