Tomorrow night, I will be in Nevada, which is surreal and not totally comprehensible at the moment (but that may be the champagne talking). Today was my last full day in the city of sin (with the exception of a v. brief 48-hour layover in January), and it was a lot of work and a lot of stress and a lot of fun and a lot of weird emotional upheaval and a lot of joy.
The work came first, of course - I got less than five hours of sleep, and then woke up and kept packing. I don't remember my last move being this bad, despite having a much bigger space - but maybe I blocked the trauma out of my memories. But it all wasn't helped by losing access to my car for several hours - I dropped it off at Toyota to get them to change the coolant and add antifreeze to my windshield fluid, and they checked the tires and verified that everything was good, and they also installed the new wiper blades that I'd bought and not had a chance to install. However, that meant that I couldn't take things to storage today...
...which was for the best, since the cleaners I hired were an hour late and also took an hour longer than I'd estimated to do the job. But the apartment is cleaner than I've ever seen it (except for all the stuff that needs to go to storage/Iowa), and so when they were gone, I picked up my car, and then I ordered takeout from Dosa and took a brief nap on the couch while watching the sun through the amazingly clear windows.
Then I rallied and took a shower and made myself up, and then I got a manicure to repair the ravages of the move. Then, I met up with Vidya - we walked down to the Marina together, where we had a delightful early dinner with Claudia (aka Santy Claude - 'tis the Season!) at Bistro Aix (one of my favorites), where I ordered a bottle of Ridge to punish Vidya for something that I don't even remember right now.
Then we proceeded to Nectar, where I'd arranged for a semi-private party for the evening. Claudia and Vidya and I had wine there until Vidya left, but then the party picked up quickly - a bunch of people rolled in at once, including Katrina, Anthony and Dormain, Jen, Joann, Jane, Peder (aka Timmy Timer), Suzy, and Carolyn. They were followed by Lauren (my old boss from ten years ago), Jenni, and Jesse; Tom, Julie, and Deano; Raja Shah; Justin; Lauren (aka Subz); Sam (Claudia's boyfriend); Rajiv and Sheila; and Oniel (who came despite having to drive over from Castro Valley, which is a real feat).
So that was all totally delightful. I can't recount all the conversations here...I talked a lot about Spinster Honeymoon, and a little bit about Rilla of Ingleside (with Sheila, whom Katie and I would consider to be the race of Joseph), and nearly got lured into an argument between Tom and Julie about generalizations, and made an aborted attempt at a candle ceremony, and tried to convince as many people as possible to come to Bali with me.
But now, I'm desperate for sleep...there's no way that I'll get out of here in time to avoid driving in the dark, which is almost better since I can't see the cliffs if it's dark. So I'm going to get as much sleep as possible so that I'm fresh for the drive - goodnight!
The work came first, of course - I got less than five hours of sleep, and then woke up and kept packing. I don't remember my last move being this bad, despite having a much bigger space - but maybe I blocked the trauma out of my memories. But it all wasn't helped by losing access to my car for several hours - I dropped it off at Toyota to get them to change the coolant and add antifreeze to my windshield fluid, and they checked the tires and verified that everything was good, and they also installed the new wiper blades that I'd bought and not had a chance to install. However, that meant that I couldn't take things to storage today...
...which was for the best, since the cleaners I hired were an hour late and also took an hour longer than I'd estimated to do the job. But the apartment is cleaner than I've ever seen it (except for all the stuff that needs to go to storage/Iowa), and so when they were gone, I picked up my car, and then I ordered takeout from Dosa and took a brief nap on the couch while watching the sun through the amazingly clear windows.
Then I rallied and took a shower and made myself up, and then I got a manicure to repair the ravages of the move. Then, I met up with Vidya - we walked down to the Marina together, where we had a delightful early dinner with Claudia (aka Santy Claude - 'tis the Season!) at Bistro Aix (one of my favorites), where I ordered a bottle of Ridge to punish Vidya for something that I don't even remember right now.
Then we proceeded to Nectar, where I'd arranged for a semi-private party for the evening. Claudia and Vidya and I had wine there until Vidya left, but then the party picked up quickly - a bunch of people rolled in at once, including Katrina, Anthony and Dormain, Jen, Joann, Jane, Peder (aka Timmy Timer), Suzy, and Carolyn. They were followed by Lauren (my old boss from ten years ago), Jenni, and Jesse; Tom, Julie, and Deano; Raja Shah; Justin; Lauren (aka Subz); Sam (Claudia's boyfriend); Rajiv and Sheila; and Oniel (who came despite having to drive over from Castro Valley, which is a real feat).
So that was all totally delightful. I can't recount all the conversations here...I talked a lot about Spinster Honeymoon, and a little bit about Rilla of Ingleside (with Sheila, whom Katie and I would consider to be the race of Joseph), and nearly got lured into an argument between Tom and Julie about generalizations, and made an aborted attempt at a candle ceremony, and tried to convince as many people as possible to come to Bali with me.
But now, I'm desperate for sleep...there's no way that I'll get out of here in time to avoid driving in the dark, which is almost better since I can't see the cliffs if it's dark. So I'm going to get as much sleep as possible so that I'm fresh for the drive - goodnight!
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