citizen of the planet

Just like I stated last year, at this time of year I have a tendency to avoid doing these run down type posts.  I tend to do these on my birthday, and usually it’s enough.  Thing is, I think for a year like this a little bit of navel-gazing is necessary.  There’s a lot of talk about this year being a tough one.  By and large, yes, it was tough.  With all of the doom and gloom, it can be easy for me to sink into a dark place.  There are, however, enough reasons for me to look up and forward.  That’s why it’s important for me to see what I’ve gone through.

This is one heck of an entry, so I’m placing it after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

The whole condo process has been pretty long and drawn out: years in the making, really.  As such, each time I reached a new milestone, as much as each was pretty cool, they didn’t really hype the excitement level by a particularly large amount.  OK sure, settling on a mortgage was a big event in my life, but it doesn’t have that…punch.  Know what I mean?  Well, finally, something has come along that kind of has that big wow factor.  This morning I went through my PDI (pre-delivery inspection).  Prior to this date, I could only imagine how the condo would look.  I knew the layout, and what finishes I chose.  I had a nice image in my mind, but at the same time it was all rather nebulous.  This PDI was my chance to take those images and crystallize them in my head.

I parked my car by the station and walked to the building.  As I walked along side, I could see that there were people already living on the lower floors.  Some of the windows already had blinds.  Some suites had furniture.  I don’t think I saw anyone in the units, but perhaps people living on the ground level have just gotten good at camouflage.  Heh.  Well, it’s not like I was staring in.  Anyway, I felt rather dwarfed by the building.  I usually just drive by it, so I never really had a chance to get a sense of the building’s size.  It’s not so tall that the proportion of concrete and steel to human is overwhelming.  See, the building is only a few floors high–it’s not overwhelming at all.  The result is that…it’s like…the building is in the realm of stuff that I can still compare myself to.  As a result, it feels massive.  Did that make sense at all?  It’s kind of hard to explain.

As I neared the front entrance, I saw a woman in a hardhat waiting by the front entrance.  I presumed that she was the inspector that would be accompanying me.  Indeed she was.  I shook her hand and in we went.  She told me that this would be more of an orientation than anything else.  As I entered the lobby, that’s when it really started hitting me: wow…I’m going to be living here very shortly.  HOLY CRAP.  I had my bag with me.  I was smart enough to carry my camera with me so I asked if I would start taking pictures.  She obliged and let me start snapping at this and that.  I was a freaking kid in a candy store.  Look at that!  What’s that over there?  Oh! Oh! Oh! Really, can you blame me?  She took me around the lobby area and showed me the mailboxes and the garbage area.  The interior really felt spacious.  I was expecting something a little bit more cramped, but I was pleasantly surprised.  I was also kind of disoriented.  My mind was overloaded, really.  She took me to the basement to see my parking spot.  It’s my luck that I got a great spot close to the elevator bay.  Whoo! As much as the basements were interesting though, they weren’t the reason I came.  Soon enough we were on our way to my suite.

When we got to my floor, the first thing I noticed was that the area by the elevators was spacious!  No kidding.  The ceilings were high and there was enough room to swing a cat if I wanted to.  There I was still snapping photos of this and that when the inspector allowed me to be the one to open the door to my unit.  I’d forgotten how I was in close proximity to the elevator.  In my mind I imagined the hallways to be cramped, but no, this building is pretty decent.  Anyway, as my hand reached for the knob, I could feel my heart beginning to race.  With a good turn, I opened the door, and whoooooa.  I was floored.

All of the imagined images were shattered at that moment.  What I saw was a bright, spacious, and well-dressed unit.  No kidding.  The hardwood floors, the selections I made for the kitchen, the tiles, the countertop–it all just came together.  Before I saw all of the upgrades as kind of just bits and pieces here and there.  I made some damn good choices though.  In the unit was one of the many tradespeople around the building site.  He told me that everything looked really great.  Sure, it’s sort of his job to say that, but the way he said it made me believe him.  He said that it was a good size and good look for a single guy.  I agree.  The inspector said that the kitchen look was very masculine, and yet a woman could live there.  Looks like I struck the perfect balance then.

She took me through the rooms and explained all of the controls in detail.  I was listening intently, but to be honest there was just so much information that I couldn’t retain it all.  Luckily she left me with enough reading material to last me a long while.  I just couldn’t get over the fact that all of that would be mine in short time.  According to that widget on the right: 6 days.

