Fest

It has been an.. eventful couple of weeks to put it mildly.

As I last noted, I had accepted an offer to sell the house, which still surprises me how fast it happened.  I've since gone to take a look at places and gone into deep research mode to figure out a place that would suit what I want.  There were five different zones of the city I was considering, then condensed down to two.

After the showings, one of those places kept sticking with me.  I don't put much weight to things happening for mystical or 'other' reasons, but the place I really ended up loving both in showing and pictures was a last-minute 'ping' that I got when I was nearly going to go to bed.

I didn't plan on actually sending it to the realtor for the first batch of places to look at, but something kept pushing me to just send it.  So I did.  And it was the first place we took a look at of the group.

Sometimes the last minute ping feels like it was meant to happen.

It turns out, this was the place I put an offer on.  And it was accepted.  They were happy to allow this to be conditional that I get a LOT of documents and information from them first.  I've gone through about 140 pages of reports and minutes and reserve-fund assessments and goals met and so far it's all looking promising.

So, unless something catastrophic happens.. In just under six weeks I'll be in a different place, a warmer place for the winter, and a place I don't have to shovel or 'fuss' over to keep from falling apart.  There's never certainty moving to a new place, but we and the realtor have done everything we can to mitigate the chance of anything too bad.

I have been going full-ham on packing, and purging.  I'm getting rid of a LOT of stuff since I'm downsizing in a big way.  The place is 1060 square feet, but it's one level, and the current house has three floors of.. stuff.  

Anything that can be given to family and neighbors will be.  Anything that is meaningful comes with me.  But the rest is either being given over to Goodwill, or being purged.  Not just my father's things, my old things.  I have old books to get donated, some sadly are damaged or so old that they need to be recycled.  Old art is kept, but not scribbly sketches or things I really don't like, because I just can't drag all of it with me.

You really don't realize how much stuff you have until you move.  It's insane the amount of things you find.  

I've figured out the last things to be moved out.  My workstation and work-PC among them.  I have missed over a week of being able to work, which I'm trying not to kick myself over, even though I really want to.  But I am finally back to sketching between putting things in boxes.  As I wind down on things to bring with me, I can finally sit for a little bit, and seep into fall and commissions again and it surprisingly feels even more enjoyable.  I guess a break did me well.  I wasn't hating drawing or anything, but being away from it made me really want to do creative things again and escape into worlds.

One of the things I really liked with the new place was the overwhelming thought of 'writing' on the balcony in the mornings.  I'll have a little table out there, and a couple chairs, and it's shrouded in treetops and leaves and quiet streets below, and it really hit me that I want to sit out there (when it's warmer, obviously, it won't be very warm in mid November) with a pad of paper, and go really old-school into writing.

I'm under no illusion that I'm a good writer.  It's a craft, and an artform, and while I can string a sentence together here and there I haven't practiced at it as diligently as most people.  But I *really* want to write.  I'll have time to write.  I'll likely post it all here, just be warned, it'll be rough :)

Things have gone incredibly fast.  Once offers are made things just kind of click-click-click and suddenly you are putting your whole life into boxes.  I at least got to take a break, and go with family to Oktoberfest here.  It was my first time going to this event and it was honestly what I needed.  A break, a celebration, and exactly what a festival should be.  Just folks singing, dancing, and drinking beer (so.. so much beer).

I apologize for being so quiet lately folks.  It really has been a lot.  I thought this would be a more drawn out process, probably taking months to happen.  Suddenly here I am, ready to explore new places.  I'm saying farewell to my tree friends here, and favorite walking paths, and the leaves have poetically been raining on me as I do.  I shall miss them, but will make new leefy frands in the new place too.

Here's to new horizons.  Even if it's kind of terrifying, in a good way, but.. damn.

-T.J.