Sci-fi space drama warfare

It was a hard working weekend, made of birthday meals, antique fairs, goodbyes, and strenuous moving that lasted far into the wee hours.

We finalized our move as we packed boxes and bins and loaded our many unnecessary belongings into the Gold Key Storage truck. We weren't able to pick up the truck until around 3:00, so Amy and the kids and I went down to Folsom in the morning and hit the strip. When the truck was ready, I went to get it and Dad met me there. He was my gracious assistant through the whole ordeal.

So we ordered this storage unit via phone, at Gold Key Storage - a nice new fancy location at the end of Placerville; we got a 5x10 unit. Turns out 5x10 sounded far larger in my mind that it appeared in person. It was possibly large enough to store a few acorns. But, they did provide a nice large truck, free of charge, to help us move, and they had a special cheap deal for our third month. So we headed to our dusty, ramshackle apartment to clean it up and clear it out. Amy packed and made trips back and forth. Dad and I loaded and loaded and loaded (interrupted briefly by neighborhood hoodlums, a beersome smell and Jack the Marine who was quite kind). Worn and tired, and after many hours, we retreated to Placerville to empty those worthless goods into our new dwelling. We arrived late, oh I don't know, 10:00 or 11:00, and began the process. Once the truck was emptied and stuff was strewn about, Dad and I took the rest of the pile back to Gold Key. We made a nice 12:30 AM In N Out stop, which was delicious even though my belly was overstuffed full of sugared sweets and carbohydrates and more than 2 liters of soda.

We entered Gold Key with an agenda. Finish fast. We worked completely in the dark. Dad unloaded the truck while I stacked and arranged our bins and boxes into a masterpiece worthy of recognition. Unbelievably, we were able to fit everything that we wanted to into that tiny unit, like a circus car chock full of clowns, bursting at the seams. The final few chairs and pieces fit perfectly like a jigsaw puzzle, and we slammed the rolling door shut around 2:00 AM and parted ways.

I headed back to the apartment to get a few more things, including bathroom necessities, and in my exhausted stupor I ended up hanging around for an hour or so before finally returning back up the hill. I left that apartment in my solitude with a sense of longing, a goodbye blown kiss and a sorrowful glance at the empty pool covered in a toplayer of fallen leaves. Farewells are so hard.

I had to fill up the Gold Key truck with gasoline before returning it. Everything just seemed to drag on, but no matter, I was wide awake. That nite I was finally able to sleep around 4:30 AM. One of the latest nites I've had in some time. And I handled it so well!

Sunday morning Amy thankfully woke up before me and went back to Gold Key to check in the truck, but I eventually had to get out of bed to get ready to teach my church class at 10:30. Amy was able to come with me because Mom offered to watch the sleeping babes, but we were still late, a cruel joke, and I had an additional four kids to teach. We took it easy and they mishandled a poor helpless lizard, but all in all it was a nice last Sunday. Though I was sad. I looked forward to playing the bells with the children in the October presentation. The bells sound so pretty and I love all those kids. So here are my goodbyes: goodbye to Brooke, Morgan, Cameron, Jonah, Meghan, Kimberly, Michael, Graham, Royce, Paige, Kaitlyn, Coral, Kaylie, Tristan, Bradley, Brian, Amber, Meredith! I knew all your names and smiling faces; I brought you treats and you always played along. It was fun. And I'll see you all again. I'll still attend that presentation and you'll all sound wonderful.

Sunday was Mom's birthday. We took her out to Mel's, while Heather was working, and then we walked Main Street Placerville's Antique Fair. The Antique Fair is just an overpriced flea market. The best part about a bazaar, flea market or yard sale is that people are looking to get rid of things. They're willing to negotiate and find ways to make a deal work. But when it's 'antiques', oh these people have a price they definitely want. There's no wheeling or dealing, no haggling over price. It's 'twenty bucks or leave it' attitude. A little tiresome.

I went to Zack and Rebecca's that nite to try and help Zack install his new printer. We had no luck, but I found out he got it working the next day with Epson tech support. Zack, my old good friend. It's so nice to see him. He's got Sylvan and Rebecca and reminds me a little of myself. I see a lot in him that I would like to be. I'm glad we're close for a while and we can be friends again. But I'm sad that I'll be leaving him again so soon. But he and I have retied friendship knots and I wouldn't be surprised to see our productivities ending up on similar pages sometime in the near future.

Fin.

Audio: Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Vol. One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness|Coheed and Cambria
Video: [nothing, actually]
Text: The Great Gatsby|F. Scott Fitzgerald