The Move... With a Capital M... For Murder?

This past weekend my friends and I moved into our new place.  And really... I could say it went smooth like butter.  That it was a beautiful experience where all of us learned a little more about each other and grew as people.

The reality though is that it was a a lot of work.  Hot, swear-riddled, foot stubbing, heel blistering, heavy lifting work that I never thought would be over.  I think one of my friends best summed it up with:

"This would be over already if you didn't live in a freaking fortress of solitude." 

Which was the main main reason for my move here.  I lived much further from work than was acceptable and this place was much closer.  

Like clockwork, I was having to trek back and forth between the old and new apartments much more than I care to admit (I believe it was 8-10 trips, but I may have exaggerated the memory in my mind).  But let us all go back to day one... A Sunday morning...

It all started out simple enough, I had arrived at the office bright and early at 10:15 AM.  After all, who wants to drag a move out with the Texas heat and everything?  Only to find out... their offices don't open till 1 PM!!  I can't stress this enough.  They don't open their doors early on a weekend at the end of a month when people are obviously going to be moving.

This was just one more irritation that would need to be stifled later... with a milkshake.  But that was fine, I just had a slow start for the morning with the new roommates.  Once 1 rolled around we all headed to the office to pick up our keys and get the move started.  At this point the office said that it looked like we owed them more money.  Naturally my first instinct was to say, "FOR WHAT?... ahem I mean, for what?"  I almost leapt across the table and needed someone to call the police with a list of demands.  

Let me pause here for a moment to explain my strong reaction.  This apartment management has made the signing of this lease sooooo lengthy.  My friend, the DJ, who has lived at his complex for 6 YEARS, was instructed that they would not let us sign the lease until they did the walk through of his apartment.  Which struck me as odd.  If we were coming from a different complex they wouldn't walk that apartment. We just wanted them to treat us as new leasers if they weren't going to give current resident any preferential treatment.  Why on earth would they need that stipulation?  Then, when the DJ (a notoriously clean person to begin with) was ready for them to do the walkthrough, they didn't let him schedule it with them.  They would just get to it when they could.  You know.. no rush.  It wasn't like my lease was ending in a couple weeks or anything.

This, on top of a couple other boring but still equally confusing (and irritating) slip-ups on their part, is why I was so quick to start reaching for the gun I don't own, nor know how to use.

After navigating those turbulent waters we then started the whole moving process of back and forth, lift and turn, drive and park, shove and pull.

Most notably, though, my couch was the most nerve wracking experience of all (at least in my mind).  One very unwieldy sleeper sofa and a love seat do not make for a stress free move, even when the DJ's boyfriend (lovingly referred to as White Guy #1) was kind enough to lend his truck and his expertise for the endeavor.

The 15 minute drive from my place to the new apartment ,with the couches, were wrought with.. Is it slipping? is that a cop? is this stacked too high?  We are sooo country/ghetto...  Look a squirrel!  Focus John.. focus.  Make sure the truck doesn't tip over...

After we finally got that all settled, there were still a number of things to handle but the rest of the evening seemed to go smoothly after that.  I am still unpacking a few boxes, and I'm sure that as the number of unpacked boxes dwindle further, my drive will shrivel into nothing and that last box will be unpacked sometime in February.

I'll end this post to the surprise helper with the Move (shout out to the Diva)!  Hope everyone had a good week/weekend!