New Apartment, New Start

The last couple of weeks have been crazy, and I'm glad to finally get back into the swing of things. Here's the Quick 'n' Dirty © on my life:

- Designed a website for Bonnier's Science Illustrated that was actually pretty well-received.
- Produced a 90-slide Powerpoint that pretty much eclipsed any work that I've done in my life thus far. I know it sounds weird, but just believe me when I say that this quarter has propelled me to Powerpoint Level Wizard/Desperate Crying on the Floor Semi-Wench.
- I am now a Master of Science! Never thought that would happen, huh?
- Also managed to get employed, which I also never thought would happen. I'd always suspected that I would work for corporate communications and, well, here we are.
- Signed a lease for my first real-life person apartment!

I'm now living right off of the Purple Line in a cute little apartment with hardwood floors and radiators that were made circa Great Depression era. I have a 3rd floor address, but technically it's the 4th floor because I live above a little folk art gallery, which I've been meaning to visit. It scares me a little bit that I'm now officially in charge of keeping track of bills and everything (student loans had covered my Engelhart apartment), but it's kind of a good feeling, I guess. It feels like a step in the right direction, no matter how much it scares me.

I packed for several hours on Monday, and 3 of my intrepid friends (Tyler, David, Meg) offered to help me move in Tuesday morning. I put half an hour on their meters and we hauled all my various boxes and little bags up the 4 flights of stairs in record time. When we were done, they still had 5 minutes on the meters--which mean I got moved in in twenty-five minutes flat. Talk about amazing, right?

The more I settle in, the more I'm realizing just how lost I would be without friends. It was only because of my friends that I could get out to the Schaumburg IKEA to get furniture. It was only because of friends that I even got the furniture assembled (Chuckie is a god-like genius with power tools and Meg is a secret muscle queen). And it was only b/c of Meg that I got to Target to buy a microwave, figured out how to light the gas stove (MATCHES, we actually had to light the STOVE with MATCHES WTFFFFFF), and basically not die from gas leaks and burning hot oven racks. It's been quite the week.

But one by one, my Chicago friends and acquaintances have moved out and away. I was invited out to a movie tonight, but for some reason decided to stay in instead and reduce the amount of boxes and bags that are strewn all over my living space. So I've rearranged the kitchen a bit, put stuf away in the bedroom, and then spent most of the evening parked in front of the TV eating leftover Thai food and catching up on my InStyle and Marie Claire. It was a very calm, sort of reflective evening, and it kind of hit me like...is this how it's going to be for the next year or two? Nights of Guy Fieri on the Food Network and increasingly cold take-out next to a radiator that's about as cuddly as a lukewarm fence post. To live in the city...by myself? I mean, don't get me wrong, I like a little time to myself as much as the next person, maybe even a little bit more so. But the solitary-ness was really only enjoyable in knowing that was precious, in knowing that it was temporary, that Tyler or David or Monica would be knocking down my door at any minute to get dinner or just to talk or go shopping or whatever.

I'm pretty sure I was in this exact same funk when I graduated from W&M and left the cozy home of Nicholas 107. Guess another chapter's over, and part of me will always wish that it wasn't.