June 30th, 2010
The apartment complex that I currently live in has a really odd atmosphere. It’s almost like a retirement home, but way cooler. Roughly half the apartments in the complex are rented by people over age 60. When we moved in, there were only two children in the whole place, which is +140 units!
What does my complex have that yours probably doesn’t?
- 102.9 Lite FM is piped through the hallways during the daytime. Yes, just the daytime. It is turned off every night around 8pm or so.
- A ‘Take-a-book/Leave-a-book’ bookcase full of old treasures. Today I scored a 6th edition (from 1961) copy of 500 Recipes by Request: From Mother Anderson’s Famous Dutch Kitchens. Awesome. *grin*
- A pretty good sized group of women does a Tai Chi exercise VHS tape together in the lobby some evenings. This ‘community benefit’ is not advertised anywhere. I think it’s a by-invite-only kind of thing. I find it totally adorable.
- Jigsaw puzzles sometimes appear in the lobby for tenants to put together. I’ve been so tempted to kidnap a few pieces for a couple of days, just to see if anyone notices! I’ve been good though.
- Cheap laundry!! A wash cycle is $1.00, and a dry cycle is $0.50. An entire load is clean for just $1.50! Around here that’s nearly unheard of!! It’s probably because half the renters can remember back to when it cost $0.25 to wash. At least one person has lived here since the place opened in the early 60′s.
I’m sure I’ve missed a few things, but those are the big ones. I’m really quite glad we moved here. The location isn’t perfect, only having close access to one bus line, but it’s totally homey and cool here. (Is it homey or homy? Google results seem to suggest it is both!? They’re listed as variants of each other… it’s an infinite loop!)
Tags: Moving, People Watching, Twin Cities
Posted in Memories
June 28th, 2010
Starting next Monday I’ll be working full time as the store’s Payroll Clerk. It’ll be kind of nice to get an increase in hours, and two days off every week, but it will mean my work days are considerably longer than they have been recently. It’s going to take me a while to get used to going to bed a little earlier and getting up before 6am most days. I’d much rather get an earlier start than have my whole afternoon sucked away by work though. I’d hoped to be able to work half-days on Sunday, but right now that won’t be possible. Maybe when summer is over and the temp workers start leaving..? Well, it will be easier to take the occasional vacation day on non-critical Sundays, so that helps.
Anyway, it will be soooo nice to have Saturdays off. I’ll be able to see my friend Mara during the day for a change! And I might get to do things with my brother too! And, since I work in retail, having Saturdays off is sort of a big deal – that’s the busiest day of the week, and I don’t have to be there! I can’t remember the last time I regularly had a weekend day off. It was probably a couple of months after I moved up to the Cities in 2000, when I got my first ‘real’ job. Crazy!
Of course, me being me, whenever I have to make a change in my schedule I consider trying to sneak other changes in, hoping I won’t notice them so much. For example, since I’m changing my bedtime anyway, why not make it even earlier so I can read every night? Or, why not start doing sit-ups and eating breakfast each morning? Or packing a lunch instead of spending money at work? Most of my little fantasies of change just get lost in the reality of life, and that’s ok. I can always think about it again next time I make a pattern change.
Tags: Family, Friends, Personality, Work
Posted in Ordinary
June 23rd, 2010
She’s so stinkin’ cute! This first one is from her one month birthday…
And this one was taken a week later…
The sad news is that she’s moving to Ohio, 800 miles away from here, at 6am tomorrow morning. I miss her already! *cry*
Tags: Family
Posted in Pictures
June 16th, 2010
Jon, Joe and I went to The Chatterbox Pub for dinner yesterday. It was tasty, as usual. I probably won’t order the grilled cheese again though, because their focaccia bread just doesn’t work right for that type of sandwich. It doesn’t get that crusty, buttery crunch that makes grilled cheese so divine! Sad, right? The Bora Bora Brew and tomato dill soup were more than enough to make up for the sandwich though. Yum! Next time I might try the Breakfast BLT, cause that sounds really good. I also need to have the ribs someday!
While we were there, we got out a game called Zobmondo: Would You Rather…? and went through a few of the cards. Now, I’ve never bothered with the actual game play, so I can’t recommend that, but the question cards are a lot of fun. It’s really interesting to hear what other people would choose! The questions go a bit like this:
Would You Rather…
Spend the evening with a person to whom you’re very sexually attracted but when you’re extremely tired, dirty, and sweaty from a long day of work
-OR-
Just go home and watch TV?
and
Would You Rather…
Have nine lives
-OR-
Three wishes (excluding extra lives, immortality, invincibility, or more wishes)?
It’s fascinating to hear people justify their answers, and to contemplate why I pick what I pick. These types of questions, while often silly and preposterous, help me determine what my values and preferences truly are. It’s easy for me to say something like “Learning is important to me”, but when faced with a question of which I’d rather do: Go to the library to study a subject I like -OR- Go see the new movie I’ve been looking forward to, I’ll often pick the movie! I really enjoy visual stimulation and entertainment. I like fantasy and escapism.
My day to day preferences, and what I may say my priorities are, are often in conflict. This is not a bad thing to discover. It could help me refocus my priorities on things I’ll actually accomplish. Things that are a better fit with my daily preferences. I’ll just have to keep asking myself that question: Would I Rather…?
Tags: Food, Friends, Games, Twin Cities
Posted in Ordinary
