Made it to Oostburg!

Little video update for you:

Update on the subletter: Keaton and Cher have VERY generously offered to show the apartment to a couple of people I've already set appointments up for tonight and tomorrow. We'll get this done.

In the meantime, Munchkin is just living like a queen in her basement with a new bed, scratching rug, litter box and her food/water all fresh.

So, day one of the adventure is off to a good, if not initially extremely rocky, start.

Video post?

If this works, then holy crap are there going to be little video journal entries to come :)

Ramblin' Man

Finally getting a second to sit down and relax a bit after a frantic couple of days.
Managed to find a subletter, seems like a fine fellow. For the rest of yesterday it was packing, packing and more packing. Amanda and I got through our clothes and now its down to furniture and final bits (including Munchkin). We even took an impromptu trip up to Oostburg to take the first round of things. This means Sunday will be our last night in Chicago.
Pretty crazy to think about that after two plus years of living in the city but its almost adventure time!
Lots of driving getting ready for even more driving. Thank goodness its good company and there are sushi lunches and after-driving stretches and workouts. Amanda has decided to start working out a bit more and that means more for me! That'll be fun, she always has interesting dance things to show me and they're fun to learn.

Running like a chicken....

Full day of spending WAY more money then I was expecting on Appa today before driving him to another repair shop.

Sigh...just bleeding money here. But since I got the RV for a song in the first place, this is still a reasonably small investment. Amanda is being an absolute doll and offering to pay some of my lunches for the next couple days.

Came back to Chicago for a first performance for an audience of Sirena. Great response but I think once costume and makeup are added to more confidence and energy, this show will absolutely blow everyone's socks off. Stay tuned!

Last night of D&D. I am going to miss this house and these friends more than I can say.

One week to go and the nerves are definitely settling in. I'm getting very nervous about this whole thing and just want it to happen and stop worrying and scurrying making multiple lists and intentions.

Hopefully I can find a subletter soon and then just pack up.

Ready to hit the road. Lets just do this!

I'm in a hurry...

Driving home from St. Louis yesterday, I heard an old Alabama song I hadn't heard in years. "I'm in a Hurry" was one of my favorite songs (I think Heather played it all the time while I was growing up) and I know I used to sing it all the time.

It was my first dose of realization that sometimes you take a step back and realize that you're rushing around and around at such a high pace and sometimes you just wonder why. Singing along with it in my car again literally brought a tear to my eye as I realized that I'm no longer the little boy belted in the backseat of a black Mazda van on my way to school/soccer/karate/piano, but a grown-up boy who still wants to sing his nuts off when a song hits him just right.

Here's a link for you, give it a listen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6slibTD9MF0

Ok, sappy memory over. Back to purchasing license plates for Appa, loading up the storage pod my loving parents lovingly donated to our cause, getting an oil change for Optimus Prius, checking in with the RV engine repair place, setting up an appointment for RV windshield, cleaning the apartment, finding a subletter, selling a computer I don't need, packing, driving to Oostburg tonight, and finishing this meatball sub that's looking at me so tenderly.

I'm in a hurry and know EXACTLY why.....

Heading home from home

All done here in St. Louis and going to be driving back to Chicago. Then tomorrow driving up to Oostburg again to check on Appa and hopefully send him in for the rest of his repair work!
Lots of traveling, gotta make sure yoga happens to prevent stiffness and my laziness anxiety!

Oh and here's a picture of Winky, my family's one-eyed cat mentioned before.

And my dog Rowlf cause I always miss the bejesus out of him.

Home shweet home

Made the trek through the inclement Chicago weather (I heard they got about 6 inches last night, glad I left when I did!) to get back to Edwardsville (just outside St. Louis) to see my family. Before we head out on our wonderful adventure, I wanted to spend as much time as possible at home seeing everyone. There's a chance I won't see them as often as when I was in Chicago, there's also an outside chance I might see them more! Only time will tell but it still feels like a big uprooting and the little kid in me just wants to stay with my family (mamma's boy that I am....)

Of course this means my usual constant dull throb of frantic mental activity. Keeping up with my family is kind of like sitting in on an episode of the West Wing. We're constantly moving and all talking over, around and through one another. This can of course lead to irritations, hurt feelings, verbal altercations and just general stress. Oh yeah, and we have 4 cats and 3 dogs in the apartment that need constant attention/food/affection/brushing/trimming.  Truth is, I wouldn't trade it for anything else; it's family, the goods and the bads.

My little brothers seem to be doing quite well. Halstead, the middle boy, is really making a great push for school and getting into some music mixing. Just brought him a little USB keyboard to use with Garageband and Logic Express. He tends to go through phases and wants on instrument or another at any given time, he'd make a great one man band at this point.

Sterling is still doing his usual combination of fencing/high school and preparing himself to probably become a lawyer. This of course means he has to flex his little logical muscles by arguing every little thing he can find to argue about until you just about want to strangle the kid. This is usually because he's right....

And like I mentioned, there's animals abound! As I write this, our little one-eyed rescue kitten is poking her head out behind the computer screen. She was saved by the side of the road and initially named Mirakit (or Mirra for short) because the vet was just able to operate on her infected eye and save her life before she died. So now she's living the life but her left eye is sewn shut. I of course gave her the title "Winky" and despite my family's best efforts at a thoughtful, meaningful, beautiful name, my little quip stuck and Winky it is!

Short, silly, often Yiddish-inspired names for animals is apparently a hidden talent of mine (Winky, Schmutz, etc.)