Okay, so I'm not actually that much farther East than I was before, but a few blocks, anyway. I have now moved from my tiny studio to a gorgeous three bedroom with two lovely roommates! Our neighborhood is beautiful, our apartment is beautiful, we have an adorable cat and life is pretty good. We even have a couch, a huge kitchen where everything actually fits in the cupboards, and a dishwasher! Also, all hardwood floors. I feel much closer to a real adult.
Of course, I still haven't unpacked everything in my room, our living room is full of boxes, we haven't yet found a table (although Carly may give us hers, at least for a while), and there are some adjustments needed when moving from your own space to a shared one. I have been looking forward for months to living with other people but there is definitely going to be a transition period. I got very used to having everything exactly where I wanted it, whenever there was a mess it was my mess, whenever there was food it was my food, and I never felt the need to nag anyone. I liked all those things. But, I also like coming home and having people to talk to, having a kitty to play with, sharing chores, etc. And I'm sure I'll get more used to the rest of it. It's only been a week, afterall.
Yesterday I finally finished cleaning my old apartment. I spent at least three, maybe three and a half hours cleaning up after I moved out, which doesn't sound like a long time except that my old apartment was one room and a big bathroom. I wiped and scrubbed and vacuumed and I really hope it's enough for me to get my whole deposit back. It's a fairly old place and there were some stains I couldn't get out and knew I didn't cause, some rips and holes that were there when I moved in, etc. and since I was subletting, it's up to my subleasor how much of my half of the deposit I get back, which is worrisome. She seemed like a very nice girl, and everything, but I still feel that it would be fairly easy for me to get screwed over in this deal. Then there's the part where I lost the extra key. I mean, I didn't really. When Alexander was visiting I gave it to him, he set it down somewhere in the apartment (I watched him do this, I was almost positive he put it on the desk) and then neither of us could find it ever again. It never left the apartment but I searched through everything when I was packing and it was nowhere to be found. So. There's that. I'm not sure how much they charge for a lost key. At my new place they gave me a handy little sheet telling us how much they charge for anything that needs repair or cleaning after you left and a key is only $10 but you never know what they might do at the old place and I'm getting nervous.
Moving on, polo season is almost over! Sad. But we've got a few more big games before it is. This weekend I'll be in Sioux Falls, SD, next weekend we'll be in Peoria, and the weekend after that a couple of teams might be coming here. After that it should peter out and we'll probably just be practicing and playing games here, maybe travelling a very little bit. We haven't been travelling as much as I expected anyway, but it's been a really fun (if stressful) summer. These next two weekends are actually the only times we'll be staying in hotels, which will be interesting.
I think I mentioned in my last post that the other girl I work with is nice and everything but we never really clicked, never seemed to have much in common and things are usually at least a little strained between us and I couldn't put my finger on why. I think there are two reasons that can be summed up in two sentences I have recently heard her utter. The first was something along the lines of "it's not like I'm an environmentalist" when talking about throwing beer cans in a lake which just hurt my soul and made me respect her a little less but didn't make me feel like we could never ever get along, and the second was much more recently "I hate reading". "Ah." I thought "Well, that's that, then." Not that all of my friends have to be book nerds (although at least 99% of them are) but I don't think anyone I really enjoy spending time with would ever say "I hate reading". It's not so much a dealbreaker as an explanation for why things have always been weird. On some fundamental level I cannot be compatible with someone who would say that. If you met my mom, you would understand. Well, actually, if you're reading this I'm fairly sure you do understand.
Oh oh oh! I cannot believe I didn't mention this before! My horse is here at last! He got here on the same day I was moving! He didn't get here until after midnight (and I had been up since 6:30, packing and moving and unpacking and hanging out with people on very little sleep for two days, so I was exhausted) but he was in good shape, if a little confused. I saw him the next day and he seemed much happier to see me. He followed me around the arena and stood still while I groomed him (which he rarely does). I've seen him twice more since then and he's been good. He lives about 10 minutes from the barn where I work and this is the first time in five years that he's been close enough for me to see on a regular basis, and the first time ever ever he has been on the way to something else I need to go to so it is incredibly convenient to see him.
He was very sweaty the other day, may not be quite used to the heat here since I think it might not have gotten as hot in MN as it has been here in WI, but he was out in the pasture with the other horses (they introduce them slowly, which I appreciate), didn't seem too dinged up, and other horses were even following him around! This is really exciting because Larkie is almost always on the bottom of the totem pole in the pasture. It's just his personality, I guess, and it's not bad it just makes me anxious about introducing him to new horses because he might get beat up a little more (although he seems to understand his social rank, so he'll probably submit pretty quickly). But other horses were following him around (and it didn't look like chasing, which happened at his old barn) so maybe Lark is moving up in the world, too!
And now I should go. I have to go to work soon, but first it is rainy and chilly and this adorable grey cat (whose name is Bergamont, Monty for short) is curled up next to me on the couch looking incredibly cute. It is sort of ridiculous how nice it is to have a cat on a rainy day.