When it was all over, and all of the forms were signed, I left in a mild state of shock.  I mean, I was still trying to process everything that I had seen.  Really was a lot to take in in the span of an hour.  This whole home-ownership thing is reality.  There really is no question about it anymore.  Seriously, next week is going to be one hell of a week.

My mind has just been overflowing with thoughts over the past day or two, and really there’s nothing to point to except for the whole deal about me moving out. Last night I was kept awake just thinking about the possibilities. I entirely blame the hyperactivity on all of the mortgage talk over Thursday and Friday. I suppose all of that just drilled the idea home (ha!) that in a little over a month I will be a home owner.  That’s just utterly insane.  Am I mentally ready for such a leap?  Can I survive under the new burdens that I’m going to put myself under?  Well, if I answer “no” to any of these questions then I better damn well figure out a way to get myself ready.  I’ve started this runaway process, and there’s no way to stop it short of doing a “kill -9″ or some equivalent.

Sorry, was that geeky?  Did anyone get that reference?  I can pretend to know Unix, but really, I know jack squat.

Anyway, that’s only part of why my mind was buzzing.  I was actually playing out scenarios of sorts, trying to figure out what to take with me and what to leave behind.  I’m somewhat fortunate in the sense that even if I leave something behind I will live close enough to my parents that any retrieving or returning will be somewhat simple.  Even so, having to move big items more than once would be tough.  Originally I was thinking that I wanted to leave most furniture items here and just get all new stuff for the place.  That’s all well and good.  I mean, it means that moving will actually be a light job and that I won’t require much help with things.  I guess the thing is: I’m not sure why it didn’t click for me just how expensive such a plan was.  Duh!  Will I have that much free cash to make such a decision to get all new stuff?  Even if I did, it wouldn’t be the wisest of decisions.

I eventually came around and decided that taking my mattress and box spring would be prudent.  The parents can just replace the bed if they need something to go in my room for guests.  I will also probably take the computer desk in the other room.  The one in my room–the one this laptop is currently resting on–is pretty beat up and ugly.  The other one is decent and won’t be a mess to move.  Do I want to take the extra dining table with me?  I don’t know because the light wood will probably clash with the dark flooring.  Can I afford to be picky?  I don’t know.  Long ago my mom offered to bring home boxes from the hospital for the sake of packing things.  I balked at the thought.  Why would I do that?  Well, in all likelihood the boxes she’d bring back would be from boxes of adult diapers.  See, in a hospital full of seniors those would be the most common.  I just thought it’d be weird to carry around boxes labelled with Depends on the outside.  After much thought last night I decided to just say “screw it” and get the free boxes if available.  A box is a box, right?

See, I indulged the idealistic free-spending part of the mind for a while.  It’s now time to suppress it for a bit and let the pragmatic saving side do it’s thing.

Of course, the move is still a month away.  I still need to get through my inspection.  OOOH, that will be damn exciting.  It’ll be my first chance to see the suite mostly put together.  Still.  The way things are rolling, July will fly by and then August will bring many many changes to my life.  I’ll be ready one way or another.

Less than a month ago I wrote about the upcoming info session regarding my new condo. Well, that meeting happened earlier this evening and let me tell you, I am now going to allow myself to start to get excited. I know I’ve been hesitant and all, but gosh, it’s all starting to really look like there will no longer be any delays in construction. It looks like my moving date of August 5 will truly hold.

Why am I making these statements? At my table, I got to meet a couple of great people also moving into the building. They were telling me stories of how they went into the building and got to see how all the counter tops were already done and the cabinets were in place. It’s supposed to be pretty great. Now, all of that is just surprising to me. I’ve stated that I park by the building, so I see it almost daily. From the outside it’s not obvious that all of these changes are happening. I only see the outside, and from that it looks like progress is slow. I mean, the exteriors are up but there’s not much you can see there in terms of obvious differences. All of this time that was hiding all of the magic going on within.

One day, I really want to go in and see if I can give my unit a visit with camera in hand. The widget on the blog says I have two months left.

Holy crap! It’s coming! I have a postal code! I have to get a lawyer! Mortgage hunting soon!

That’s a lot of exclamation marks!