commas and ampersands

Gotta say, I'm not really a fan of winter. It's not my favorite season--that distinction is reserved for summer. (Ah, summer, with your long, long days; your lazy lethargy; your warm sunshine... but I digress.) It may not have been the main reason I moved to L.A., but the weather has certainly been one of the biggest perks of living here for the past two years. For the past few winters, I've gone back to Calgary for 3 weeks in December, and that's enough time to get my fill of snow and cold--and, more importantly, to drive on icy roads long enough to not become a wimpy driver who can't handle winter.

That's the thing. I may not love winter, but I can handle it. I come from hardy, Canadian prairie stock. I know what to do when it's -40 degrees Celsius out, but I love the Chinook winds that invariably mean that I don't have to deal with the -40 weather for very long. I know how to drive on ice, and I don't freak out if there's a skiff of snow that doesn't even stick to the ground, and thankyouverymuch, I plan on keeping those skills.

I have yet to wear a winter coat (or gloves, or a toque) while living in Southern California, because it has yet to get cold here. I see people around here get all bundled up when the temperature hits 50 degrees Fahrenheit, and the Canadian part of me laughs at them for being such wimps, while the American part of me gloats at my family and friends who live where they really have to bundle up. It gets chilly, yes. It gets cold enough that I don't want to sleep with my window open all winter, cold enough that I'm not wearing sandals all the time, cold enough that I can actually use my sweaters and fall jackets--but it doesn't get cold, and that's one of the things I love about this place.

One thing I don't love, however, is the assumption that just because I'm Canadian, I've never experienced hot weather before. I could do without all the comments about how this must be the hottest weather I've ever experienced, and I must be so out of my element, and isn't it just so different from the frozen north, and it must be freezing up there. (My favorite is when that last comment comes in August.)

Winter and I have a complicated relationship. I may not like it, but that doesn't give others who have never lived with it the right to knock it. When Calgary's weather doesn't cooperate with the season, I feel like the city is a misbehaving small child, embarrassing me in front of all my friends, even though I know it's not doing it on purpose. But that doesn't mean I won't defend it. "It's not always like this." "This isn't really seasonal." "Wait a few days; a chinook will hit and the temperature will jump 40 degrees overnight." "At least we're not like some places, where winter doesn't leave until spring."

And, you know, there are things about it that aren't all that bad. While it's all well and good to curl up in bed with hot chocolate and a book on a windy, rainy, chilly day in Los Angeles, it's even better to do it on a blizzardy, blustery, freezing cold day in Calgary. And if you've never experienced a midnight snowfall on Christmas Eve, you don't know what you're missing. And just like any other season, it's the change that's the best part. The first crisp, cold day; the new sweaters, jackets, and corduroy in stores; the first snowfall; those bright, cold, sunny days that are still good days for a walk outside. As long as those days don't come before December first.

When it comes to winter, I'm picky. I want it on my terms, when I want it. I'd be happy with a winter that lasted for the month of December. No more, no less. Give me a winter that goes with Christmas, and I can handle that. But by February? You and me, winter? We're so over, and while I still may not like other people smack-talking you, I reserve the right to badmouth you all I want.

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This has been an entry for therealljidol season 6. Read the rest of the entries for this topic here.

After living in the U.S. for a significant part of the last almost-4 years, I go back and forth between Celsius and Fahrenheit fairly easily. I can convert them in my head (rather, I know the equivalents along the way, and I ballpark from there--I don't actually do the math), although I'm fuzzy on the Fahrenheit equivalents of 0 to -40 Celsius, and I'm fuzzy on the Celsius equivalents of 90+ Fahrenheit (gee, I wonder why...). And, like learning a foreign language, I'm getting better at "thinking" in Fahrenheit, but there are still times that I have to convert it to Celsius to translate it into a sense of what the air will feel like on my body.

However, I've realized lately that, no matter who I'm talking to, I talk about Canadian temperatures in Celsius and American temperatures in Fahrenheit.

I realized it most vividly when Esther commented the other day that she wants it to be in the 30s the entire time she's visiting. I did a quick double take and then agreed with her, because, yes, I'd like it to be in the mid-80s the entire time she's visiting. The funniest part is, I have no problem instinctively saying that I would be fully happy for it to never dip below 25 all summer while I'm in Calgary, and would never think of saying that I want it to be in the high 70s for three months.

