LFGryph

He’s so helpful when I’m trying to write.

First off, I miss this blog. I know I’ve said it before over the last year or so without ever posting anything BUT it’s still true. I’m kinda hoping I can keep momentum post-move and get back to updating more often. Maybe even on gaming, heh. (See also: streaming.)

That said, for the next month or two a lot of my babbling is going to be pretty focused on the moving thing, it being a huge life change and all. Partly that’s where most of my mind is, and partly I’ve realized I have friends on so many different social media platforms that this is the best way to keep folks who are interested up to date.

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I did confirm my definite interest in transferring to a store out in South Carolina, so that part is sorted. There’ll be some back and forth between the new store and mine before it’s official-official but I don’t see any reason to expect issues. *knocks on wood* Because I’m me, I felt a little bad the other day calling another store to tell them I’d already accepted a position elsewhere. But, I’m aware there’s only one of me so what can you do?

The new store is going to be about half an hour’s drive from where I live; Nash tells me it’s in a nice area. It’s a longer drive than I’m used to, but I’ve driven further for other jobs. In a way, I like having a longer drive (within reason) to act as a bit of a gap between work and home, giving me some quiet time to swap between different headspaces. I’m planning to put more effort into promoting now that I feel more comfortable within the company, so we’ll just have to see how everything goes. In any case, I have a job lined up and I very like the new store manager from our phone conversations. 🙂

I’ve been lucky to have great help from current and past management and friends at my store while I’ve been trying to figure this part out. And I’m grateful one of the stores I emailed decided to forward my email out to other stores in their district. ❤ I was prepared to job hunt if I absolutely had to, but transferring was always my preferred goal.

This is an extra huge relief because moving cross country is not cheap, folks. I’ve already been paying off old debt for a while and about the last thing I wanted was to be set back without being sure when I was gonna get paid again. The move is worth it to me, obviously, but Being Able To Pay Things Off ranks pretty high on my priority list.

This is why Loki needs to be tethered while in the car…

Loki saw the vet last week, he has another set of shots to finish before we move – canine influenza is apparently much more common further south. (PSA: Check with your vet before relocating!) He’ll also be getting the paperwork he needs to travel between states legally. Doggo got an all over checkup while we were there, and everything is looking good for my 9 year old buddy. 🙂 He’s confused by all the boxes and the Things-Moving-Around, but I don’t think he knows what it all means yet.

For those who don’t follow me on Twitter, he also got his first car ride while tethered with a doggo seatbelt/harness. (The one I ended up getting him is effectively an in-car tether that attaches to a harness.) He was a little unsure about it but not too upset. Though he did manage to get himself stuck to the side of the car when he tried to jump out of the car before I gave him permission. *sigh* Had to lift the doofus back into the car and try again on the dismount.

I’m hoping to get him out on a few more rides before we do the marathon 3 day trip, but he has done 8 hrs+ of car ride before. He was whiny for a few hours when we drove out to visit Nash in Illinois, but much better behaved on the ride home. He doesn’t get carsick or scared. I think he just gets overexcited and whiny about not being allowed in the front seat.

Probably more importantly, driving with him is much less stressful and less dangerous for both of us when I know he won’t suddenly decide he wants to copilot. Not a huge deal in town, usually, but a pretty major stressor when tooling down the freeway at 70mph. Also, when I run in somewhere to use the bathroom and wonder if I’ll have to wrestle/cajole him out of the passenger seat when I get back.

When we drove to Illinois I had a thick canvas divider between the front and back seats…that he managed to detach in the middle of the night while on the freeway. With a semi right behind me. I pulled over, fixed it, everything was fine…but I’d rather avoid a repeat.

“If it be treat is not to hungry. If it be not hungry, it be treat. If it be not treat, still food will come. The trick is all.” – Pupspeare

The packing excitement continues, as does sorting out furniture. I’m trying to stick with keeping things that are either obviously useful or at least bring me joy. It seems I’m simultaneously throwing out or donating SO MANY THINGS and yet also keeping SO MANY THINGS. I’m going to assume/hope that means I’m striking some form of balance.

It’s interesting noticing the things I want to keep. My great-grandmother’s table and my grandmother’s desk make sense, but I couldn’t tell you why I feel a need to keep an old bookcase I’ve had since I was a kid. (It *is* well-made and I can never have enough bookcases, but still…) I don’t technically *need* to move most of my furniture, and less is probably better. Just puts me in the position of really thinking about what I’d rather keep with me. At the same time, I’m donating my grandmother’s couch, which is weird to me since when she passed away that was the one thing I specifically wanted if no one else did. (It was my Nap Couch when I was very young.) Sometimes even furniture is more complicated than you’d think.

Living in Minnesota for so long, it’s also odd to contemplate how much of my winter gear I should probably get rid of. It’s embedded deep in my brain to NEVER get rid of warm things, plus some of what I own was not exactly cheap. I have boots made to withstand below-zero temps. On the other hand, I’m moving to Charleston, here.

I’ll be keeping some of my cold weather gear since I still plan on visiting. And of course I’m keeping that Illuminati blue set a friend of mine made.  Contrary to the weather reports I saw a week ago, it also snowed today so hey, who knows how much I’ll need to hold on to.

The lighting was weird in this picture, but the blue is so gorgeous IRL!

I’ll note this move is a big change for me other than the obvious part where I’m moving to a completely different area. A few of my friends are already aware, but at the risk of TMI – I’ve always avoided moving in with romantic partners even if they were in the same town, and even if I spent most of my time at their place anyway. It’s never been a moral thing for me, more about being someone who very values having her own space (even if I had roommates) and a bit of protecting myself. If I have my own home, I always have a place to be no matter how the relationship goes. (That’s not meant as an insult to either my bf or past partners. Or all the people I know who’ve made different decisions. Is very much an “it’s not you, it’s me.”)

Early into discussing this move, Nash offered me the spare bedroom as an office/computer room. I’m lucky we have the space to do that and very much value that he offered before I even thought to ask. Though considering the other spare bedroom is his studio I’m not entirely sure where we would have put my gaming/streaming/computer setup otherwise, heh.

In any case, it’ll be a good thing to have that space, I suspect. And believe me, “change” doesn’t mean bad. When he first asked what I wanted to do in terms of him needing to move out to SC my immediate response was that I wanted to work on joining him. Very much a good change, and a change I want.

Today, Minnesota gifted me snow and huge wild turkeys in the neighbor’s yard.

As for how I’m doing? Okayish? It’s tough trying to do this while limiting my time off work. There’s a lot of days I wish I could afford to just take extra time off, but I doubt I’m the first or last person to think that when big things are happening in my personal life. (Actually, it’s not the first time *I* have thought that when big things are happening.)

I had yesterday and today off…BUT I’m also fighting a really nasty cold. So I get to try to balance resting and getting better with “OMG I HAVE SO MUCH LEFT TO DOOOOOO!” I *really* can’t afford to be more sick than just a bad cold.

I’m getting there, though. We’re getting there, one step at a time – there’s a lot Nash is trying to get done before I get out there, too. Once I post this, I’m gonna see what I can get done that’s fairly low energy. And I’m trying to remember that no matter how I plan, things are never going to be perfect. I’m doing everything I can before I hit that “last minute, throw things in boxes” cutoff, and “everything I can” is probably plenty.

18 days and counting…