A Fresh Start
I am so very, very tired at this moment but it is a good tired. It's the kind of tired that makes you want to sleep in all day, or stretch every single muscle in your body with relief. The kind of tired that makes you feel good, even if all you want to do is simply sit down. This is what happens when you move up to the third floor of a new apartment. Yes, with a little help from my roommate, I have resolved the housing situation that I was in and have taken up a new residence at an apartment complex right up the road from my old place.
On Saturday I woke up and with the help of several friends from around town and from work, my roommate and I were finished moving before noon. It was a lot of work but I think it was fun for everyone involved, or at least as much fun as moving can be. I must say the whole experience has humbled me and for the first time I think I feel like Raleigh could be a home for me. It is amazing what a little support from your friends can do for your outlook on life, for the first time in weeks I felt like there was hope for me here. As each new person showed up to offer their time and their strength to help I was deeply moved and extremely thankful. I realized that I was accepted here and there were still a few good people to be found in Raleigh. Of course it wasn't all gumdrops and sugar rainbows, it was a lot of hard work and words cannot express my gratitude to the friends who were able to help out, whether it was a little or a lot, I am thankful for you all!
So where am I? I am still in Raleigh, not even a mile from where I was living before actually. I have a little one bedroom apartment close to the pool and fitness center. So far it has been very quiet, with hardly any noise from the parking lot or my neighbors. I was a little unsure about it when I first saw it, it is the smallest place I have lived and it was overlooking the parking lot, which could get noisy. It came highly recommended from my roommates girlfriend who lives here as well and was probably the best deal without going completely ghetto. So far it feels like a good match, the more time I spend here the more I like it, the tenants say “Hi,” and the apartment is bright and coming together nicely. I did have to sign a year lease though but I learned that breaking a contract (if my job goes south and I have to go elsewhere) is not nearly as harsh as it was in Georgia. All in all I am very happy with the place, even if getting all my stuff arranged the way I wanted it involved a life sized game of Tetris.
The old crap hole I lived in before is now gone. After I moved my stuff my old roommate and I returned and shoveled out the trash and scrubbed the place down. We finished decontamination on Sunday, one day before we were supposed to be completely gone (yeah I was down to the wire in that move!). Monday the old roomy will turn in the keys and we will have nothing more to do with the place. Good riddance I say. Since I moved I haven't seen a single bug (except the two dead ones inside my stuff) and I haven't had any arrogant HOA jackholes tell me how to park my car or use my grill.
I really do feel like this is the dawning of a new chance at life here in the RAL. I am again on my own, so I have no excuses for not being able to write; I have good friends and boundless opportunities to meet new people. My church is within walking distance, an asian market is across the street and the pizza guy already knows my new address, what else could a man want.
Over the next week I will begin nesting, getting all my stuff put in order and pulled out of boxes and getting my internet hooked back up. Then it's back to waiting on news about the job. This week we learned a piece of good news, which was quashed by two pieces of bad news! Good times. I am not to worried about it now though, my biggest concern was having a place to live and now that I have that locked down there's not much else I can do except try and live my life. I'm done with letting my potentially bad work situation ruin the rest of my day. When news comes I will hear it and if I need to, I will be ready to act upon it. Until then folks, Sayonara!