In my foreign language example, is this the equivalent to dreaming in French?

Well, March is definitely my month of visitors! First Dad, then Colin, and now Esther's coming for spring break, since our breaks coincide (no, she's not a student; she's a preschool teacher). She'll get here next Tuesday and leave on Sunday, so we'll have a good number of days to hang out and do fun L.A. stuff. Like the beach and Disneyland.

My work schedule seems to be just about perfect, too. After a number of weeks with very few hours (thanks to tech and the show), I have just over 20 hours this week, and I'll probably still get in an almost-full (10 hours is my usual) work week at school, and the timing fits well with Esther's trip. I work Monday, but not Tuesday (when she flies in). Wednesday and Thursday, I'm off by 4 p.m., and I'm off Friday and Saturday. Sunday morning, she leaves really early, and then I work on Sunday evening. She'll have to entertain herself for a couple of days, but I've got lots of TV on DVD, wireless internet, and a Target within walking distance of my house.

I'm not sure yet what else we'll do. She's going to do some googling and see if there's anything that really strikes her fancy. Disneyland is a must--she's been waiting her entire life to go, and it's half the reason she's coming down. I think she's only half as excited to hang out with me as she is to go to Disneyland. :)

We'll probably go to the beach, although weather will determine whether we actually hang out on the beach or just walk the boardwalk and go shopping. Hopefully it'll be warm enough to be a combination of both, but we'll see. Today was in the low 80s; hopefully it'll be around that while she's here.

Aside from those two things, we don't really have any particular plans yet. If anyone wants to offer suggestions... well, that's what the comments are for!

(Hopefully next week is an indication of the kind of hours I'll get for the rest of the school year--without the show, I have more availability, and would really like to be getting decent hours.)

I've updated some of my tags, too. I consolidated and deleted a few redundant ones and gave some of my most-used tags new names. Now I just have to remember what the new names are when I'm tagging my entries.

I kind of feel like I'm already on spring break, just because I don't work until Saturday this week (thanks to a schedule that was tailored to Colin's intended visit) and I'm not hanging around school until midnight every night (although I will be there until sometime around 2 a.m. on Saturday night). I've been home both last night and tonight, and I'm starting to get a little bored with it already. It's nice to have the break, but I need to be productive. I've got a lot to do in terms of my thesis, and I need to use this week wisely for that kind of work, but it's been nice to take a couple of days to relax and not do much of anything that wasn't absolutely necessary.

And now, I'm going to have some ice cream and read a book before I fall asleep. Shhh. Don't tell anyone that I'm being so unproductive.

It's that time of year again...

The A/C in our apartment is set up kind of strangely. We can't have both the A/C and the heat at the same time.

Well, of course, you silly girl; who would want the air conditioning and the heat on together?

Okay, no one. But what I mean is, because our system is set up in this weird, funky way, we have to get a technician every winter and summer to switch something in our A/C unit from heat to A/C. This is something that our landlord could have permanently dealt with, but she's chosen not to (yet), so we have to call someone in every few months.

In general, this isn't a bad thing. For most of the year, we don't need both the heat and the A/C at the same time. However, there are a few weeks in November when it would come in handy. See, at night, it's getting down to 50F/10C or so, which, while not freezing cold, is kind of chilly. Without being able to run the heat to take a bit of the edge off, it's hard to be motivated to get out of my cozy, warm, 3-blanketed bed into the cold bedroom.

However, we have days, like this weekend is forecast to be, that are still getting up to 90F/32C. The apartment faces west, and all the windows are on the west side, so in the afternoon, the whole place can get a little bit toasty, and it's handy to have the A/C just to take the edge off. We don't need to run either one a whole lot--in general, the apartment is quite comfortable when it's the temperature that it naturally is at this time of year--but there are moments.

In another week or two, we'll call the technician in and have the system switched over to heat so that we're set for the winter. Once it gets chillier, in January and February, we'll want it, and we won't need the A/C for a few more months at that point.

Still, for right now, it's rather inconvenient, and as much as I love snuggling under lots of blankets in a chilly room (because that's quite a wonderful feeling), it's not so fun when I have to get out of bed in the morning.



