A place to land and people to call

I am back from a whirlwind trip of educational home hunting in NYC. The weather was like a dog's mouth--hot and breathy. Graham and I arrived Sunday morning in NYC, bleary eyed from a delayed red eye, during a torential rainstorm, thanks to the outskirts of the hurricanes. Heat & humidity we'd planned on, but not raging rain, thunder, & lightening. Regardless, we made it to my friend Nate's apartment, and gratefully passed out for about 4 hours. Later, we emerged, feeling like chocolate bars left out in the heat--a little too soft to do anything with.

The next day we spent the day going back & forth from the cool library of the City University, calling and checking e-mails, to hot apartments in Brooklyn. We saw one apartment we liked, and another we didn't. Both seemed a little remote. We learned right away the difference between Williamsburg and EAST Williamsburg. One is as cute (or as annoying)as Drew Barrymore, with a personality to match. Another is remote with crumbling buildings and overhanging subway lines. We saw my dream apartment, but it was in the middle of nowhere, and a long walk through a sketchy neighborhood to get there. Dang it!

With our time quickly draining, we decided to take the apatment we thought was okay. It's a little further out than I wanted to be, but it's 15 minutes away from the Drew Barrymore neighborhood, and 25 minutes from Union Square. In NY terms, this is pretty good. Also, it's a spacious two bedroom, which means we will have an office/studio! I am THRILLED about this. A real work space! Yahoooey!

After we signed the lease, I was feeling anxious and scared, and we were walking in Union Square, when I heard my name being called. I turned around and it was an old friend of mine, I hadn't seen in TEN YEARS! I couldn't believe it! It was so great to see him, and to find out about another friend of mine that I had let slip through the years. He looked great. We quickly traded life stories and phone numbers. It's really strange to see someone after ten years and they know a bunch of stuff about you thanks to your web site! I took it for the sign that it was, that it's OKAY!

So now I am back here in California, scared to bits. I got a lot of packing ahead of me. At least I got a place to land and some people to call when I get into town. If that ain't seeds to a life, I don't know what is.