Angela Tung Oversharing on the internet since 2005.

This weekend MB and I had the easiest move ever.

In case you’re behind on the trivia that is my life, when we moved to San Francisco, we opted for a furnished studio.  It was cheaper and we wouldn’t have to go to the trouble of getting furniture.  Our lease was up at the end of December.  Quickly we found a place we loved right down the street, but unfortunately didn’t get it.

Luckily however, our landlady had a furnished one bedroom available, which turned out to be bigger than the original place we wanted.  Sure, the rent is slightly more, but we don’t have to buy furniture, aside from a bed that we had already ordered.

MB had actually never seen the place but trusted my opinion.  I had told him about the big walk-in closet I thought would be perfect for his “studio.”  On Saturday our bed was being delivered so he went down to tell the girl cleaning the apartment.  The first closet he saw was the one in the hallway, which while bigger than ours, is still small.  He actually thought, Is that my studio?  Then he found the walk-in closet and was very very pleased.

Oh ye of little faith.

Sunday morning we woke up and I swear it was like Christmas.  “Let’s go!” MB said excitedly, grabbed his guitar and some other gear, and hurried downstairs.

Our new place is just one floor down from our old one, so “moving” was throwing stuff in suitcases, bags, and boxes, and taking a few trips up and down.  We were done within a couple of hours.

If only all moves were so easy.

Our new place is almost three times the size of our old one.  There’s so much space, I don’t even know what to do with it.  I put some clothes I don’t wear often in the walk-in, leaving the rest for MB.  So the hall closet is half-empty.  There’s even room in the foyer for a small shoe rack.  And there’s a perfect space in the living room for our keyboard.  We just need a piano bench now.

The only drawbacks are a small kitchen, which you can’t really get away from in the city; we face the street so will have some traffic noise (but the bedroom is towards the back and closing the sliding doors helps); and something’s up with the cable, but that may be a blessing in disguise.

But no matter how much I love this place, I still need to get my ass out and to the gym.

Our four-month lease is up at the end of December, thank goodness.  While renting a furnished sublet was a great way to find a place quickly and to not have to deal with buying furniture and other household items, we’ll be really glad to be moving to a place where:

1) we’re not forced to show our apartment in place of another, sometimes without warning, and then are told ours “doesn’t show well” with the bed out, and we should really move all our boxes from the bed storage area down to the basement, although we’ll be moving very soon

2) a surly cleaning girl won’t kick me out of my own home to take two hours to Swiffer the floors and Fantastick the bathroom

3) our bedroom, living room, and office won’t all be in one room.

We went to three open houses yesterday, and looked at six apartments.  As always, we loved the first place we looked at.  (The second was in the same building, cheaper but smaller.)  Just two blocks away, the building used to be a residence for single working women (not THOSE kind of working women, like MB thought).  The lobby is very pretty with ornate fixtures and stained glass windows.

The apartment itself is a real one bedroom with a billion closets.  I can’t remember how many, at least three, maybe four.  There are definitely two giant ones in the bedroom.  Right now we have one small one, as we did in New York.  Some NYC apartments don’t have closets at all.

The living room has bay windows, and everything is pristine.  Very clean and brand new.  The only downsides are that there’s no laundry in the building, though there are plenty in the area, and the kitchen is kind of small.  But we both agreed: the moment we walked in, we thought, Wow!  Plus the building managers seem really nice.

While we applied for that place, just to be sure we looked at a few more.  The next open house was nearby.  That was a no-brainer: the kitchen was part of the living room.  No thanks!  The next three places were in a building a little further out, in Pacific Heights near Fillmore Street.  While the apartments were quite big for around the same price, everything looked very dingy and old.  I asked if the walls and fixtures were being redone.  Nope.  I’d rather live in a smaller place that’s pristine than in a yucky somewhat bigger place.

Yucky how?  The hardwood floors were scuffed up and stained in some places, the tiling in the bathroom looked used, and the fixtures in the kitchens looked like that cheap fake wood stuff that doesn’t handle water or stains well.

We’re keeping our fingers crossed about the first place, though if they don’t accept us, I don’t know what place will.  Also, it’s available December 15 so we could overlap a couple of weeks and take our time moving our stuff in.  That would really be ideal.

After a month of weekend visits, I’m finally here!  I keep forgetting that I’m here permanently now and don’t have to fly back to New York in a couple of days.

The move last week went smoothly, aside from the bacon grease incident.  The day before I dropped off the last of our donations at Housing Works and packed up most of the rest of our stuff.  That night I had dinner with YP, who was kind enough to let me into his workplace and give me another much needed box.

