corrina corrina

Every time I move into a new place, I have little flashes of memories of us moving into our family’s permanent home in 1977; the one my parents still live in.  Something will always trigger it, and it’s usually the way that you have to camp for a day or two in the new place before beginning to settle in.  I just like that even that house, the permanent, forever house, was still a place that we had to sit on the floor to have dinner in the first night, and there probably wasn’t a TV set up, or at least the lighting hadn’t been set up.  So mom came home from the grocery store the first night with some brightly colored things sticking out of the bag, and my eyes got a little bigger, and maybe I was getting a peak at the Christmas presents that we’d be opening in a few weeks.  Maybe not.  She had bought the game “Cooties” so we’d have something to entertain ourselves with during the camping phase of settling into our new home.   Something besides my then infant baby brother.  Infants can bring hours of entertainment, don’t get me wrong.  But we were kids.  We had only just added on the two bedrooms, our VW bug was parked at the other side of the driveway where it would stay until we sold it or gave it away, I don’t remember.  Our youngest would be born in the bedroom.  That year’s Christmas tree would be planted near the washing machine room, and would grow into a thriving pine tree that would shade both cars and a picnic table.  The original outhouse was outside, probably on its side already where it still lies.

So I get a warm and cozy feeling when I move into a new place and have to camp.  I let it go on a silly amount of time this time, having only needed to call the management and have the gas valves turned over and pilots lit.  But I have a space heater here, and my Coleman stove and electric hot plate are doing just fine.  They’re even kinda fun, and I happen to have a cache of propane cylinders.   The kitchen also turned out to be pretty spacious, and it’s not even crowded in there.   And if I need to drag Christyne over here to play games on the floor even though there’s plenty of other forms of entertainment, then I just might do that.

That’s what friends and family are for.

I’m in my apartment right now trying to stay warm. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. I just got too lazy and didn’t call the gas company when I discovered that the stove and heater won’t turn on. Probably just a valve thing. It’s been so sunny, and I have 3 large windows that face south and the sunlight pours in and heats the place up all day.

It seems I did nothing but pack and prep for my move, for the past 3 or 4 weeks. This meant that every day I was on my feet, working hard like it was a second job. Project “move Corrina” occupied my mind, my body, and my car. My body was spent, and on the days of actually moving my stuff, I was getting pretty out of it. There were so many logistics, and so much physical labor.

So at the end of all this, when I’d unpacked at least enough to relax, I made myself a martini and headed over to Christyne’s, for the novelty of being able to make a martini and walk over to Christyne’s. We had plans with A.J. for Blade Runner and cake night. A.J. thought we were kidding about the cake, but we weren’t. I brought my blue cheese-stuffed olives with me and continued to make martinis over there, forgetting that I am kindof a 3 shot max person.  The olives were from Whole Foods’ deli and they were just so yummy. I was seeing double pretty early on, and then I was embracing that second version of everything as though my friends could see it too. They had a nice flatscreen T.V. to watch, I had two.

I’m not sure what the sequence of events was after I laid down on the floor next to them while Christyne was walking on A.J.’s back, which was sore from helping me move. I’m pretty sure it went like this, based on their re tellings: They got me to the couch from there, and put a blanket over me, and it was nighty night. A little while after that, I must have gotten the urge to go to the bathroom. This is where I think my brain went back into auto pilot that it’s been in for the past month. Sure I was tired and sleepy, but something needed to get done, and I was gonna go do it. So I got up to go to the bathroom, and my two friends watched me stumble past them and head for the kitchen. Then I made an abrupt right, just before the kitchen door, and started rifling through a stack of picture frames, as though they were hinged at the back. Christyne recognized the action of lifting up a toilet lid, realized that I was not home, and then A.J. steered me towards the bathroom. I don’t think there were any problems in the bathroom, but then I came out of the bathroom and headed into the office instead of the living room. A.J. said he watched for either the light to come on, or the sound of typing at the computer, but there was nothing. They went into the office and I was sitting on the floor with my head resting on a chair, perfectly content to stay in the comfy place I’d found. They both walked me to the couch again, and as Christyne put it, I was very noodly.

I had a blackout! I’ve never done that before. Tim did that once, the day he got back from a month long trip to India. It was the only time he’s ever done it too. I guess the mind can just get into a funny groove and stay there, and the body lets the mind stay in charge, or vice-versa. Thank gaud I was among friends, and I have a new respect for alcohol. I still blame the blue Cheese stuffed olives for being so yummy.