Return to City Life

I'm back in New York, and starting out life in my new apartment. I left on my trip right after moving, when things were all crazy, but I expected them to be back to normal, or almost back to normal, by the time I came back. Nope! Everything is still pretty chaotic. E couldn't put her bed together because her tool mysteriously disappeared and she was sure our new place was haunted. But I found it under her dresser. Last night I cleaned the floors, tonight I will do laundry. Every single thing I own is dirty, either with plaster dust or from being used as packing material in the moving van.

The most annoying thing is that because we moved so fast, we didn't have time to completely go through the cupboards and closets, so there were some things left behind at the old house. A few days after I left, E rented a zip car and went to get the rest of our stuff, but our crazy ex-landlady had locked the inside door of the house, which we never had a key to, and has been keeping it locked ever since, despite our phonecalls and emails. Our stuff is being held hostage! And we don't know if she's ever going to release it. It wouldn't matter so much except that E's animation books and portfolio are in there. Also a plant that's probably dead, and lots of food in the fridge that must be moldy by now.

Last night I was so mad about it that I walked over to the old house just to see if it was all a bad dream. The inside door was still locked, although there were signs that the crazy lady had been there recently. E and I have been trying to think of ways we can break in, or something. The choices are: 1) keep annoying the landlady until she relents and gives us our stuff back. 2) ask the neighbor to let us into his backyard so we can try our door keys on the back-basement door of the house. 3)sneak over the fences at night, scale the back wall with a grappling hook, hope that the bathroom window is still open, and climb inside. 4) call a locksmith. 5) break the door down. What would you do?

The other annoying thing about the situation is that our wireless router is still in the old house, too, and the box that we probably need to give back to Time-Warner when we cancel our subscription. If we can't let them in to disconnect it or pick it up, they will probably charge us. I guess I'll probably just buy a new router-thing, because the old one is probably full of plaster dust and grime. I need to do it soon, because so far I'm unable to detect any wireless signals at my new place, and need the internet to blog! (Right now I'm at work, which is horrible, I know...)

Anyway, enough complaining. E keeps reminding me that we are lucky to be alive and healthy, and that things could be much worse. She's right. I do like my new home, and am happy to be back in New York, even though its just as hot and sticky as when I left. Oops, there's another complaint!