Changes

I found a few old photos I took of my room here back when I first moved in, almost four years ago. Interesting to see what changed and what stayed the same. So I took some more pictures for comparison. To be fair, I didn't clean anything up for the photos. And to be doubly fair, I can't even blame the messiness on getting ready to move (I haven't done all that much yet, actually). That's just how it's gotten recently. Partly just because I've been outgrowing this space, I guess.

Countdown

One week from today I'll be moving! Very exciting. The packing will begin this weekend.

Washington with a Mustache

After a recent spate of Marx-Brothers-movie-watching, I went and found Monkey Business, by Simon Louvish to read more about them. Fascinating. I had never even realized there was a fifth brother, Gummo Marx, who never went so far in show biz with the others. The most fun bit, though, may be reading bits of scripts that never made it into movies. I especially loved this quote, from a show called "On the Balcony" in the '20's, before their movie days. Groucho is trying to get some musicians to stand in for his unmusical sons, for reasons hopefully relevant to the plot:

Groucho (on the telephone): Hello, Gumchewer, give me two wrong numbers, then give me the Musicians' Union. "Union," u-n-u-n. Hello Une. Say, have you got a couple of men who are out of work? Oh, they're all out of work? Oh, it's a union. Well, send me a couple of men who look like me. What do I look like? Did you ever see Lincoln without a beard? Well, I look like Washington with a mustache.

(Quoted in Monkey Business, pg. 126)

Good stuff.

Caught One!

Alright, so events warranted, and here's the update to follow that last post. I was out apartment hunting in Mountain View this weekend and I found a bunch of not-quites and so-sos, but one just-right baby-bear apartment nicely located between work and downtown. After a quick evening of debating with myself (with help from Mom) I submitted an application, which was approved today. So in February, I will -- finally -- be moving out of the Chateau de Weird an into a "real" place of my own. After nearly four years here, this will be a very exciting change. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it.

The name of the apartment complex, as has been noted by several people already, is a little ridiculous, due to its silly juxtaposition of an Italian word with an Old English street name. I will therefore refrain from using it here, and simply refer to it by its anagram, the Live Light Ward. It may also simply be known as "the Villa" (as a nice contrast to "the Hotel," which I'm moving out of). If you're curious about my actual address, the specific apartment is numerologically represented by Temperance / The Heirophant in a Tarot deck, and when added to the street address, results in the year beginning the War of Jenkins' Ear, between Great Britain and Spain. So it's easy to remember. As of February, please address all written communications there.

As a corollary to all this, of course, a room will be opening up here if anyone wants a cheap place close to Stanford. Let me know. It takes a certain kind of tolerance to live here, but it's got some good points to it.

Apartment Hunting

Each time I start getting into this, I get a little farther along. This time, it looks like something might actually happen. Further details as events warrant.