Plague Diary: Quick Update

[lydy]

I have completed my first week of work and I have moved house.  It's been eventful.  The first week of work was pretty rocky.  While there were some high points, there were a lot of very low ones.  I have hopes that this next week will be better.  

I paid (overpaid, but it was so worth it) a very nice young man to carry all my things down the stairs, and then into the new apartment.  Although I was very tired, I then found that I absolutely had to unpack.  Which I did.  It took me a couple of hours, but everything is where it goes, more or less.  The new apartment is a basement apartment.  The house is simultaneously dilapidated and well-loved.  The apartment is adorable, but nothing is either level nor true.  The ceiling...does not bear thinking about, so I don't.  It's a drop ceiling with mismatching panels, some discolored, and several of which look like they don't quite fit.  But, well, none are falling down, so that's fine.  The bathroom is small, but functional.  The kitchen is better than my old kitchen, with a lot more storage space.  The bedroom is fine, but the bed is harder than the last one, and it hurts my back.  Hopefully, I will adjust.  There are a lot more outlets in this apartment than the last one.  The entire apartment feels like a place that someone with very little money but a great deal of care and industry has invested a lot of time and thought.  

Today, I have accomplished groceries (including the necessaries for both shakshuka and mimosas), done PT, and am picked up my bike.  Cleveland today was beautiful in that very early spring sort of way, with the sunlight made of crystal, the air tasting of sparkling wine, and the wind made of knives.  The lake effect wind is truly something, bright and cruel.  But the apartment is cozy, and I think I shall be happy, here.  

I have noticed that Pittsburgh is a plausible day-trip from here.  I believe I shall, some Sunday, make said trip.  Lords, but I love Pittsburgh.  I might also take a quick trip to Akron, someday.  Just to drive around.  Love me some Rust Belt cities, I tell you what.

I am still not vaccinated, but have established that 1) as a direct health care worker, I'm eligible, and 2) Cuyahoga county has run out of vaccine, and 3) there is a waiting list, which I am now on.  

I miss my cats.  I miss my David.  But life is not terrible, at the moment, just challenging as fuck.

Comments

[pameladean]

So glad the move is done and you think the apartment will do. I wonder if some kind of foam mattress topper would make the bed more comfortable without costing a fortune. Obviously you really want the waterbed, but, well.

I am sorry about the low points and hope they go away.

P.

[naomikritzer]

Fingers crossed you rise to the top of the waitlist swiftly.

[guppiecat]

Glad things are looking up.

If you wind up going to Akron, the zoo is substantially better than I expected. I can't speak to the rest of Akron, because I spent the entire day at the zoo. Nice zoo. Good animals.

[lydy]

Any idea about the Cleveland Zoo? I see signs for it when I drive about.

[guppiecat]

I haven't made it to that one yet. I have heard good things about the Detroit Zoo.

I've been to the Columbus Zoo, which is really good, but also more theme-parky than most zoos. I've also been to The Wilds (2h away), which is like an Ohio version of the San Diego Safari Park. It's excellent, but you have to pay for a private tour if you want the full experience, so it's pretty pricey.

[quadong]

Your apartment sounds lovely!

[lydy]

Lovely is not the word that I would use. Homey, certainly. Tidy. (A wee bit musty, if you are on the floor doing PT for your back.) Furnished from Good will, certainly. Well thought out, but lovely kind of assumes a level of beauty that this place simply does not aspire to. (Although the artwork is less dire than the last place. The still life with penises was quite the thing.)

[quadong]

I once stayed at a place for a physics thing that came with bread in the shape of a penis. It was quite the thing.

[lydy]

I...what...WHY!!!!

(and people wonder why smart women leave physics!)

[quadong]

I hasten to clarify that the bread was not created by physicists, but came as a mantelpiece decoration in a house we rented that probably had never been rented by physicists before.

We did have a woman in the group, who has since left physics, but to be a science writer, so she didn't leave too far. She presented as amused by the penis bread.

[lydy]

I am DEEPLY RELIEVED to hear that it was not created by your peers. If it had been me, I'd have presented as amused, also, because damn, what other option is there? But I would also have been distressed to be faced by this in a professional environment. (In a non-professional environment, I would have been amused as fuck, but equally bewildered that anybody thought that was a good idea.)

[bibliofile]

Yay for paying gig, moving house successfully, and a decent place to live.

Here's hoping that things get a little easier, now.

[thewayne]

I'm glad it's working out for you thus far! Continued crossage of crossable things in your direction.

If replacing the mattress is not viable, and I know they're bloody expensive things, a friend of mine gave us a Tempurpedic foam mattress topper that helped our bed. For us, it wasn't a comfort thing: we had a spring or two popping through! We really ought to replace the damn thing, but now the springs aren't a problem. ;-)