Can haz stuff!

On Tuesday I successfully took two buses and walked a mile and a half to get to the PODS depot near the Oakland port. The scheduled movers with truck were there early. They loaded the truck and unloaded it here efficiently and carefully. Now I'm officially moved to the Bay Area, with a job working remotely, a rented place to live, and my stuff. (There was no place to put the PODS container at the apartment I signed a lease for first, and I decided to keep those plans in place with the new apartment.)

I'm amazed that a plan with so many moving parts went off as smoothly as it did. Everything had little glitches and annoyances, but I'm here! I get to stay! The sunshine is glorious!

I was wondering if my remaining furniture would fit in a one-bedroom apartment, and it does. I've unpacked about half the boxes, and so far everything has arrived intact. A lot of the rest is books. I'm unpacking all the boxes, and then leaving some of the ceramics in bubble wrap and stashing them back in boxes in the garage, since they're a pain to pack, and I might be moving again soon. Super-grateful for the garage to store bikes, empty boxes, and things I don't need right now.

I like this apartment quite a bit, and could see myself staying for a while, despite hassles with shared laundry facilities and fragrances. The realtor in Portland and I just reduced the price of the house there because apparently everyone wants a remodeled kitchen and bathroom, so my house isn't chic enough to bring top dollar. I'm still probably going to end up with about double what I paid for it, so I'm not complaining, just wondering if I'll be able to afford to buy a place I want here. I'm liking El Cerrito enough to consider buying here, which is a little less expensive. I'm guessing it will be like the apartment - eventually something great will show up, but it might take longer than I prefer.

In case anyone's curious, here's the $ cost breakdown on this move. (Of course there are other huge costs in terms of planning time, physical effort, lost sleep, etc. I did just start sleeping better this week after months of waking up at 4am.)
( expenses and a few credits )

And, I'm getting regular paychecks from my remote job that keep the costs from being a hardship. For years I've been telling myself it's expensive to move. And it is. I'm still so glad I did it.

RIP Patricia McKillip, and also Story!

I adored "The Forgotten Beasts of Eld" and the Riddle-Master series. I liked some of the books that came after that, but the appeal faded as I started to recognize the recurring themes and the characters seemed more vague and interchangeable. I'm taking note of people's favorites and might go back and find them. (Library card is on the list for this weekend!)

As I noted in a comment to someone's memorial post, I realized when I came back to "Forgotten Beasts" as an adult that Sybel was not a nice person, or at least not acting ethically all the time. I wonder what I would think of the book now, having acquired more compassion for people's difficult choices and adaptations, and still wanting people to act ethically all the same.

Along that same theme, I think I had read vaznetti's lovely story "The Crown of Hed before (rec'd in 2014), but it resonated differently than I remember, especially around big moves. Highly recommended for spot-on characterizations and a thought-provoking woman-centered story. Via cofax7 and vaznetti.