The next afternoon, the movers arrived on time.  There were just two guys, since I didn’t have much to move, even less so when I ended up leaving behind more furniture than I had planned (one bookcase, a kitchen rack, the kitchen table and chairs).  Steve was willing to take anything and I was tired of dealing with my parents’ bickering and stress over what I was bringing home.

The movers were done in about an hour.  They took off in their truck while I hopped the NJ Transit.  They offered me a ride, but I declined, thinking they might hit a lot of traffic and also not wanting to make small talk for two hours (so I’m antisocial).

My train was really slow and they got a little lost, so we arrived within minutes of each other.  From there it was smooth sailing.  My parents good-naturedly ordered them around, and the movers good-naturedly followed their orders.  They also helped my parents move their old TV to the basement, freeing up space in the study.  Again, done in about an hour.  All moved in by dinner time.

As I expected, my parents were excited about using our little things – MB’s old speakers, my laundry drying rack, this random stool.  My dad also really likes MB’s desk.  I’m thinking I should have given him MB’s huge computer monitor instead of leaving it behind, but I was picturing an argument.  Mom: “This one’s better, you should use it.” Dad: “I don’t need it, the one I have is fine.”  Mom: “Why, just use this one.”  Dad: “No, I like the one I have.”  Back and forth, and in increasing volume.  Then again, my dad might have decided to use it anyway if it showed up without warning.  Ah, parents.

The rest of my time there was uneventful.  Thursday morning I slept till 10, exhausted from the move.  AY was home sick from work but feeling better by noon, so we grabbed lunch and coffee afterwards.  It was fun catching up.

After I got home, I had a nice run on the road behind my parents’ house (about 3.5 miles).  It was easy since I hadn’t run in about a week and the weather was so cool.  But I was very sore the next day.

That may have partially been because I didn’t fall asleep till about 3 AM.  That damn coffee!  I got up around 9 and felt the whole day that I was coming down with something.  But I think I was just tired because the next day I felt fine.

I spent Saturday with YP.  I was flying out of JFK early Sunday morning so it’d be easier to stay in the city the night before.  Plus it was nice to spend some time with a pal before my move.

We had lunch at Cafe Habana, and walked all around afterwards, that is when we weren’t avoiding the tremendous and sudden rain.  Umbrella-less, we dashed from awning to awning till finally taking refuge in a bookstore.  About an hour later, the rain slowed and we were able to walk back to his place, where we spent a good while drying out and watching TV.

A little while later, the skies cleared up more so we headed back out.  We didn’t do a photo theme this time, just snapped when we felt like it.  I had been wanting to get out to the water, so we walked out to Christopher Pier.  It was lovely.

Then it was back to YP’s for some absinthe, my first time.  It was surprisingly tasty – like licorice – but I’m not sure it did anything.  I did feel bit of a weird buzz but it’s hard to say.  Drinks were followed by dinner at Room Service, then Naked Comedy at the PIT. No better way to end my stint in New York.

The line-up was really good for a change, and there were a ton of comics so we didn’t have to hear the host make the same jokes again and watch him do yoga – AGAIN.  (Yeah, a chubby naked guy doing yoga, not my thing.)  A few of the guys had some nice tushies.  Oh yeah, and they were funny too (the guys, not their tushies).

I got a few mosquito while we were walking around so all night I was paranoid.  YP hasn’t had any buggers for weeks but with my luck, they’d reappear the night I stayed over.  Plus I was anxious about having to get up early.

But again I was anxious for nothing.  I got up in time, caught up a cab quickly, and got to the airport lickety split.  I was so tired I actually slept a bit on the plane, and then was bored pretty much the whole time.  (So tired of flying.)

Then I was home!  Yay!

Since I was so pooped, MB and I took it easy.  Had lunch, then walked out to Valencia Street.  Finally saw what everyone calls the hip Mission district.  Our assessment: enh.  Yes, there seem to be lots of yummy Mexican places, but otherwise, we’re pretty satisfied with our own area.

We saw a matinee of Zombieland, which was lots of fun, then had an early night in.  MB picked up dinner from Shalimar.  I was unconscious by 11.

This morning I’ve been unpacking and reorganizing.  Also waiting on a load of laundry (in the building! how novel).  This afternoon I plan on hitting the Container Store, Bed, Bath, & Beyond, and Whole Foods, and possibly go for a run.  And of course I need to squeeze in some writing (though I guess I’m writing right now).