Traveling

Sorry. I should have posted this before last Sunday, but was too busy to get to it. I was in Denver last weekend for a wedding, and will be in Boise this weekend for a few days with my family. This will most likely be the last time I see most of them until after The Big Move.

Anyway, I probably won't have internet access, so I won't be posting on Sunday.

HOWEVER. Once I get back, it's hit the apartment hunt hard and then head to Chicago for five days of apartment hunting and community building. So I'll have lots to write about next weekend and the weekend after.

If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

Three and a Half Months

(This post was published last Tuesday on Sallyacious. It's also appropriate here, I think. Besides, I was busy this week with the show. And now I'm getting back to the rest of my life. A non-recycled post next Sunday, I promise.)

I spent a recent afternoon looking at apartments. CHICAGO apartments. Online. (Damn, the world has changed significantly since I first struck out on my own.) I justified it by telling myself that we needed to be sure that the amount we were calculating for housing would work. It's an amount we can afford even if I don't have an income right away*.

So far I have discovered an online apartment rating system and a really useful online rental site. And on that site I located 83 apartment buildings I would be willing to live in. The entire process was made much faster by two things:

1) Three cats, which narrows the field significantly right away, and

2) The discovery that even looking at a building that is more than four stories high as a possible living space makes me hyperventilate. Seriously. My blood pressure increase, my breathing speeds up, my heart starts pounding in my chest, I get all tense and start making little squeaky noises. Any ideas at how many neighborhoods that sort of thing cuts out? Lots.

I mentioned this to our ASM last night during rehearsal and she said, "Well, couldn't you live on the second or third floor of a tall building? And then she got to witness firsthand my reaction to the idea of living in a high rise. "No," she said. "Obviously not."

Dave thinks I'm being silly, but since I'm going to have to live there at least four months longer than he will (a December 2009 graduation date is now assured, by the way), I get to be as silly as I like over these things. My silly wins.

Anyway, I was getting all excited about the apartment hunt, as opposed to overwhelmed like I had been. At least now I won't be jumping into it cold. And then I thought, “You need to slow down, Sal. You've got quite a while to wait.” Which is when I decided to actually figure out how much time I have left in this horrible place.

Three and a half months.

That's it. My time in Moscow finally--finally--has an expiration date. And now I'm scared and excited and worried and jubilant and exhausted and overwhelmed and grinning like a fiend. Because I'm not going to spend the rest of my life here. I have a new place to be, and soon I'll have a home there.


* Please, please, Chicago Community College System, see me for the shining star I am and hire me. Though I suppose that means I need to apply, doesn't it. Lazy cow.

Adjustments

If you're a regular reader of Sallyacious you know that I'm now committed to staying in Moscow through the eighth of August. Which is fine, because I'm playing the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet. But it means my move schedule is shifting a bit now.

So. Now it looks like I'll be in Chicago to hunt for a home sometime in the first two weeks of June. And moving for good sometime in the middle of August. Since I'd like Dave to make the trip with me if he can, probably over a weekend. Arriving on the 16 or 17, most likely.

And that's where we are. At least things are becoming more definite. Even if the busy is creeping back into my schedule again.

Getting Ahead of Myself

Yesterday, as I sat in Dave's office, waiting for the eldest and most stubborn geriatric cat who suddenly needs someone right there with her, touching her while she eats, I took a look at possible moving routes. Yes, I know we won't be going anywhere until late July/early August. I know this. But wasn't doing anything else while sitting there with the demanding, pushy oldladypants while she dined, so I decided to look into just exactly what traveling will take.

According to Googlemaps, we can do it in one day and not quite four hours. I'm guessing that means if we were to get in the car and not get out for anything until we reached Chicago. Um, no.

Also interesting is the three or four miles of difference depending on whether we go through Montana, North Dakota and Wisconsin on the way or Wyoming and South Dakota instead. Seriously. Only about three miles. But the northern route may be prettier. Montana is certainly nicer than Wyoming. I don't know about North Dakota, but I suspect Wisconsin is prettier than South Dakota.

