The Great Experiment

Evening update

I signed a lease on an apartment in Celebration!

First, let me put this into perspective: Right now my one-bedroom apartment in California is 662 square feet. The complex was built in 1977, and all of its units share two laundry rooms. None of the apartments have air conditioning. One-bedrooms like mine there rent for $1307 per month right now; I get a discount to $1165 since I've been there for a few years.

My new one-bedroom apartment is 855 square feet, and includes its own washer/dryer, air conditioning, and security system. The complex is two years old. Rent is $860 per month, although I'm paying $880 for the privilege of limiting my lease to seven months instead of twelve. And apartments in Celebration are about a hundred dollars more expensive than other apartments nearby! My plan to move out here to save money seems to be paying off already...

My move-in date is Thursday, September 7. I picked a seven-month lease because I'm tempted to move on house plans much sooner than I had first thought I would. I so badly want a house, and I figure if I decide later that I've made a poor choice, I can always sell the house without much trouble. The only downside to it all is that I'm smack dab in the middle of a building that's three units wide and three units tall; in other words, I have the Whoopi Goldberg Celebrity Square apartment. Concerned about my home theater speakers and my love of volume, I asked the apartment manager, "How well do the walls insulate sound?" He replied, "The walls are made of one-hour insulating material." Meaning that if one unit caught on fire, it would take an hour for the fire to burn through the wall to an adjacent unit. "You won't have any problems with noise."

After this, I dragged Kristy with me to go see the new Pokemon movie. It's no Tenchi Muyo, but it not bad, although I'll qualify that; my brain is already mush, so I wasn't affected by it. I guess I made my saving throw versus cuteness. The most fun part of the movie was hearing the little kids around me gasp with glee every time a new Pokemon would appear on the screen, and then they named every one. I can only assume they named each one correctly, or else a pre-teen brawl would have broken out right there in the theater.

Immediately thereafter, I begged Kristy to bring me to a Target (actually, it was a 'Super Target,' maybe because it's easier to hit?) so I could get the soundtrack to the movie... for one particular song on it. Ask me. :-) Next I managed to embarass poor Kristy to pieces on the phone with two of her friends (hi Katie and Tina!). Note to self: My first movie night out here will have to be 'Being John Malkovich.'

We brought the day to a close with dinner at a fancy and expensive Japanese restaurant, and she grabbed the bill before I could! Kristy is great! But I accidentally left my digital camera in her car, so I can't post any photos from today quite yet. Whups.

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