Saturday was moving day for several people close to me. James and Jessica moved to their new apartment in Bed-Stuy, and since James was busy at a school debate tournament in New Jersey, I had to stand in for him and help Jess. "Help" consisted of making multiple stops in the U-Haul van that she and our friend Jeremy rented to move things they were giving away. We started in Fort Greene at the old apartment, dropped off several bags of junk at Housing Works in Brooklyn Heights, moved an air conditioner into Kate's new apartment in Park Slope (she was also moving on Saturday), and then drove out to Jeremy's place in Queens to drop off chairs and couches at his apartment. We picked up Jess at her new apartment on the way to Queens, so I got to see the new place and I gave it my seal of approval.
We stopped at a McDonald's for lunch and went through the drive-thru lane. I haven't eaten at McDonald's in years, so I ordered one of their new Angus burgers. I'm still waiting to try it, because they forgot to put mine in the bag. I had to eat chicken nuggets instead. At least I got lots of fries.
After lunch we drove the U-Haul out to IKEA in Hicksville on Long Island. Jess and I were both riding in the passenger seat, with one seat belt for both of us. Had we been in an accident, I would be dead now, as the seat belt was right across my throat and windpipe. IKEA was another adventure. We only took about 90 minutes to shop, but it took about an hour to collect all our things from the warehouse and another hour or more waiting in various lines. The home delivery line in particular took an hour. We had arrived at IKEA at 3:30 PM, and we left around 7 to drive back to Fort Greene. Then we had more cleaning and moving to do before we finally ate dinner at a tiny bistro on Carlton Avenue at 10 PM. I took a cab home with my sole purchase of the day, a new LACK coffee table that already has a chip out of one corner. Stupid $30 coffee tables. But it went together in about 10 minutes on Sunday morning, so it was ready for the Super Bowl party that evening.
Speaking of moving, I will have to find a new apartment by midsummer. It's a long story that I won't recap here, but my building is for sale and the new owners want to make some big changes that wouldn't be fun (or possible) with people living there. So a few phone calls and conversations with lawyers later, I've agreed to move out and be compensated for my trouble. I'm looking at renting for another year or two, hopefully in Park Slope in Brooklyn, and then I'll take a serious look at buying an apartment in an affordable and maybe decent neighborhood in Brooklyn. This will be the first time I've lived outside of Manhattan, and while I'm apprehensive about re-learning all my commutes and bike routes, I'm excited about the change. I have some time to think about where I want to live and I don't have to feel rushed. It's going to be fun.
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