Apis mellifera and Castor canadensis

The last 5 days have been among the most stressful, though ultimately rewarding of my life. Here's a quick run down:

Friday: After calling place for sublets, and finding that I had received no replies to my Craigslist emails, I went to Apartment People at 2. We found a few places that had what I was looking for, meaning a short term (3 month) lease. All were owned by the same company. Needless to say, I was kind of stressed because I was limited in choice to three places owned by one company, and they held all the power over me, because otherwise I had no place to live come Monday. I found a place I liked, only to find out that I have to pay a non-refundable $250 fee for a short-term lease. I had to give apartment people some of my deposit plus money for a credit check. I overdrafted. Anyway, I fretted about having no control, but still, I had to have a new place and this one seemed to fit me. I ended up having to pay first months rent along with $35 for the credit check, and then had to pay the $250 plus my last months rent when I signed my lease. I went down to see Laura at 8 and then we both went to see John's final performance at 10. I t was a good show, and it was really good to see the both of them again. I also gave Laura her present Slapshot and Slapshot 2. When I left John's at around 1:45, there was no sign of the 22, which runs up and down Clark at night, but does so only every half-hour. So I preceded to Lake Shore Drive to pick up the 151. Only it didn't come. For a while I just stood at the bus stop, marveling at the number and the size of the spiders that surrounded me. Then the rain came. At first it was just drizzling, then came down a little harder. I stepped back to find cover under a tree. I t afforded me good protection for a while, and then well, the rain started coming in extremely heavily, including coming in horizontally. The tree was useless. I just kind of stood there for a minute not thinking, in a kind of shock brought on by the amount of rain. After about 3 minutes, which seemed like thirty, of being pounded by rain, I ran across the street under the carport of an apartment building. My phone was in my pocket and got completely soaked. I was able to call John, who thankfully came and got me. We drove, and sometimes waded, through the streets as he got me home. When I got there, my phone was acting kind of funny...

Saturday: This was probably one of the most frustrating days of my life. I found out I had overdrafted in the morning. However, when I tried to call her back my phone said it had no signal strength, despite being at a pretty high level on my screen. I tried again several times, sometimes getting through for a few seconds and sometimes not. I went down to the Sprint Store down my block, and they said they had no technician, so they couldn't test my phone, I had to go to the store on Devon to do so. I paid the remaining part of my deposit and then headed North. Devon is where the 36 ends and where some 151's do to. I figured it was probably close. It wasn't. It took almost an hour and a half to get out there, plus the time I spent in line and waiting for the testing, which too a half-hour, and I didn't know when my parents would be arriving. I ended up having to call my grandmother to tell my parents where I was, and had to do so when I came back as well. When my parents got there about a half-hour after I did, around 3:30 we were all tired. my dad suggested we put my phone number on his phone, which we did. But we ad to go up to the Devon store again, though it took less time because we were in the car, and I didn't have to wait for testing like I had to the first time. We ate, though we had to wait a really long time for our food, and then went back to my apartment. We cleaned up and then went to bed.

Sunday... We got most of the heavy stuff into the van dad had brought from work, that's all my parents took. The rest of the stuff I figured I would move myself. My parents left around 1, and I went back, picked up a bit and then just sort of spent the day hanging out and getting stuff ready to move.

Monday... Woke up at 8:30, thinking I would just go down to my new management company, sign my lease and get to moving in. No, they couldn't have me in until 11. Ok, I started moving stuff into the hallway in the meantime. At around 10:50, I left to sign my lease, and a call came for me. It was Cassie from Chicago Magazine, They offered me the internship, and I most gleefully accepted. It was especially sweet given that I had basically given it up for dead. I told them I would start the 13th, so I could give OCC two weeks notice. I went and signed my lease, everything is cool. I find out my carpet hasn't been cleaned yet, so I have to avoid the carpeted areas. I start stacking the load in my car in the kitchen and bathroom. John came around about 1:30 and we took my mattress over. I then had to get the component parts of the bed in the car, which proved more difficult than I had anticipated. I took that stuff over. Then my battery died. I got the building engineer to jump me, but I had to drive around for a few minutes to charge the battery. I loaded as much of the stuff from the hallway as I could and took it down to the new building (which is only 1 1/2 blocks from my present one, me and John were able to physically take the mattress to it) only to find a truck blocking the door. I took what I could in, but it was almost time for my class, so I parked the car, which still had a bunch of stuff in it, and left for school. Both the car and the belongings were there when I got back, and I went back for the last bit of things in my old room. The table which my uncle gave me proved to be very hard to deal with, I actually had to leave it sitting in the alley as I dropped my other stuff off. I found a parking space a block away from my building and physically carried it there, which was very awkward. Finally, I got in at around 10:30, exhausted, sweating and grateful for the end of the day.

Today...
My hands are aching, especially the inside of my hands. I'm sore. But I'm happy, because I'll have an in at the Tribune Company and the print internship I wanted. I still am going to do TKA, which means I'll be pretty busy, but I was busy this summer and thrived. I just want to say thank you to my parents for helping me so much this weekend. Thank you to John for helping me move the Mattress. I don't know what I want to say about my old place, only that I have been both extraordinarily happy there, but I also succumbed to self-pity and depression while there. Still it was a great experience.

Happy Early Birthday to Miss Laura Kraly.