Movin’ movin’ movin’

I know, people must be getting pretty bored of the moving updates, but I can’t actually move until Sunday (which is tomorrow).

But I’ve spent the last few days preparing for the move.  Packing and minor cleaning and getting things washed and deciding what gets moved last, such as my coffee maker for starters.  Almost every single room is ready to go.  Minus the bathroom (which still needs a good cleaning), here’s what’s been done.

The storage room, all cleared out (save for a mop and bucket). There used to be boxes all over the place in here. Some were used to pack current items, others were taken to the recycling.

The spare bedroom with a lonely office chair that’s broken.

Kitchen cupboards cleared out, ready to be dusted and cleaned.

The last aspect of recycling: glass.

Jackets will go in the last trip, which will be Monday. I’ll spend Sunday night in Humboldt, then head on the road to get the last few items.

Bedroom things packed and ready to go.

It feels like a mile high pile of packed boxes, bags, and suit cases in my living room.

All of this will be gone tomorrow afternoon.  That includes the bed, couch, chairs, computer desk, book shelf, TV stand, coffee table, kitchen table and end tables.

 

Random Thursday stuff

Anxiety

Today is the last day of my job in Outlook.  Over the course of the next two weeks, I’ll be moving, cleaning and setting up in my new place in Humboldt.  I’ve been here in Outlook for 9 years.  The really interesting bit is that I began working here on August 16, 2004.  My first official day of work in Humboldt is August 16, 2013.

I’m excited, but I’m also filled with a great deal of anxiety.  I love working and living here in Outlook.  I grew up here, I was comfortable here, I knew lots of people.  Humboldt is going to be a tad different.

I know there’s positives about this move, and everyone was happy to hear that I was planning on being there for the long haul (maybe I’ll hit ten years there).  But it’s this transition period that’s really got me right now.  It’s affected some of the creative things I do.  So for now, I’m not doing any writing until I get the move done.

Oh, and the biggest worry is money.  I’m worried about paying for everything and how much debt I’ll be going into with this move.  I’ll just have to deal with it as it comes along.

A Girl I Used To Know

I don’t know why this came to mind yesterday when I was driving back from Humboldt.  But I suddenly thought of a few small conversations I had with a woman through tumblr and the things we discussed.  I didn’t know a lot about her save for a few things.  She performed in the ballet, she worked with a small indie comic book company, and she was a big comic book reader.  We had something in common and that was a total hatred of the fact Jason Todd was brought back from the dead (to be honest, the coming back from the dead trope is tired and over used).  She was the one that got me thinking to start up Batman Thinking In All Caps (which I have totally been neglecting as of late, tumblrites need to start submitting stuff).

She left tumblr and I haven’t heard from her since, but I got thinking about her yesterday.  Wondering if she was doing well, if she’d succeeded in her dating pursuits (she is close to my age, so you can guess how older people like myself have trouble finding someone just right), hoping she’s happy and continuing her love of comics.

I remember talking about some of the things she posted, and was asked if she was someone I’d date if given the chance.

“If she didn’t live in LA and I didn’t live in Outlook?  If we lived closer to each other?  In a New York minute.”

On The Road Again

This has sort of been the story of my life.  This song, by Willie Nelson, has followed me for the past two and a half decades.  And it seems it’s very apropos.  While I lived in Outlook for nine years, before then I had lived in the following locations, starting in 1989:

• Saskatoon, SK (CKOM Radio, part time over night disc jockey, no announcing)
• Yorkton, SK (CJGX Radio, three month news internship)
• The Pas, MB (CJAR Radio, ten months, on air announcer)
• Dauphin, MB (CKDM Radio, two months, on air announcer)
• Saskatoon, SK (CKOM Radio, four months, swing shift announcer)
• Melfort, SK (CJVR Radio, 14 months, afternoon news reporter)
• The Pas, MB (CJAR Radio, 14 months, news director)
• Yorkton, SK (CJGX Radio, 2 years, swing shift announcer)
• Rosetown, SK (CJYM Radio, 14 months, news director)
• Prince Albert, SK (900 CKBI, Power 99 FM, 10 months, FM morning news anchor)

There were small things in between each place, but needless to say, Prince Albert was my last bout with radio.  After that, I moved to Saskatoon, went back to school and secured work teaching some desktop publishing and web design.  Shortly after, I moved to Outlook and have been living here ever since.  But that’s a lot of moves in twenty years, not including the different places I lived in each community.  My 2 year run in Yorkton, for example, I lived in four different places.

