greetings from Metropolis!

Operation Spotted Owl - the photo album

1. After a whole series of unfortunate events, I'm spending the night in Metropolis. !!!!! So far there's no sign of Supes, or any of the Luthors or Chloe Sullivan. But as for Chloe, I'm happily delusional that she's off in Gotham, Edge City or Blüdhaven and being dark and awesome. [That's another story, but whatever. CHLOE ROCKS...or at least she used to, back when I still watched Smallville and even then it was only for her.]

2. I've driven 8 hours to Miami and felt like I wanted to die. I've driven straight from NOLA to Tallahassee (only stopping in Miss. for gas) and that was mind numbing but not soul sucking.

The drive through Georgia wasn't awful at all. Hell, I didn't even have to turn on Garmin or look at a map once all the way until I stopped right near the state line -- apparently my inner compass fu was fraking SPOT ON.

3. I like driving near mountains. Maybe not through them, or over bridges really, but curving around them with gentle (or not so) climbs is really kinda fun...at least for bits at a time.

4. Rock City in Chattanooga was really cool. Not meant for people with guts, and hell, the tall, gangly girl had issues squeezing through some of the rock paths, but it was really nice. I got there way early in the morning so some of the lookouts probably weren't what they could've been, but the vegetation was lush and everything was well laid out. Also, GNOMES. And a creepy as fuck "Mother Goose" area with day glo diaramas of story book stories. Really, no shit.

5. There was an aborted side trip to Lynchburg to see the Jack Daniels Distillery, but no.

6. Still made it to Nashvegas in plenty of time to hit the Parthenon at Centennial Park. I sat for an hour and read some from The Confusion [really, my love for Jack Shaftoe cannot be properly textually rendered at this point], see hateful children terrorize a large flock of Canada geese (oh how I wished they'd been bitten), and walked around the park and took pictures of the Parthenon itself.

Also, using the Garmin for this part was a fantabulous idea. No problems driving through urban-ish Nashvegas whatsoever...though getting used to the British man's Britspeak will take some getting used to.

7. State count so far stands at: Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Georgia again (Lookout Mtn is strange and confusing), Kentucky, Illinois.

8. There was a moment there when I crossed into IL and saw signs that would've taken me Chicago where I was ready to ditch my plan to do St Louis and go there. BUT, aside from being home to some of my favourite bands, one of the largest fangirl meccas, and well...I don't know...there's probably a third thing -- NO. I think after tonight's adventures (and the less said about them, the better), me and IL are not on good terms.

Hope I have better luck with Missiouri.

9. Um, I'm sure there's more commentary, but I've driven, like 400 miles today and dealt with scary drivers and BLAH, so now I'm going to watch the rest of the Closer, plan out crap for tomorrow and rotate pictures on Facebook but lord knows that I haven't figured out how to do that in the upload process on my phone.

Update time!

1. Have apartment! One with a fireplace, W/D in unit, and that's very conveniently located to Target, the library, and the aquatics center. For yay! Also, it'll be the first time in my life that I will have a five digit house number AND live on a numbered street. Weird.

2. Currently in weird limbo regarding money and payments of all kinds. Got my financial aid info, but with lag times and such, it'll be Wednesday or Thursday before I can call school to confirm everything's kosher and then to call about setting up work study orientation.

Then there's the whole bit about signing up for utilities, rent stuff, cable, POD payments, etc. It's very freaky and I don't like it, obviously.

3. I've got almost all of my packing done so I'm in lag time until the POD arrives next Wednesday. So now I sorta have time to slack -- except that I'll find something to do, even if it's only to finish the stories I promised myself that I'd finish writing before the month was out.

4. Somehow, in the planning of my trip (the first bit from here to Iowa), I convinced myself that I was stopping overnight in Paducah, KY...for no apparent reason whatsoever. Stupid brain. So for now the route is TLH to Atlanta, through Chattanooga to Nashvegas, on to St. Louis, up to Hannibal, MO, and into Iowa.

After that, the biggest attraction to see (outside of Rushmore, Deadwood, etc.) is the Corn Palace. Whatever, outside of the big giant nickel in Sudbury, Ontario, the Palace might be one of my top cheesy tourist attractions.

5. There's probably a five, but I can't remember it right now.

i love the dark, I love the dark... but I hate nature

A squirrel got stuck in some plastic tarp outside last night. He finally managed to chew his way out and in so doing, kept me awake half the night.

Y'know how people say that pigeons are rats with wings? Yeah, can I append that to include the assertion that squirrels are rats with fluffy tails?

Meanwhile, there's some animal outside that sound entirely too like the creatures from Pitch Black for any sort of comfort.

In conclusion, see the title of this post.

BTW, eventually (or, um, NOW) this thing is going to turn in to regular blog central b/c, let's face it, my nattering is ginormous, deserves to be appreciated by many, and when it comes down to it I won't be able to share my special form of verbal/written brilliance in quite the same way very soon. No more drink nights, trivia games, lunches or inappropriate and stunningly dry commentary at, well, any time.

So yes, blogging about normal stuff. To come! For yay!

Now back to other non-vital tasks.

final countdown, day 1

Howdy!

It's the first of August, so I guess today is the start of the Final Countdown (cue GOB theme music and retro-love for Arrested Development)...which I think is a little funny because I still don't know exactly when I'm leaving Tallahassee for my great trek across country.

People keep asking that question (logical, yes), but I feel bad not having an answer. I do know that classes at Green River (Killer) Community College starts 20 September, but a lot depends on finding an apartment and getting an apartment move in date. This also means that doing the whole Moving My Shit thing is hanging over my head, because I'm not only supposed to be transporting my stuff, but stuff from my sister and uncle and I've learned that logistics is a bitch -- which totally kills my proud and insane notion that I could totally lead an invasion force...even if it was for Lichtenstein...forget any sort of invasion of Normandy.

So there's the whole moving-moving thing, and then there's the other stuff like insurance(s), car stuff, loan monies, basic moving stuff, and god knows how many other things. Let's just say that right now I am LOVING my multiple whiteboards. In fact, I could probably use one or two more.

Today, as I'm still feeling icky (stupid body knows exactly when to break down...I keep running and running, doing things at a high pace and then plop), I didn't get to a lot of stuff on today's list, but I have started packing boxes that I'll take in my car, namely (at this point) linens and bathroom stuff. It's measly, but it feels significant. If only I could load them in my car as I finish so I wouldn't have to look at yet MORE boxes hanging around the loft.

But, PROGRESS YAY! Out of apartment, money sitch starting to come together nicer that I had anticipated, and I've got tons of lists and considerations going, including a well-rounded Bucket List of places I need to eat before I leave town.

[Po Boys for the pickle chips, Gordo's for their yucca fritters, Black Bean Cafe with Ivy, Bird's, and the Country Kitchen in Thomasville because their mac & cheese is this side of nirvana.]

Looking forward now that I have "time" to get the Regular List stuff done as well as some other things I've been putting off or have never done. I plan on hitting the beach, going down the Itchomgfreakingcoldtuckee River, and driving out to Torreya.

I'm sure the terror will start to set in shortly, but so far, so good.