Hooooo!

Immediately upon entering the house, I noticed (or was noticed by?) the pack of animals that live here. Two dogs; Angus, a pit bull/dingo mix, and Adrian, who I have no clue. He's adorable, but patently ridiculous in every sense. He's small, with curly reddish brown hair, and an overbite. The two large cats are named Junior and Wilemina, and I rarely see them. Occassionally, one sneaks into my room and uses the bed, until I kick them out (I am currently not accepting animals in there.) On the other hand, are two kittens who do not actually belong to the house. They are being watched over until one of Sam's relations settles down in their home (they're relocating, or some such). One is black, with white mittens, and the other is stripped with all range from white to black. The black is named Sookie, and the other... well, the other has six toes on each paw. Noticing this, I came to the conclusion that he must be trying to evolve thumbs, and therefore, is attempting in the long run to be come a Thundercat. (In case you're not aware, the Thundercats were a popular anime in the late 80s/early 90s, involving humanoid felines with creatives names like"Lion-o", "Panthro", "Cheetara", and "Tigra.") So, I addressed this kitten as Thundercat, and eventually it suck. Thundercat is my little buddy, and Steph has trained him to climb up your body when you say "HOOOOO!" (another reference to the cartoon.)

For the first two nights in the new place, I slept on the couch. With Sam's surgery and all the rest, the basement is not near ready, and the upstairs room was still in the process of being cleared out. Not that I minded at all; I have come into this with the interest of a transition into independence, to developing a routine that involves keeping my space clean and generally taking pride in everything I do. If that means doing things from the ground up, than perhaps its all in the best interest of forming good habits. On the first full day here, we cleaned out the room that would become my bedroom, and began looking for beds. Ironically, none of the ones were purchased... Steph found a full bedroom set for 50 bucks on Craiglist. The next day, she went to check it out in person, and decided it was a good deal (it was!) and brought it back right then. By the third night here, I was in a new bed! It's double the size of the one I had at home, and is very comfortable. I slept like a baby that night (unfortunately, I didnt for the next few, and kept waking up oriented paralell with my headboard). I bought my own towels, which felt far more momentous than it really was (they're towels -_-) and collapsible laundry baskets. I took an hour and moved all the stuff out of the heap it was in the dining room, and into neatly stacked piles in my own room.

It was in this span of 1-3 days that I spoke with Steph and Sam about the potential of The Arrangement. Basically, The Arrangement is as such: Personal Chef services in exchange for room and board. They were immediately amenable, and it became even easier when I found out that they drink their breakfast (protein shakes and what not that need only be purchased, not prepared) and that they'll often eat leftovers for lunch. I only need to prepare dinner! Wunderbar! I've really enjoyed it. Cooking is a persistent learning experience, it is very rewarding, it is methodical and organizing, It is very cathartic, particularly if I get to do it in quiet with just some music. In Adjacently Related News: I've become Neurotic about Kitchen Cleanliness, which is not eased by the smallness of the kitchen. It is about half the size of the one back home.

After that I began scoping out jobs and exploring the nearby area. I'm beginning to know things well, and keep walking downtown (about sixty blocks to the heart of downtown, round trip) to get an idea of what's near me. At the time of writing this, I have eleven job applications out, and more are going out daily. Many of them are online, which process slowly, and entry levels are always easy to disregard. I will continue in the carpet-bombing manner until I get something that sticks, because it is necessary. 'Nuff said.

Progress in the basement is slow, but each step is very satisfying. We've cleaned out the stairs and alot of junk, and wiring is fully done. I've bleach bombed it several times to ensure vermin-eradication and this weekend we'll be putting down the flooring and pricing out drywall.

While Will was here, Rockband 2 became our frequent after-dinner entertainment. With three (four, when Sam sung for us!) people to play, we really got into the total experience and had a great time. Today, Steph and I did a few sets while Sam was working the 4-8 shift and we've gotten to the point where we really can't progress anymore with me playing on Medium. Now I've got to practice new fingering sequences and learn how to play again on Hard! Oh well.

In other entertainment: Friend of Stephs (hereby named properly as Chris) hosts a group of people over every few weeks to watch UFC fights. UFC is Ultimate Fighting Championship, which is a type of Mixed Martial Arts. Basically, like Boxing except less technical, and like Wrestling except not fake. I really didn't think I'd enjoy it, but in the spirit of this whole thing and exploring new things and meeting new people, I went for and had a really good time. I will definitely be participating again.

That's a lot of writing for today... I'll try and think of more developments that I haven't covered here already to write about tomorrow. Tomorrow's Agenda: Grocery Shopping, Resumes and Applications Downtown, and Gym Membership!