Well, hi there!

So it's been a while.

The two people who sometimes read this before seem to have stopped reading- probably because I tend to not post anything for a while, then post something weird and confused and inexplicable. Not that I'm upset; it's just nice to feel like someone's picking up what you put down, you know? Shit, the post I had about gay marriage got more hits than... I think more than all the other posts put together. But that's probably from a lot of people at the time Googling "same-sex marriage" because of the political issues right then, and that post came up.

So now let's talk.

I've been living alone for... well, about three weeks now. I moved into this apartment about a week before Christmas. Well, "alone"- a guy lives here, has for a year and a half, but he leaves early for his job and comes back late and often doesn't come back at all because he has a very serious girlfriend, so it's practically just me and Zeus, my 5-month-old Boxer/Bulldog (I think) puppy who's starting to get a bit bigger now. He keeps me up and moving, keeps me looking out for him and mostly tracking what's going on, what I need to do, what needs to be done, etc., but... it's not like another person. I honestly never thought I would say this, but I wish someone were here.

Specifically, a girl.

"My" girl (for lack of a better way to say that) would be much, much better. A girl I was with.

I miss talking to someone. I haven't done that for a while. Just in-and-out, everyday, whatever. Now, my contact with people is by phone or email or Facebook; I feel bad if I send a text to someone without any purpose behind it. What, I'm just going to send texts to my sisters telling them that the grocery store didn't have ____, and I forgot to check the mail? Um, no. Just having someone there for that kind of totally meaningless talking is..... again, NOT something I thought I would ever, ever miss... but I seem to now.

So I'm trying to get this place set up nicely. Which is hard, because I'm used to being either in a family's home, where everything is used and has been there for ages and so-and-so had this and we thought it was great so we got one; or, in a barracks environment. Polar opposites. So now, I'm trying to figure out what's necessary and what's just clutter and what's stuff you only need for a large number of people. Grocery stores and furniture places and such, they aren't really designed for the single person, cooking/baking/building/working for only their own singular self. It's much harder when you aren't really sued to shopping, buying, planning, preparing, storing, etc. for just yourself.

And I'm trying to make this 'home'. So I've spent some money- OK, rather a good hunk of money- for the little comforts. I bought two LED strip lights, one of which is on my headboard and one is on the wall, in the corner. Why? Well, that corner was first- the single ceiling dome light doesn't light that corner well, and that's where the desk is, so I wanted it to have light to read/write/work/etc. LEDs last a long time, and I like the strip lights- there's no *thing* there with a bulb in it, just a strip on the wall. And the bed? Well, without any lamps, I'd have the ceiling light on, and when I went to bed I'd have to hop up (on one leg) and hit the switch, which is just far enough that I'd have to lean over a good bit (on one leg) and lean against the wall and turn it off, and then push myself off and fall back to sit on the bed (on one leg). And that wasn't convenient; and if I had to get up again in the dark,it was even harder because I'd have to blindly fall forward (standing on one leg), hoping my muscle memory was true, until I caught myself on the wall and felt for the switch (on one leg) and turned it on. So now, I have nice reading light in bed, it's indirect, and I have an on/off switch just at the edge of the headboard.

I got my bed, and a chair to sit in, and a comfortable mattress, and I got a cubby-shelf-thing, and just today I bought a three-cubby bench to put by the door, because I've been taking my shoes off when I come in, but with a prosthetic foot it's hard to just get shoes on and off; so I have an extra leg (my leg disconnects from the socket just below my knee) and I'll take my right shoe off, and then take the leg off and switch it for my indoor leg, so now I have a bench to sit on and do that and cubbies for my shoes/legs to go in. And I've bought quite a lot of kitchen stuff and was given a lot, as well (the kitchen was pretty much empty when I got here- no food, no utensils, only one pan and one pot, etc...)

So, it's starting to get comfortable. Now, I just have to actually put all the shit in my room away, and stop buying things whose boxes add to the clutter in the room, and... settle.

Oh, and I have to read 100+ pages about international relations, from the Peloponnesian War to about World War One, and then write a 2-page paper on something from the reading. :)

Oh, and I need to talk to my prosthetist about a bike-riding leg.
And I need to get that woman to pick up her phone so I can cancel an appointment.
And tomorrow, I have to go to the gym.
And sign something at the Ford dealership.
And work on my woodcarving project (I'll post some pictures when I finish it)
And find out if my new debit card has come, because I didn't change my mailing address before they sent it out to replace the one which I have which was picked out in that Target security breach recently.
And I need to sleep.