Friday, October 31, 2003
It's Halloween, and I am very scared
Yesterday, one of my co-workers asked me what I was going to be for Halloween. My response? "Really freaking stressed out."
That's because today is moving day. Actually, the term "day" is a little too liberal. The fact of the matter is, I have exactly five hours in which to move the majority of my stuff out of my old apartment and into my new apartment nine blocks away. Needless to say, for the past week or so, I have been compiling a list in my head of things that could possibly go wrong. Here is that list, in order of how screwed I'll be if these things actually happen.
1. The movers get there really, really late or don't show up at all. I have hired movers to help me with the stuff that I can't get by myself--desk, dresser, bed, etc. My friend Terri recommended Apartment Movers because they have pretty good rates. Only I can't tell if the Apartment Movers I've hired here in Birmingham is actually affiliated with the Apartment Movers chain, because it is also called Bob's Moving Company. Something about "Bob's Moving Company" just does not instill a lot of faith in me, but I couldn't pass up the price. Plus, they're charging me the exact same amount that they charged Terri when she moved out of her apartment in Georgia, so we figure it must be legit. But if for some reason Bob and his Moving Company don't show up, I'm so screwed. It's too late to get new movers, and even if I could rent a U-Haul at the last minute, I have no one to actually help me get all the stuff out of my apartment and into the U-Haul. Basically, I would have to beg and cry until my current landlords agree to let me have the rest of the weekend to work something out. Believe me, I am not above begging and crying at this point, but I really hope it doesn't come to that.
2. The apartment I am to move into has not been vacated. This is a real possibility, as the guy who lives in the apartment now does not technically live there. He's living with his girlfriend and just keeping his stuff there until his lease expires. The last time I talked to my landlord (the middle of last week), the stuff was still in the apartment. The landlord said he would keep checking to see if the stuff had been moved out and asked me to call him on Monday to see what the status of the apartment was. So I did. And after three messages, he still has not called me back. So, to try to secure my own peace of mind, I was forced to resort to drastic measures. I took my flashlight over to the new apartment and peered in the windows to see if it had been emptied yet. The good news: The bed and most of the other stuff in the bedroom (the only window I could see in) was gone. The bad news: There was some stuff (a TV, a box and some CDs) still in the bedroom. (The other bad news: I am now officially a stalker. But I'm not stalking an actual person, just an apartment, so that's totally different.) Hopefully either the guy is coming back this morning to get this stuff or he's just bequeathing it to me. Or he's just going to leave it there until the last possible second, and my landlord will tell me I can't move my stuff in until everything is out of the apartment. In which case I will be screwed.
3. The apartment will be empty, but the landlord will not be there to meet me and the movers, at the time he said he would. Obviously, if the landlord is not there, it's pretty much impossible to track him down. Therefore, I am prepared to have the movers leave my stuff in the hallway, where I will sit with it until I can get the landlord to let me into the apartment. However, this situation would only exacerbate my next worry, which is...
4. I won't be able to get all of the stuff out of my old apartment in time to turn in my key by 5:00. If everything operates smoothly and none of the aforementioned situations present themselves, this shouldn't be a problem. However, if any little thing in my well-laid plan goes awry, I am--you guessed it--screwed.
So if I'm not back to blogging in a few days, you will know that one of the following things has happened:
a) I have keeled over from some stress-related condition (heart attack or similar).
b) I have been forced to try and move my furniture by myself and have consequently been trapped under something heavy.
c) I have killed one or more of the following: my old landlord, my new landlord, the movers, the guy who refuses to move out of my new apartment; and I have been arrested and taken to jail.
Good thoughts, prayers, spells, incantations, meditations or whatever you prefer would be greatly appreciated during this trying time. If I survive this day, I'll let you know how it turned out.
Yesterday, one of my co-workers asked me what I was going to be for Halloween. My response? "Really freaking stressed out."
That's because today is moving day. Actually, the term "day" is a little too liberal. The fact of the matter is, I have exactly five hours in which to move the majority of my stuff out of my old apartment and into my new apartment nine blocks away. Needless to say, for the past week or so, I have been compiling a list in my head of things that could possibly go wrong. Here is that list, in order of how screwed I'll be if these things actually happen.
1. The movers get there really, really late or don't show up at all. I have hired movers to help me with the stuff that I can't get by myself--desk, dresser, bed, etc. My friend Terri recommended Apartment Movers because they have pretty good rates. Only I can't tell if the Apartment Movers I've hired here in Birmingham is actually affiliated with the Apartment Movers chain, because it is also called Bob's Moving Company. Something about "Bob's Moving Company" just does not instill a lot of faith in me, but I couldn't pass up the price. Plus, they're charging me the exact same amount that they charged Terri when she moved out of her apartment in Georgia, so we figure it must be legit. But if for some reason Bob and his Moving Company don't show up, I'm so screwed. It's too late to get new movers, and even if I could rent a U-Haul at the last minute, I have no one to actually help me get all the stuff out of my apartment and into the U-Haul. Basically, I would have to beg and cry until my current landlords agree to let me have the rest of the weekend to work something out. Believe me, I am not above begging and crying at this point, but I really hope it doesn't come to that.
2. The apartment I am to move into has not been vacated. This is a real possibility, as the guy who lives in the apartment now does not technically live there. He's living with his girlfriend and just keeping his stuff there until his lease expires. The last time I talked to my landlord (the middle of last week), the stuff was still in the apartment. The landlord said he would keep checking to see if the stuff had been moved out and asked me to call him on Monday to see what the status of the apartment was. So I did. And after three messages, he still has not called me back. So, to try to secure my own peace of mind, I was forced to resort to drastic measures. I took my flashlight over to the new apartment and peered in the windows to see if it had been emptied yet. The good news: The bed and most of the other stuff in the bedroom (the only window I could see in) was gone. The bad news: There was some stuff (a TV, a box and some CDs) still in the bedroom. (The other bad news: I am now officially a stalker. But I'm not stalking an actual person, just an apartment, so that's totally different.) Hopefully either the guy is coming back this morning to get this stuff or he's just bequeathing it to me. Or he's just going to leave it there until the last possible second, and my landlord will tell me I can't move my stuff in until everything is out of the apartment. In which case I will be screwed.
3. The apartment will be empty, but the landlord will not be there to meet me and the movers, at the time he said he would. Obviously, if the landlord is not there, it's pretty much impossible to track him down. Therefore, I am prepared to have the movers leave my stuff in the hallway, where I will sit with it until I can get the landlord to let me into the apartment. However, this situation would only exacerbate my next worry, which is...
4. I won't be able to get all of the stuff out of my old apartment in time to turn in my key by 5:00. If everything operates smoothly and none of the aforementioned situations present themselves, this shouldn't be a problem. However, if any little thing in my well-laid plan goes awry, I am--you guessed it--screwed.
So if I'm not back to blogging in a few days, you will know that one of the following things has happened:
a) I have keeled over from some stress-related condition (heart attack or similar).
b) I have been forced to try and move my furniture by myself and have consequently been trapped under something heavy.
c) I have killed one or more of the following: my old landlord, my new landlord, the movers, the guy who refuses to move out of my new apartment; and I have been arrested and taken to jail.
Good thoughts, prayers, spells, incantations, meditations or whatever you prefer would be greatly appreciated during this trying time. If I survive this day, I'll let you know how it turned out.
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