The Land of Oaks
June 26
7:30 a.m.
Ahh. Nothing starts the day better than Ani DiFranco telling me she's not a pretty girl. And chamomile tea. And realizing Utah Phillips is doing some shows this year despite his ill health; he'll be in Santa Cruz in October, and I can see him then. And mist rising from the pool. And finding out that the office chair I'm getting free from work didn't get thoroughly doused by the rain last night. And feeling somewhat in the mood to do work, and looking forward to being productive at my job (this really makes a nice start to the day; I'm normally grumbly and annoyed by work).
An auspicious beginning.
I'd better knock wood.
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I'm going to update this intermittently throughout the day, I think. There's some stuff I want to talk about. Good stuff. Exciting stuff.
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The biggest news is-- I'm moving.
I'm moving to Oakland. There's a room opening in Heather's house, and she's offered it to me.
I know the million arguments against moving in with such a new lover; believe me, I know. I also know this is the right thing to do, the just exactly right thing. There'll be bumpy bits, no doubt, but that's okay.
I'm going to miss Santa Cruz, yes. Santa Cruz is a little slice of beachside heaven, it really is, and my housing location is absolutely primo. I'm glad I got to live here for this long. I'm not giving up the town entirely, anyway-- D. and Scott still live here, so I've got crash space if I want to come visit.
Santa Cruz isn't perfect, anyway. The disadvantages of Santa Cruz are not in ambience but in practicality. It's expensive. My house is a pretty good deal right now, but our landlady has made it clear that there's going to be some lease-renegotiating this fall, and I wouldn't be surprised if the rent went up by $300 (there's no rent protection in Santa Cruz). Given that my job is over at the end of July, I'm not going to be in a position to deal with that kind of rent increase. Granted, I could find another job, one at the University for example, but it wouldn't pay much more than I make now, and thus would still entail a reduction of my circumstances.
The advantage of Oakland is mostly Heather's house, which is great and comfy and cool and cheap (by local standards, anyway). My rent would be significantly less than I'm paying now. In a few months, if it's financially viable, Heather and I might take over the house completely (for a while at least we're going to have a third housemate).
I am so, so excited. I'm leaving Santa Cruz, but I'm gaining proximity to the City, to Timprov and Marissa, to Susan, to Karen and Par and Tot... and most of all, I'll be close to Heather. No more far-traveling. No more having-to-leave. And yet I will have my own room, so we'll be able to retreat to our own space if we need it. I really think we'll get along well. I'm the most easygoing housemate in the world-- sometimes too easygoing, admittedly, especially when it comes to cleaning. But I'll do my part. I think... this is hard to explain... I think Heather's house will feel more like my house, less like a temporary dwelling, more like a place that I live.
Heather's part of Oakland isn't in the deep ghetto or anything-- there's a fairly nice downtown section within walking distance, with lots of shops and restaurants and coffee and a good bookstore (they actually carry Brutarian there!). Not quite the convenience of Pergolesi-around-the-corner, but hell, I could use some more exercise anyway-- walking over a hill to get to my coffee shop can only be good for me.
We get to nest, Heather and I. We get to make our place in the world together.
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2:15 p.m.
I took a long lunch today, and went down to eat with Marissa and Timprov and their friends The Other Scott and Michelle. Timprov's and Marissa's friends are nice. T & M'ris have good taste in friends (he said modestly). After lunch (at Zachary's, mmm) they asked me for directions to the beach, and I sort of mumbled and pointed. I can get to the beach, yes, but I don't know what roads I take or anything; I just sort of drive in that direction until I reach the boardwalk. I hope they found it okay. I'd hate to think of them winding up in Scott's Valley or something.
Lunch was fun, a nice break from the workday, but it's pretty difficult to be back at work now. I'm doing data entry and listening to Modest Mouse. Waiting for it to be time to go check the mail. Whoo. At least I can rock out. Usually I can't, because I have an officemate with sensitive ears. And anyway her computer is the one with speakers, so unless she's gone, I don't have any way to play CDs. But, as mentioned before, I'm pretty much alone this week, so I can sit back here and boogie and try not to pay attention to the inviting, cool pool. The pool was gross and algae-filled last week, and thus not inviting, but it's clean and tempting now.
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I finished that Walter Jon Williams story "Wall, Stone, Craft." Eh. A cool idea, but I'm not sure what the point was. It's an alternate history in which Lord Byron goes into military service and personally defeats Napoleon at Waterloo. Byron runs into Percy Shelley and Mary Wollstonecraft and they have long conversations and some arguments and some sexual tension. Neat asides about open relationships and plural marriage. Some weird stuff about ghosts and guilt that didn't seem to have much to do with anything. Some of the individual scenes were cool-- Shelley outshooting Byron, Wollstonecraft repeatedly out-arguing Byron, Byron showing off Napoleon's carriage. I really wanted to like this story, and in theory it's just exactly my kind of thing, but it felt all wandery and unfocused and didn't ultimately go anywhere. Nobody changed, nobody learned anything. Bah.
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Okay, well, it's unlikely that anything of interest is going to happen at work in the next two hours, so I'll just go ahead and post this. See y'all again soon.
