photo friday: outside my front door

There are three quotes that have been flying around in my head for the majority of this week...

"My life happens to, on occasion, suck beyond the telling of it. Sometimes more than I can handle." - Buffy

"I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they’re right." - Marilyn Monroe

"Equi donati dentes non inspiciuntur." (Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.) - St Jerome

On top of having my head full of quotes I've been somewhere between feeling like I want to throw up and wanting to break down in tears for most of the week.

Thankfully I haven't done either, yet anyway.

Mostly it's because I'm not that great at dealing with change, but I'm getting a little ahead of myself.

It all started on Monday evening when there was a knock at the door... now generally I don't have many visitors who just drop in unannounced, so I knew it was something out of the ordinary. It turned out to be the woman from the land agent's office and she was serving everyone in the apartment block with eviction notices.

Yes, because that's what everybody needs just before Christmas, an eviction notice. Thank you Scrooge McFuckface, the worst landlord I've ever had the misfortune to be involved with.

Technically I wasn't completely blind-sided by it... there have been people turning up in the courtyard from time to time pointing at things and the whole "refurbishment" thing has been on the cards for a good couple of years... plus the same woman from the land agent showed up the other week "just to check who was still here". So it's been clear that things have been afoot. But like I said, it's been on the cards and afoot for a good long while now, so you never exactly expect that it's going to be happening right now.

And, to be honest, it kind of couldn't have come at a worse time in the general fabric of my life (for example, if this had happened this time last year, I would have been applying for apartments left, right and centre)... I've been slack about looking for more work, so when it comes to filling out rental applications, as I found later in the week, I look like a bad risk. Which I'm not, given the length of time I've lived here and the fact that I've never missed a rent payment because I didn't have the money.

It also made me kick myself somewhat for not bothering to put in an application for the place down the road from me back in August.

So even though I went through the online real estate guides and found a bunch of places that looked promising, I wasn't overly enthusiastic about the process.

Which isn't really surprising, given the fact that I worked out during the course of the week that I've been in this apartment for approximately 17 years, give or take a year. And given that Ma and I moved house when I was 17 or 18, it's either the longest or second longest I've lived in a place (keeping in mind I've only lived in five different houses in my whole life). It's also made me think quite a lot about what has happened in this apartment, but that's a longer post all of it's own for a later date.

But because Ma's general role in the Universe is looking out for my best interests, even when I'm not, she emailed me on Tuesday (because, of course, she was the very first person I called once I got the news about the eviction) saying that she works with a guy who knows a woman who's looking to rent her place... but my brain initially rebelled at the idea (don't even ask, I have no idea why)... that was before I tried completing an existing rental application.

That's when the gift horse and Marilyn quotes came into play and I realised that I was resisting this opportunity that had fallen into my lap for no logical or reasonable excuse, so I called the woman on Wednesday afternoon and left a message on her voicemail. And she called me back yesterday morning and we had a chat about the place (interestingly enough one of the other places in the block is also on the market, so I'd seen the photos of that place online). While she hasn't definitely said I can have it, I have been able to explain my whole situation to her and I'm just waiting for her agent to get in touch with me about going to see the place.

It's not a done deal, but if everyone reading this could please cross their fingers, toes and other appendages as appropriate, I would be incredibly appreciative.

And of course, this all comes right after I've spent the time fixing the place up all nice... although to be honest, I think half the reason I delayed putting bookcases up even after I'd started getting rid of stuff was because in the back of my mind I thought there might be a move coming up. I'm still glad I did it, but now I just have to pack it all up again.

On the plus side of things it means that I'll be able to get rid of a bunch of other stuff before or during the move that I haven't gotten around to yet. I've actually been sitting here this week thinking "well that can go... and I won't need that or that... and do I really want that?" about a whole range of stuff. And since I've been in that clear out mode for a while now I'm going to be able to be ruthless when it comes to packing for the move.

To be honest, I will be very glad to see the back of 2013 and if shutting the door on a year that wasn't one of my finest comes with a side order of moving into a new apartment in a completely new location at the beginning of 2014, even better!

It currently doesn't make me feel any less like I might throw up however, and I don't expect that to go away until I know for certain what's happening.

The other (good) thing that will be happening at the beginning of 2014, no matter what else is going on, is my new tattoo. I got the finalised artwork from Cameron this morning and it looks AMAZING, so once I know what the hell else is going on in my life at the beginning of January, I'll schedule a session at the tattoo studio.

So I'm going to make a positive declaration here and now... 2014 is going to be a better year for me, a brand new beginning. And good things will happen!

In other news, the retro video game show opening, Arcade Allstars, at Espionage on Thursday went off... when I got there around quarter past yesterday the place was more packed than I think of seen it outside of Gary Seaman's last solo show.

Josh said he wanted to pick my brains about the Lego show he wants to do next year, so given that I had a chiro appointment this afternoon I went in an hour early and had a good long chat with him about things of a Lego persuasion and then we moved on to some general chat about the gallery. It felt good to be useful and full of information, since I haven't really felt like that the past few months.

Oh, and given the general thrust of the post, the two images at the top were both taken from inside my apartment through the open front door.

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