Anyway, I think we can do it in three days, staying overnight in Billings and Minneapolis. That's nine hours of driving on Day One, twelve hours on Day Two, and not quite seven hours on Day Three, which seems like the day we'll most want to have time for other things. Like unpacking the car/moving van and getting the Girls comfortable in their new digs. And maybe just flopping onto the floor and gasping a bit while vowing to never, ever drive anywhere for more than twenty minutes with cats in the car ever, ever again.

Now I can look into pet-friendly hotel options in those two cities. (And maybe also Chicago? It's entirely possible that we won't want to move in until the next day, but we'll see.)

As I said in the title to this post, I'm getting ahead of myself. In my defense, however, I'm happy to know that I have one potential moving issue at least partly figured out. Though I still don't know HOW we're going to manage getting everybody there in one piece.

The Job

Last week was insane. This week looks to be perhaps slightly less so, and the school year is winding down. Which is why I'm now looking to brush up the resume, the CV, the teaching philosophy and the cover letter skills. Also to get the references in order. Because it's time to start that hunt.

I'm looking at some adjunct teaching opportunities in the community college system and also a couple of other education-related leads. But I'm unfamiliar enough with the city that I don't know what school is where, and also what OTHER schools are in Chicago that I would want to check the job listings for. So I'd love to hear any suggestions about that.

Marking Time

I don't really have anything much to say about the move right now. Aside from the fact that I need to start working on resumes and CVs and cover letters and pestering the people I know about job possibilites. (People like the CEO's and academics I know. Surely someone needs a secretary or adjunct faculty.) So mostly, this post--and the next few that follow it--is my way of making sure Chicagosity stays active in our heads until I have real things to post about.

Where I seem to be now is in that No Man's Land between knowing and doing. And because my schedule is the way it is right now, it's mostly just about the knowing. (Like after you've heard you've been accepted into the university of your dreams, but you still have to graduate from high school before you can get started in college.) Some doing can happen, but until the weather changes and seems serious about it, I'm not boxing up my winter gear. And until my schedule calms down a bit, I'm not even thinking about packing up my office (either office--home or school). Which means probably another two or three weeks of marking time and treading water move-wise before I can actually start making things happen in a more concrete way.

Rent

So now I know. I'll be moving to Chicago sometime in mid-late July. This means I need to find a place to live. A place on the North side. A place that's safe. That preferably has wood floors. And allows pets. Because three cats will be coming with me. The wood floors thing is a want, not a need, but the rest is fairly non-negotiable.

I'll be visiting the city in June to find a living space (and maybe a job), but if anybody has any suggestions based on location, neighborhoods that are better than others, good landlords or living spaces, I'm up for pretty much anything.

I can't even begin to express how happy I am to finally know something for sure.

Still Waiting to Hear

There are so many factors that will determine when I go to Chicago. Whether or not I'm cast in the upcoming summer season at our local rep theatre. Dave's summer situation. Dave's fall situation. Money. Jobs. All of that stuff.

I'll admit, I'm a bit scared about this move. We have a houseful of furniture and tchochkes, plus a garage, a garden shed, an entire storage unit, two offices, three geriatric cats and two lives that are currently on different schedules. I don't know how we're going to do it all.

My plan, such as it is, is to pack things up gradually. Things we know we won't need for a while. Like all of those stacks of books in the basement. Like winter clothing (if it ever stops being winter here). Like gardening tools, since I know I won't have a garden this summer no matter where I'm living. I either won't have the time (here) or the garden (Chicago). Still, it's a daunting enterprise, and I'm not looking forward to it.

What I am looking forward to is my life two or so years from now, when everything is unpacked (including my heart) and we are settled into our new city, our new community, our new life.

Not There Yet

Not by a long shot. Don't know when we're going, don't know where we're going to live when we get there. Don't even know yet whether we're going at the same time or months apart.

So much depends
upon

the Moscow housing
market

particularly in our price
range

when Dave gets his
degree.

The only thing we know at this moment is that by August I will be living there, with or without husband, cats and/or job. And when I get to Chicago, this will be the record of my adventures in our new city.