In slightly related news, I have a 30% off coupon for Old Navy, Gap, and/or Banana Republic. I might have to use that to get a winter coat, since my older dressy one is getting kind of worn and I've needed a new one since at least last year. I may only need a real winter coat for about 3 weeks of the year (when I'm in Calgary at Christmas), but I still need it for those 3 weeks, and if I'm moving back up there after I graduate next December, I'll definitely need one then.

I saw one that I loved at H&M, but it was about $30 more than I wanted to spend. However, Target has one similar to the one at H&M, and it's almost exactly the same price as the one I'm looking at from Old Navy (with the discount). I'll have to look at them both again and see which one I like better.

I also have a "friends" coupon to forward to as many people as would like it, so if you want 30% off through Sunday for either in-store or online (U.S. only, unfortunately; seems like Canada is always being discriminated against in the good-discount department), let me know (along with your email address if I don't have it), and I'll forward it to you.

( Just to get you onto my page )

Wow--a week since I posted? I guess so. It's been a fairly uneventfully eventful week, in the way that transitions often are.

Last Wednesday night was the first choir practice (which was why we didn't leave until Thursday morning--and why Colin flew back today instead of staying longer), which I went to, just for fun, even though I won't be singing with them. I'll be writing the narration again, so hearing the cantata again is always a good thing--even though I helped Colin put it together, so I've got a pretty good sense of the whole thing. I'll still need to listen to it several more times before I even think about starting to write.

Colin worked Wednesday night, so he got home an hour before we had to leave. Enough time to shower and change, basically, which meant that I drove and he slept for about the first 6 hours of the trip.

The road trip was uneventful, in terms of any major catastrophes. We realized just how much pulling the trailer affected our gas mileage last year. I mean, we'd known that all along, but it doubled the amount of gas that we used. This year, I was thinking that the first shift (we switch off at every tank of gas) felt a lot longer than it had, but I mostly attributed that to the fact that Colin was asleep and there was no one to talk to. We realized, though, that we stopped for our first tank of gas in the same place that we'd stopped for our second tank last year. And it's always a nice change to go to the U.S. and start paying American gas prices, even though they're still high. When we left, gas in Calgary was the equivalent of $5/gallon, give or take (and at its highest point this summer, it'd been around $5.40 or so), so it was a nice change to go to gas that was just under $4. It certainly makes a difference when a full tank is $60 as opposed to $85.

We stopped in Salt Lake City for the night, getting in at around 10. Had some dinner, thought about going to a movie but couldn't find a theatre in time for a show, ended up watching HIMYM on my laptop instead. Low-key, but it was nice to get a good sleep after all the night shifts and weird hours.

The next day, we slept in a bit, had breakfast, and were on the road by about noon. Except for gas and bathroom stops, we drove straight through to L.A.--no stop in Vegas this year. My friend Kim lives there, and we'd tried to see if we could meet her for a late lunch, but it didn't work with her work schedule, so we just kept going and made it back to my apartment by about 9.

I was telling someone just before leaving Calgary that I was having that "moving itch" in that I had all these new things that I wanted to buy, even though I didn't actually move anywhere. Still, on Saturday, we did a little bit of shopping and I got a few little things. One of the biggest things I needed was a new bookcase--mine was sorely lacking in space, and I wanted to go with something bigger (a corner unit and a full-size shelf) rather than getting a second one. However, we couldn't really justify spending the money on the ones we really wanted, even though they're pieces that we'll keep in our house after we get married, so I got a $20 one that's similar to my old one instead, and we bought some spray paint to do it a dark espresso brown.

I still need to get a second one to replace the one I had originally (because they're small enough that I do need two full bookcases, and that's just for some of my books), but I'll do that and paint it in a few weeks, once I'm working again, and I'll get enough paint to do some of the other furniture in my room that needs to be painted as well. Right now, I have about 5 different colors of furniture, because they're all mismatched pieces from all over the place, and while I know that I'm not investing in anything really good because we're going to be putting together a bedroom within the near-ish future, I still want it to match and look good in the meantime. Spray paint is just about the cheapest way to at least make it somewhat match.

