Saturday, March 15, 2008

On with the next chapter

Okidoki…so the last few weeks have been interesting. I guess I could say I am starting a new chapter in my life and getting laid off was just one page in this new chapter.

It has been a week since I left Macy’s. I love it, but I will be honest…I was really sad when I was leaving last Friday. It was hard. In the 4 years I was there, I made a ton of friends and worked with sooooo many people. I had to say goodbye to everyone before I left. I am not gonna lie…it was hard. But, as I have said in the past, I am not one to show emotion and I didn’t. ;-) Leaving last Friday from Macy’s was finishing one chapter of my book of life and this week was starting a while new one I my new place. Next week will be, yet another.

In the time between my last posting and this one, I was able to find an apartment in Mankato. I actually found it through craigslist. A guy desperately needed to get out of his lease as he was starting a new job in CA. He is even paying $90 a month for 6 months since he was so desperate. So I came and looked at it and was originally turned off by the exterior of the building, but the unit itself is nice. It is not huge, but it was updated in the last few years. I think I was totally spoiled from my condo that I remodeled myself. That place was sweet. I mean it was very modern, contemporary, and something I could be really proud of.

I had sooooooo much shit that I moved and I didn’t even have any furniture. It was unreal. I moved out of my Edina place 2 Monday’s ago and I started about 9am and didn’t finish until 9pm. Of course I did it by myself, but it was a good that I moved it all myself. This way I touched every last piece of crap before it was packed and moved it from one place to another myself. When I moved in this last Monday, I went through everything Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Like I said, I had sooo much shit! I had 4 garbage bags of crap that I threw away and I made two trips to the Salvation Army to donate. When I finished going through all the little crap on Thursday morning I sat down and thought…”Hummmm. I have never lived alone. This is actually really nice. I have my OWN place. I do not have any roommates. I do not have to clean up after anyone, except myself. Everything here is mine and only mine. This is MY place.” After thinking this, I felt so much better about living here. I am not saying that I will not miss seeing my friends every day at work or working downtown. Of course I will miss all that. But, I have to make living here [Mankato] ok and having a place to call my own home is a start.

I have actually already gone back up to Minneapolis. Last night Ben put on a “Gay sex seminar.” Ok, so the quick story behind this is that we have a bunch of friends that have always asked questions and Ben’s way to explain anything was to put together a PowerPoint presentation with visual aids, such as books and even gay porn movies. It was great! He went through everything from the culture (some of which was news to me), how things have evolved, facts, figures, and many other aspects that might help explain homosexuality. Including, but not limited to coming out stories, and the inequalities we face today and have faced for years. I totally commend him for doing it. It was eye opening for even myself.

That was last night. Today, I could not believe it, but I stayed at Ben’s and slept until noon. I couldn’t believe it because I didn’t even sleep that late all week at my new place. I had planned on going to see my undergrad advisor [Vern]. He was a great man. He is about 70 and still not retired. He is the most senior person at the University of Minnesota and loves it when old students keep in contact. I was going to fill him in on my new job and all that good stuff, but he wasn’t around when I showed up at 12:30, so I went to get a bite to eat at the student union, went back at 1 and was still not there. I talked to his admin and she said he should be around somewhere. Instead of waiting, I went across the street to visit my brother and some of the guys at the frat. I think he was surprised I showed up, but was happy to see me. After visiting with my bro a while, I called before walking back over to see if Vern had returned. I think he must have left a little early to enjoy his spring break, which begins now and goes thru next week. I guess I will have to stop some other time if I get up there during the week.

After finishing up at the U, Ben was at work so I didn’t want to go sit in an empty apartment so I stopped at the Caribou just across the street from his place. I think I have said this in the past, but “I love the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis!” When I lived there I loved it because of all the eclectic people. It has not changed and it is just soooo diverse. I love it! So I order my medium White Chocolate Mocha and this older gentleman came in about the same time I did. He was probably retirement age. He gets his medium dark roast, adds some sugar and sits in one of the high tables along the window. I grab a table next to his and wait for my order to be called. I grab it and sit down and just “people watch” and take in the sights and sounds for one of my last times in Uptown. I seriously do not think this guy needed another coffee. After sitting there and watching out the window but watching him out of the corner of my eye, I notice he is fidgety and really hyper and just kind of “odd” I guess you could say. So anyway, he has a few drinks of his coffee and sits and keeps looking at me. I quickly realize this man is an old mo. Hey it is cool. If he wants to check me out, so be it, but seriously dude…not interested. Hahahaha. So he gets up and goes outside to smoke and I swear he walked around the corner a minimum of 5 times looking in the same window I am looking out. It was funny. I sit there for probably half an hour and these 3 beautiful girls come in. Two get a coffee and while they wait, I catch all three checking me out. Again, it was funny because “Sorry girls!” Hahaha. Those girls leave and the retiree comes back in and sits down in his same table and continues to glance at me. I am thinking, “Dude…I am not interested in the girls, and I am also not interested in you.” He proceeds to take out this wide ruled notebook. As he flips the page I notice that is must be his journal. As he flipped the page it didn’t give me a lot of time to read it, but in purple ink the heading at the top of the page said, “Get on with your life” and there was at least one more heading halfway down the page. After a few minutes of watching him write and catching him checking me out, I finish my mocha and leave. As I walk out the door, I come across this cute old woman leaving the Lund’s. She is dressed in this bright purple knee-length pea coat with very bright teal pants and a really big white sun hat. She didn’t look bad and was really put together well, but really caught my attention and obviously made an impression on me.

Anyway, I had to write since it has been a while. Now….On with the next chapter!!