Some of you may have noticed on my microblogstream (Twitter, Jaiku, etc.), a few posts about getting in touch with my high school sweetheart again. It was very random and ironic since the night before I happened to be doing a typical guy-thing by Googling ex-girlfriends. Although, I evolved my technique that night by moving from Google to Facebook. Lo’ and behold, there I found my girlfriend and, really, my best friend from high school. I looked at her picture, and the fact that she had a new last name (cringe!), and decided not to send her a friend request. She partially represented my past on the east coast (where I once again live). It is a past I have large, bad memories of. Not that my childhood was particularly rough, it was just something I was really quite happy to move on from.

Seeing all of these familiar sites, living in New York, is very surreal. I was excited at first–seeing my first A&P supermarket in about two decades was a strange thrill. Passing the sign pointing to the mall I was a rat in brought warm waves of nostalgia to my heart. For some reason, though, when I got to Manhattan-proper, those waves of nostalgia were replaced with much more negative feelings. It felt like regression, now–like I was “falling” back, instead of simply making a mature, adult choice to move with my wife to the Big Apple so she could pursue a career on Broadway.

The negative feelings got worse when I realized I’d likely have to take a dayjob I really didn’t want to take. I remember, when I was in high school, my step-dad was out of work for a while. I couldn’t understand why he couldn’t just get a job someplace. I understand now a bit more of what he was going through. I’m not an old man (and neither was he), but I do feel like I shouldn’t be doing certain types of jobs at my age–like retail–like temping–like anything entry-level. So, this added insult to injury.

Then throw in CRAZY heat and CRAZIER humidity (and us not having an air conditioner), a landlord who decided the first 6 months we paid up front would cover the last 6 months instead (eventually we worked it out), on top of being in a huge, unfamiliar city (along with a few other things I won’t even go into) and you’ve got a recipe for one depressed ThePete.

Then, there she was–looking a bit older, but still beautiful–not too different from the way I remembered her.
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Sadly, that plan I mentioned yesterday? Well, it got totally shot to hell when we discovered that U-Haul doesn’t have a “free-miles” plan and Penske is only open until 3pm on Saturday and 12 noon on Sunday. Even if we rented the moving van right when they opened, we’d be unable to get the thing back in time. We can’t keep it for more than a day because of the parking issue–where could we park a 17 foot moving van? Oh and can I just say what a dickweed the guy I spoke to at U-Haul was? Man, he made it sound like I was a moron when I asked if there was a way to NOT get charged for miles. As though it was in the Constitution or something.

Wasn’t it Thomas Jefferson who once said: “No man shall get free miles while renting a vehicle that hold his belongings.”

Oh wait, no he didn’t. Damn, I should have gotten the U-Haul jerk’s name.

Anyway, so the NEW plan is to buy an air mattress to sleep on (I’ve had it with our friend’s sofa bed) and use it at the new place Saturday night and until we get our mattress from Jersey. Then clean the new place up after hiring a car service to get most of the stuff we’ve been living with (including the cats) up to our new pad. Sunday we’ll take anything that didn’t make it into the hired car onto the subway (if possible), even if it takes more than one trip. If we have some time, we’ll head down to Pearl River Market (an AMAZING place filled with great Asian-themed home furnishings) and pick up some apartment stuff. Then, Monday morning we spend the day doing the original plan.

On Wednesday, we’ve got the new Ikea in Brooklyn opening, so we’ll head out there for the basic furniture we’ll need (bed frame, couch, book cases, TV stand, kitchen table) and have it delivered. Everything else we need I hope we’ll find at Pearl River or at place nearby called National Wholesale Liquidators, both down in Soho.

Hm, that reminds me–we don’t have a TV–we’ll have to work out a time to pick one up. o_O

Sorry to babble on, but it’s helping me work out what the plan is.

You’d think doing something as simple as moving in would be easier.

…or not.