The Move

56 hours ago I received the key to my new apartment. It is strange to be living on my own, I like it but am not used to it. My father was a wonderful sport and spent all day Monday with me loading and unloading the truck and my car on multiple trips to Davis.

On our third drive he was carrying the bed and bookshelves. Pre-departure I asked if he would need me to follow him, the response was negative. As I was pulling away from the curb my mother comes running up the sidewalk flailing her arms in the air, “Your dad thinks you should follow him”, which I proceeded to do. I kept an eye on the contents of the truck for some time and then proceeded to get lost in my own thoughts. As we were approaching Davis I happened to look up and notice the top bookshelf had slid a foot or so out of the truck. I examined it closer – it kept sliding. At this point I am frantically searching through my purse for my cell phone - I watch in horror as the bookshelf continues to slide. I locate the phone (I should have grabbed my camera as well). The bookcase slips a little farther. I phone my father several times – no answer. I speed up and honk the horn – then realizing if the shelf falls I want to have plenty of room to stop and avoid injury to my car I slow down. By this time the shelf is leaning at an extremely precarious angle, held only by a small rope across the top edge of the shelf. Dad slows and pulls over – the shelf is saved and havoc avoided. Nothing like a little taste of what real anxiety feels like. Here is a quick diagram and photo.



Currently the apartment is a disaster, well I feel like it is, there may be those who would argue it is fine but my whole life feels out of balance with the state of disarray it is in.

Then there are the spiders. Upon informing G last week that I would be moving out her first question was, “K, who will kill your spiders?” My parents laughed, they should be laughing even harder now. After being uninhabited for two months small creatures, with many legs, laid claim to the apartment. They have not been overly welcoming to the new inhabitant. Especially disturbing is a large spindly looking spider with abnormally thick legs who is currently living under the bathroom vanity – we eye each other warily. After I have moved around for a while he sulks back under the edge of the vanity where he lives unseen. Light, both natural and artificial will send him crawling away. His neighbor a little up the side of the vanity but below the counter is an appropriately sized daddy long legs who is living with the skeleton of a past family member. Why are they still there after 56 hours? First it was sheer exhaustion that allowed them to remain alive. Last night I finally got some bug spray and a vacuum. I returned home with every intention of hitting them with the spray and vacuuming them up.

The spray was needed after my friend E told me a horrific tale about several spiders crawling out of her vacuum after being sucked up. As I hope to never see my spindly roommate again poison became the only option. My friend J told me to go with a wooden block smashing method, but that would require that my hand get rather close to the spider. When I returned home I marched back to the vanity with spray can in hand only to find that the spider was in hiding. I tried the spray out on a spider near the shower – with satisfactory results. Although he did run around for a while, I must be sure I don’t stand too close. However the spindly spider has not reappeared. I sincerely hope he is just in hiding and has not decided to seek a new home elsewhere in the apartment.