Moving to the Big Apple

I moved to New York City last week with my fiance. After living in Memphis Tennessee for the last 30 years of my life, I was excited but really really nervous. I had never lived in a city where a car is considered a a staple of life, not a luxery; where mass transportation (the bus) is something that you bitch about being in your lane and going entirely too slow, not the norm; and a subway??? is that a build-your-own sandwich??? But here I was, landing in my new city on June 24, in a cab, and about to go to the apartement that neither of us had seen before. So being a bundle of nerves is a bit of an understatement.

However, we walked into our new building on the Upper West Side... I was more than pleasantly surprised. There was a doorman, an elevator and the apt was big enough for the both of us, all hardwood floors, heating and AC, and plenty storage space ... The only problem ... The only thing in the apt was the stuff that came with us on the plane.

Don't get me wrong, Jay and I had know that our stuff would be arriving a few days after we got into the city, but little did we know how much longer it would take. We had the foresight to pack an air mattress, one set of sheets, and a towel each. We did not think about the fact that the air mattress had dents the size of plate chargers in it. Nor did we realize how much cooler June is in NYC than in Memphis.

The first night (and the subsequent week) in our apt can only be described as trying, to say the least. That first 24 hours all we had set up was the air bed and his laptop. We went to Best Buy and found a really cheap digital TV and made it back to our apt in one piece. However, since there was no cable, we were only able to get one channel, thank you to the FOX network for providing me with So You Think You Can Dance (god I love that show) and the news that evening. Since we were both tired from the traveling and he had to be at work the next morning, we both went to bed early (I would have read, but as there were no lamps and the overhead light would have kept him up).

Did I mention that there were saucer sized dents in the air bed? A better description would be head-sized dents in the air bed. How do I know this??? Because on that first night I slept on the air bed (with just a sheet mind you) my head kept falling into the dents, causing me to wake up afraid that I had fallen off the bed or that the world was ending. And bless his heart Jay actually had to be at work for orientation the next morning. Needless to say, I was a bit on the psychotic side when I woke up.

Jay had already called and arranged to have the cable company come out on Thursday (June 25), which was another reason that a tv was purchased. The cable guy was supposed to be there between 2:00 - 4:00 that afternoon. I wandered around our new neighborhood for most of the morning and afternoon. I think I went to Rite Aid on the corner of Columbus and 97 about 15 times that day, and to the Dollar Variety about 5 times (and the Dollar Variety guys at Amsterdam and 97 are super nice) to buy random things for the apt. By 1:30 I made it back to the apt to happily wait for the cable guy.

Have I mentioned that we only had an air bed and a tv in the apt? Not to mention the suitcases. That's it. An air bed. a tv. and suitcases. So i settled myself onto the hardwood floor with the computer and waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. At some point, I got up and stuffed some dirty clothes into a plastic bag to sit on as my butt was falling asleep. And i continued to wait. and wait. and wait. When Jay came home at about 4:00, I was still waiting and waiting and waiting. At 5:30 he called to see what was taking so long... "The cable guy is stuck on a job, he should be here in about 30 - 45 minutes, we'll call you". So we continued to wait... and wait ... and wait ... At 6:30, Jay called back, and was told that the same thing ... "The cable guy is stuck on a job, he should be here in about 30 - 45 minutes, we'll call you" ... So as it was dinner time, we ordered a pizza, picked it up and ate it. At 8:00 we were still sitting on the floor, waiting, waiting, waiting. You just gotta love Time Warner. So finally, Jay called back, it was only 7:45 at this point. We didn't have anything better to do than literally sit on the floor in an ass empty apt waiting for the cable guy. It was at this point that we found out that the cable guy was not coming this eveing (surprise) and that he would try to be there in the morning between 8:00am - 12:00pm. Yeah, I'm going to hold my breath on that one.

As I was close to my breaking point, Jay wanted to know what it would take to make me happy. All I wanted was a chair, a pillow, and a blanket. That's it. However, since it was past 8:00 and we were not too familiar with the neighborhood, we didn't know exactly where to go. We walked over to Sleepys, which sells beds and pillows, and was told that the cheapest pillow was about $600. No thank you Mr. Are You Freaking Kiddding Me. We'll try somewhere else. So our aimless wandering led us back to Rite Aid (this would only be the 1,453 time I had been in THIS Rite Aid that day). We found some cheap camping chairs but no blanket or pillows ...

While waiting in line to be rung up, we started chatting with one of the other store patrons, Pat. Well, Pat just happened to be one of our neighbors, and the greatest person I had ever met! She offered to lend us ... PILLOWS AND A BLANKET!!!! If I had known her better I would have thrown my arms around her and started to cry. We went to her apt, she gave us the pillows and blankets as well as a coffee pot, some cups, and a cooking pot. I'm telling you, nicest lady EVER.

So now that our camping equipement is set up, all i have to do is wait for my stuff to actually get here.