Platform 327

I actually hate moving. But it must be done.

Finding a place, though, looks like it’s not going to be too easy. The biggest problem is that there seem to be so many places available. Even after factoring out the basement and part-of-a-house apartments, there seems to be plenty out there.

So here’s what I’m thinking. I don’t want to go up to $1000 a month, because at that point I might as well buy something. And since I can’t afford to buy something, that’s out. If I go to $900, I can get a fairly decent 1-bedroom apartment, but not right downtown (at least not that I’ve found yet). That means having to pay about $100 every month on a Metropass instead of walking or biking to work, which puts me up to that $1000 level anyway. Kinda seems pointless.

I have found a listing for $875, but it’s for a 385-square-foot bachelor apartment. Seems a lot to pay for that little space, but the building is close to work and it has an indoor pool (I like indoor pools), fitness facilities (I need to get my fat ass in shape), air conditioning (who wouldn’t like that?) and a whole bunch of posh-o features. Plus, it’s only a 15-minute walk to work.

But it would put me back to living in one single room again.

Bah.

No, there’s no real point to this post. I just needed to get this stuff out of my head so I could get back to work.

Got home from work early today thanks to a rather spectacular server crash. The network froze up and the techie dude found a virus on the server. During the virus scan, the hard drive locked up and that was all she wrote. Our problems started at 5:00, and at 9:00 the server was little more than parts strewn across a desk so we all go to go home.

And did I use my extra time today in a productive way to help my fellow man? Hell, no. Started playing Bloodrayne. I’ve been through it 3 times already, but I just love killing people. I figured I would challenge myself by trying to get through the game in “hard” mode.

I can’t survive more than 30 seconds at a stretch. Nazis are shooting at me from all directions!

Man, I need a life.

On that note, I’m less than a month away from finally paying off my credit cards. A month after that, I’m moving out of this mouldy basement and into a posh Rosedale penthouse. Okay, maybe not a penthouse. Okay, maybe not Rosedale. But something better than here.

…my Cafepress orders are coming in. It’s been a month since I’ve ordered a bunch of stuff, including copies of my latest book, and some coffee mugs. So far, it a couple of little piecemeal orders, I’ve only got a sweater I custom ordered, a CD and a notebook. The CD and notebook were ordered later than everything else too.

I really wish I could find a Canadian print-on-demand dealie that was free so I could sell my books from there. I’m starting to get annoyed at paying exchange and customs on my own shit.

Ok, maybe just a couple of days of the week. Not much happened.

On Monday I had my performance review at work - the first one I’ve had in a long time that didn’t result in my being fired. That’s kinda weird. In fact, it was the best job performance review I’ve ever had. You’d think I’d be relieved, but instead I’m more nervous than ever. What’s wrong with me? When I mentioned the not-being-fired fact to my boss, she even said, “Don’t worry, you’re here as long as you want to be.” Alright, maybe I’ll just proceed to move into a better apartment and spend/invest a little money as though that’s true. If things go to hell, I still have the option of moving to my Unabomber-style shack in the woods. No worries.

Yesterday I went with Ravi to see what was touted as a “design show” showcasing alternate visions of the TTC. Turns out it was just a showcase for some damn colouring contest for 8-year-olds. The walls were covered with coloured-in outlines of city busses; some just randomly scribbled on, others with flames drawn on the bus and things like “T-Dot Rydaz” written on the side. Waste of fucking time.

Later on, it was off to Champy’s place to watch a Bill Hicks stand-up routine on DVD. Funny shit. I’m going to have to find some of his albums.

I had 2 beers yesterday, felt nausueous on the way home and had a headache this morning. I’VE BECOME EVERYTHING I’VE EVER HATED!!! Actually, I was everything I ever hated up to this point anyway, so nothing’s really changed. Woo-hoo! Status quo!

It sucks when you open your fridge and realize that 90% of what’s in there is garbage. Being sick for the past week, I’ve been living on cereal supplemented by a little bit of take-out now and then. All the groceries I bought before the holidays are now… less than palatable.

That plus a mountain of laundry and an apartment in disarray means my first few days of ‘06 are spoken for. I’m going to have to find something fun to do this week to keep myself from going crazy.

It does, however, bring home the fact that I own too much “stuff” for one person to comfortably deal with. Methinks it’s time for another eBay and Goodwill purge of material things. That always makes me feel better.

There’s New Year’s Eve glitter-confetti everywhere…

Yeah, I remember this… this being hungover feeling. Now I remember why I don’t like it.

Ah, fuck it. It was a party. I’ll be back to no booze starting today.

And it was a fun party. The only downside was the whining by a certain member of our group about how much better things would have been if we had gone to the sleazy bar he wanted to go to rather than the sleazy bar we were at. Granted, the music at the sleazy bar we were at was SO not what was advertised, but it was still a bunch of friends together getting plastered late into the night with no thoughts of the coming day. Fun times.

One of these days I’m going to have to remember to bring a camera to one of these things. There were some precious moments. Drunk people and party baloons makes for some interesting visuals.

And now it’s time to… flop back down on my bed and ride out the rest of the hangover. The new year officially starts tomorow.