To be honest, I hate moving.  But sometimes, it has to be done.

 

The move

The past few days on twitter, I’ve been posting photos of things being packed into boxes.  Mostly books and DVDs, but there’s a great deal more that needs to get pushed into different boxes and some things that need to be thrown away or sold.  The reason is simple.  I’m moving.  Or at least, I will be moving.  I still need to find a comfortable and affordable apartment in my new location, which is something that will happen over the next few days.

A canola field just outside of Young, SK on the way to Humboldt.

I will be moving to Humboldt, about an hour and a half north east of Saskatoon.  I’m not moving because I want to, I’m moving because I need to.  It’s a case of economics.  Things happen in business that are often beyond the control of those who are a part of it.  In this case, the newspaper I work for isn’t making enough money to support three full time people.  So one of us has to either go to part time, or find something else.  Fortunately, thanks to the larger company that owns the newspaper, finding a new position isn’t that hard.  I’ve already gone to Humboldt and spoken with the people there.  It’s just a matter of finalizing the pay grade and going from there.

This is Highway 15 east of Kenaston. This is actually the good part of Highway 15. I cannot, in good conscious, call most of Highway 15 a road.

My work will be similar there as to what I’m doing now, except I’ll be focusing more on the actual paper instead of doing commercial printing jobs as well.  It’s kind of exciting, because there’s a lot more people that work in the office.  Humboldt itself is a much larger community.  In Saskatchewan, Humboldt is classified as a city, even though it’s about 6,500 in population.  All the shops and services are there that I need, and if there’s something that I can’t find it’s not that long a drive to the city.  Or, as I’ve found, I can always buy it online.

There is some regret, naturally.  Along with a huge amount of anxiety.  There’s people who would embrace a move with vim and vigour, but I’m not one that likes moving.  There’s all the things that are involved in order to get yourself planted into the new place you have to go to.  Sometimes I wish that you could skip all of the stuff that’s involved in preparing to move such as finding a new apartment, getting all of the proper power, phone and so on cancelled in your old place and turning it on in your new place.  And then there’s the moving of all your things.  It’d be nice if you could have furniture like paper plates.  Just recycle them when you’re done with them, and buy a bunch of new ones when you get to your new place.

While there’s a huge amount of anxiety, there’s also a lot of excitement.  A new place to explore and possibly help recharge creative juices.  Looking toward new people to meet and new things to see.  Along with new photos to take, because honestly one can only take so many pictures of Skytrail.  It’s a lovely structure, admittedly, but I think I’ve taken enough pictures of it from many different angles.

For now, there’s still a lot of work to be done, and I still have a great deal of work at my present location.  I haven’t even left Outlook, and I find I already miss places and people here.  I’ve been living here for nine years.  In the grand scheme of things that is life, nine years isn’t a very long time.  But when weighed against the career I’ve had previously, it was a very long time.  Outlook has been a comfortable setting and an excellent place to live and work.

You have to find the positives in a move like this.  There are several to be had.  The new position I found came quickly, it was found for me thanks to the company I work for.  In Humboldt, they’re looking for someone who wants to stay long term, which I’m definitely up for.  It’s a larger working environment with more staff and opportunities to learn new techniques.  I only hope that I can live and work (and write) for as long in Humboldt as I have in Outlook.

Good grief, I’ll be 52 by then.  How the time goes by.