Anyway, we also got some hanging lamps and a remote light switch, since my room doesn't have an overhead light and I was tired of banging my shins on my bed when I crossed the room in the dark to turn on a light. And, since my mattress was the most uncomfortable thing my back had ever felt, I got a good-quality (and much cheaper than a new mattress set) air mattress. We'll see how that works, but I've slept on some really good air mattresses lately, so I know it's possible for it to be a decently comfortable bed. Also, it's a full, which means that the extra space on my bedframe (which is 3/4 size) isn't hanging out under the mattress like it was on the old single mattress.

So, I got my fill of new stuff without spending too much on it. It was all necessary--I mean, I could have gone without it all; it wasn't necessary like our computers were necessary earlier this summer, but it wasn't frivolous like new, unnecessary clothes.

Sunday, we went to church... except that when we got there, we realized that there was only one service, which was just ending. Oops. Guess we should have checked to see if there was a summer service schedule. Ah well... we ended up going to the Getty instead. I've been meaning to go there since I moved here (gotta love free art museums), but hadn't made it yet, so it was one more thing checked off my list.

Yesterday was Disneyland, and it was a perfect day for it. After the busyness of Ikea on Saturday and the Getty on Sunday, I was worried that Disneyland would be insane, but I guess being the last day of the long weekend, everyone was on their way back home. We didn't wait more than 30 minutes for any ride, and we had plenty of time to get on everything that we wanted to, so we spent a lot more time on the rides than we did last time we were there. We had better spots for the show and the fireworks, too, so we actually saw them instead of seeing the backstage of them. Heh. I think that next time, we need to go to California Adventure. I've heard that it's not as good as Disneyland, but I'd still like to go, at least once.

Today, we had a pretty lazy morning, just hanging around the apartment until it was time to go to the airport. Colin's flight was at 1:50 this afternoon, so we were at the airport and he was heading to security by about 12:30. I ran a few errands and then came home to finish unpacking and cleaning. It hasn't been the top priority the past few days, which is fine, but the half-unpacked bags and boxes in my room were driving me nuts, and there were things that needed to be rearranged after having them put away to make room for the subletter. It's all done now, though. New bookshelf is up and full, the clothes are all put away, the bathroom medicine cabinet is rearranged, and the storage room has empty boxes (and an old mattress) in it. The only thing I still need is a holder/shelf/hook set for my straightener and blow drier. I've tried two different styles so far and neither has worked, so I've ended up returning them both. I guess it's back to Target tomorrow to see what else I can find.

I haven't transferred back to the Starbucks down here yet. Rather, I haven't heard from the manager since my transfer request was submitted. I tried calling her today, but there was no answer at the store (I must have caught them during a rush when no one could pick up the phone). I'll try again tomorrow, and if I can't get anyone, I'll go in and talk to her in person. I was hoping to start working this week, but I'm not sure that's going to happen, so I'll have a pretty boring week, it looks like. Ah well. Still, though, I feel like I should have used these few days to work so that there's not as much of a gap in my paychecks. Anyone have some freelance work for me for a couple of days? ;o)

I have pictures to post from the last month or so, but this entry is long enough, so I'll get to them in a separate one.

And... that's been my week. We're back into long distance, which sucks in a lot of ways, but at least I'm not moving somewhere completely new this year. I'm coming back to a familiar situation and friends, and we know what to expect this time, at least on some level. And Thanksgiving is only 6 weeks away, give or take. That's not too bad at all.

This post is springboarding off of a guest post entitled "Canadian-Ish" by Kyran Pittman on Her Bad Mother, which you should go read so that this makes more sense. It started out as a comment, but it's something that I've been meaning to post on for a while, so it's grown from there into a real post.

On the surface, I'm a Canadian ex-pat who moved to the U.S. in 2005. Culturally and definitively, I'm Canadian, having spent the first 24 years of my life north of the 49th parallel in a time when Canadian identity was going through phases of being defined as, "Well, I'm not sure what we are, but we're not American!", but it's still a bit more complicated than just being an ex-pat or an immigrant. (Side note: As a kid, I always thought it was so funny that my mom was an immigrant, because to me, immigrants came on ships in the 1800s and early 1900s, had to learn a new language, and travelled in steerage.) Growing up with a dual citizenship and choosing to relocate as an adult have put me somewhere on the scale of Canadian-ish and American-ish, and where I fit on the scale completely depends on the day.

