Journal entries in 'Dear Diary' for September, 2006

The apartment is starting to feel a bit more liveable. At first I planned to buy cheap crap for it, to kind of replicate the Compound. But after seeing how nice it is, I've been striving for a little bit more orderliness. I remember visiting friends' houses from time to time and using their clean, pure white towels and marveling at the hotel-like feeling of it. I also remember being quite infatuated with Meej's white, fluffy room, and so I've been keeping these things in mind as I do my shopping. My bed is clothed in 600-thread-count sheets and a wonderful, fluffy white comforter, and it's delightful. My towels and shower curtain continue the white theme.

[Entry Continues...]

Moving in is going well. There's great things and not-so-great things about this place. I love the apartment itself — very spacious, nice carpets, etc. And the location is awesome — about half a mile down the road I have a Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Circuit City, Books-A-Million, Sav-A-Center grocery store, Waffle House, IHOP, and a bunch of other stuff. About five miles away there's another large collection of useful stores including Best Buy. And of course, being a two-minute walk from Bryan and Cat is great — quite a step up from having a four-hour plane ride separating me from my nearest friends.

[Entry Continues...]

The visit in Clemson was perfect. I didn't miss out on any visits, and I got to do all the things I had on my list: I watched Metalocalypse with Meg, ate at Waffle House, took pictures at the abandoned mill in Newry, finally hung out with Katie in person, went to Super Taco, spent a good amount of time with Alia, did an Irish Car Bomb with Jeff and Bobby, hung out with Kells, and even got to see Jenn, which I though would be infeasible.

[Entry Continues...]

I made it to Clemson without too much trouble. They took their time carefully checking all of my computer and camera equipment at the airport, but after that they let me through without a fuss. The computer fit fine in the overhead bin, and the box I sent as luggage arrived without damage. That went surprisingly well.

Scotty picked me up in his gold automatic '82 MK2 Supra L-Type, which is good, because my stuff probably wouldn't have fit in the Civic. I had forgotten how much I like MK2 Supras. His gold '82 is a very pretty car, despite a few spots of rust here and there, and mechanically it's in great shape — it only has 82k miles, which is damn impressive for a 24-year-old car.

[Entry Continues...]

It's a great place to get stuff packaged up — they're very professional and know what they're doing — but I feel sorry for anyone who actually ships things from there.

I packed up and shipped most of my stuff yesterday. It came out to six large 60-70 lb boxes and one poster tube. For your edification and amusement, I will list the prices The UPS Store quoted me for shipping via USPS, along with the prices that the USPS charged me for the same services when I loaded the boxes back in the minivan and took them directly to the Post Office.

[Entry Continues...]