Deep down, I'm probably more Canadian than American, but I've always known as much about American history as Canadian, and I was raised to be patriotically both. In fact, my family was and is, in some ways, more patriotic than many other Canadian families because my mom, being American, makes a big deal of national holidays, including Canadian ones (she's lived there for 30+ years now but has never become a citizen). Colin and I were commenting that she decorates the yard and house more for Canada Day than most people around here do, and part of that, I'm sure, has to do with the fact that July 4th is such a huge holiday in the States.

While Canadian schools learn much more about American history, politics, and economics than American schools do about the Canadian counterparts, it was always also a big part of what we had at home. In our house, knowing about American history and culture was more than just the Americanization of Canadian media and the influences of having mostly American programming.

In California, I'm the "token Canadian" and that's how certain people introduce me. "This is Alida. She's Canadian!" I've explained Calgary's bizarre weather patterns to more people than I can count, and I've answered, "So, is it really different to be living here?" a gajillion times, give or take a few.

When it comes to Colin's and my relationship, I'm American: his key to a green card (all those years that I got tongue-in-cheek marriage proposals because I've got a dual, it didn't really occur to me that I'd actually know more about marriage visas and immigration than I ever wanted to). And yes, I know that I'm more than a green card to him, and he doesn't see me as "AMERICAN," but legally, in our relationship, I am. Or, at least, I will be.

When I come back to Calgary, people scrutinize my behavior to see if I'm becoming "more American." Too American? Maybe. I try to evade the stereotypes of either nationality just to make life easier, but occasionally, it's just more fun to play into them. I've heard it all, from "Wow, you must hate having to live in the States" to "You live in California? Why on earth are you working in Calgary?" to "Man, you're so lucky that you get Target and cheaper gas!" Of those statements, I tend to lean towards the last. No one's forcing me to live in California; if I didn't want to, I wouldn't. But I do want to, and we do want to, and we're planning to be there for a while, and trust me, it's not because it's the easier place to be.

According to my passports (yes, I have two), I'm whichever one I want to travel on. These days, since my residency is officially in California, that's mostly American. I file taxes in both countries (although that has less to do with citizenship than with the fact that I've spent time working in both countries every year since 2005), I have a SIN and a SSN, I have both a birth certificate and a certificate of birth abroad, I fully identify with the Canadian jokes on How I Met Your Mother, and I think that "Let's Go to the Mall" is brilliant (and I regret not buying the t-shirt when it was on Glarkware). I mock a lot of original Canadian programming, but I have a vested interest in Canada's entertainment industry, given that it pays my bills. I know what a toque is and what pencil crayons are. At one time, I knew the "I am Canadian" rant inside out, even though I don't drink beer. In school, I couldn't draw a maple leaf to save my life--but then again, I don't think that many kids could, so that probably doesn't mean anything except that I'm a bad artist.

I vehemently deny that I say "oot" and "aboot" (I'm convinced that that's more an Ontario thing than a Canadian thing), but I proudly say "SORE-ry," not "SAH-ry." My spellings vaccilate between "our" and "or" (tending towards the "or") and "re" and "er" (generally going for "re") with no real rhyme or reason, and I stick a double-L on words before I add a suffix (see: travelling).

I cheer for the Canadians during the Winter Olympics and both countries during the Summer Olympics--but that's mostly because, during the summer games, Canada's medal hopes seem to be on par with some small African country with three athletes representing the entire population.

Our kids will have dual citizenships, because it opens so many doors, and I'm so grateful that I have the opportunity to live and work in either country. We're planning to be in California for the foreseeable future--that's where we'll start our marriage and build our home. Sometimes, the idea of taking vacation/disability leave when having babies, and not having the security of 12 months of maternity leave, scares me. If we have health problems, we'll be back in Canada as soon as we can get there.

And yet, even though I hold that magic key to giving them duals, it's not guaranteed. If our kids are born in the U.S., it's easy, and we can definitely give them the Canadian side. If we move back to Canada before we have kids, it'll be time for some serious number-crunching to figure out whether I've spent that magic number of days on American soil. Because I'm a dualie, it's not automatic, and maybe I'm not legally American enough to give my kids those same opportunities, even though I'm American enough to give Colin a green card.

Mostly, I'm Canadian. I'll laugh at anyone who thinks we live in igloos and wear parkas for 11 months of the year, that we all speak fluent French, or that Calgary and Toronto are next to each other. I'll deride Canadian cell phone plans, amazon.ca, and the extra fees on flights (although I still tend to prefer Air Canada to WestJet for flights to L.A., just because they have better schedules and better in-flight entertainment). Far from making me less Canadian, I think that those are the things that more deeply entrench my Canuck-ness.

Still, I defend American culture and my choice to live there just as vehemently as I defend the correct pronounciation of sorry. I'm just as proud of the American history in my family as I am of the Canadian history, and I've probably had more emotional patriotic moments as an American than I have as a Canadian.

Call me Canadian, call me American--either way, I'll probably clarify.

One more closing shift, and then a night off, and then I'm working again at least through Sunday. I should find out tonight what next week's schedule looks like, and whether I've got any days off before next Wednesday (the only day I have no availability). Actually, I'm not working at Bux on Friday, but I'm ushering a show at the school, so I'm still working. I get to watch the show for free, though, and actually get paid to see my classmates' work, so it's not quite the same. Definitely a better deal.

I think that one of the most bizarre shifts about living in California is how much I've realized that my image of day length and temperature are affected. To me, short days go along with cold weather, and I'm not used to it being dark by 5:30, but still warm enough to not need a jacket. I'm still not used to the fact that it's not 11:30 p.m. when it's that dark and warm out, and my whole paradigm of what a "short day" does to the weather is being thrown off.

Anyway. Time to go get some supper and then head to work.

More on the fire situation:

The school is closed again today, although I'm pretty sure the building itself is open. They're providing meal services for on-campus students and are available as an evacuation site for students and faculty who have had to leave their homes, and I stopped by last night to pick up the reading for my play analysis class, and there were a few people hanging around, working in the student offices. Classes are cancelled and all school offices are closed, though.

I went to work last night, and we closed an hour early, but the fire wasn't actually near the school/work area, although it was closer than it was early in the day yesterday. Apparently there are now four fires in Santa Clarita, and someone said last night that it seemed like the first three were in danger of combining and becoming one fire. Several of my co-workers had to evacuate, and there were a few phone calls during the shift itself, saying that the fire was getting closer to some other co-workers' houses and they were preparing to evacuate and hosing everything down.

As for me, the fire would have to seriously spread before it reached my house. I'm in the middle of the city, and so far, the fire hasn't really hit much of Greater L.A. I haven't packed up my car for an evacuation, and I'm not too worried that I'll have to leave. Here's a map of the fires in the L.A. area (this doesn't have the San Diego fires on it)--I live in Van Nuys, which is about 2/3 down the page on the right-hand side, and there's nothing near there. The school is in Santa Clarita, which is at the top of the page, with all the fires clustered there. I was commenting to Colin last night that I've never been so grateful that I couldn't find an apartment closer to school!

The sky is actually quite clear where I am, but I've seen pictures of the sky up in Santa Clarita, and it's incredibly smoky. Last night, I couldn't see it, since it was dark when I got there, but I could definitely feel it on my throat and eyes.

So... that's the latest, at least on my end of things. I'm in no danger. If work is threatened, I won't go in tonight; if it's not, I will. I don't know when the school will be open--we've had really strong winds that have been making it hard for firefighters to make headway, and they're supposed to last through tomorrow. That's been part of what's been starting all the new fires--the winds are picking up embers and carrying them to new areas, but hopefully as the wind dies down, they can get things under control.

So... the school's closed today. There are major wildfires over much of Southern California, including one affecting Santa Clarita. The school hasn't been touched by it, but most of the schools in the area are closed, there are a ton of road closures, and people are being evacuated.

I'm supposed to work tonight; I'll call closer to my shift and find out if the store is open or whether I should bother coming in. From what I can tell, the fire isn't putting the store/school (which are right across the street from each other) in immediate danger, so I wouldn't be in danger by going to work, but we'll see what it's like tonight.

As for school... they should let us know by late afternoon whether the school will be open tomorrow.

Right now, my most immediate concern is the fact that my readings for Wednesday's class are at school, and I need to post my response on the class' wiki page by 11:00 tonight. I know it's not a huge deal, and I'm sure I won't be penalized because of the extenuating circumstances, but I feel like a dolt for leaving it until the last minute, rather than bringing home the readings and doing them over the weekend. Heh.

Picspam first, real entry later!

( Lots of pictures, right this way )

Some more pictures from the last week or so, beginning with the road trip:

( Lots of pictures under the cut )

Ah, sigh. It seems like I'm almost always complaining about fighting with cardboard boxes. I'm really hoping I stay here for a good long while, though. This is a nice apartment, Mariah seems like she'll be a good roommate, and I'm ready to not pack again for a very long time.

The road trip was relatively uneventful, in the best way possible. We got started a little later than we'd wanted to on Friday morning, but other than that, there weren't too many delays. The border crossing went smoothly, although it took about an hour, mostly because there was a long line of cars, so it took a good half-hour to get to the station, and then we had to go inside to process the paperwork to import the car. Everything was incredibly smooth, though--there was no problem bringing my trailer full of stuff across the border, and the car was fine, too, so we were through there pretty quickly, relatively speaking.

We got to Salt Lake City at around 1 a.m., but the second day of driving was a little bit shorter, so we didn't have to leave until around 9, and everything was a little more relaxed. We stopped for lunch in Vegas, and had a couple of hours to walk around there, although not enough time to do much besides eat.

Oh, side note: I so know that I'm dating a choir director--there were a few hours of the road trip that were a flashback to my childhood, listening to Christmas music in August, when my dad was getting the Christmas cantata ready. We spent a few hours with the temperature reading 110 degrees Fahrenheit listening to Christmas music and narrowing Colin's list down from 24 songs to 12 for the cantata.

Anyway, we got to LA at around 9 or so on Saturday night, but it took us a while to find a cheap motel, mostly because we were looking in the wrong places near my apartment. I'd pre-booked the hostel in Salt Lake, but hadn't booked anything for Saturday night, but eventually, we found something. Sunday, again, was a lazy morning--we didn't leave the motel until check-out at 11, and then we went to Denny's for breakfast before heading over and unloading.

The unloading went relatively quickly--Melissa, the girl who moved out, was moving her stuff yesterday, too, so there were a lot of people and a lot of boxes, but we managed. We did a little searching on craigslist and found a set of tables and a couple of chairs, went and picked that up, did a Target run, and started unpacking a few things--mostly dishes, running them all through the dishwasher while we did other stuff.

Today, we spent the morning driving around--dropping off the U-Haul, driving to the school and around that area, looking for a car wash, going to the cell phone store, and going grocery shopping, and then I've spent all afternoon unpacking. It's getting there--I'm actually very close to being finished. The kitchen is done, and my bedroom is close... there are a few things that I don't need, so they'll go down into the storage unit, and once those are all gone, it'll look less cluttered and I can get the last few things done.

I was complaining a little bit about how much I hate having boxes around, and how I just want to get rid of them as soon as possible, and Colin came into the bedroom and looked around at how much stuff was actually unpacked and put away already, and his comment was, "Good lord--it's only been one day!"

But yeah. We're getting there. Tomorrow, we have to go back to Verizon to finish setting up the phone--getting my new number and adding Colin to my plan... the phone bill will be much cheaper if we've got a family share plan and our calls to each other are free! Orientation starts tomorrow, too, but fortunately, I don't think I've got to be there until 11:30 or so, so it won't be a super rushed morning. Sometime this week, we've got to get the emissions test done on the car, I've got to take my driver's test, we need to register the car, we've got to go to the bank, and I'm probably forgetting a thousand other little things.

The goal is to have everything finished by Friday, though. Saturday is Colin's birthday, so we want to just sit around the apartment, watch movies, and do nothing. Mariah's out of town at a wedding, so we're just going to relax and take it easy. Between now and then, though, there's more than plenty to do.

Right now, though, I'm finished unpacking for the day. Colin's making supper, and we're going to eat a late supper in front of the TV and then go to bed.