NT 029 - The Move

Alrighty, and away we go. It's another drive we drive in because we have places to go, things to do, and furniture to move.

Oh no. Oh yeah, furniture to move. And that is something that, I'm trying to see, sorry this is a driving episode so like when I say I'm trying to see it's because I was backing up. Anyway. Yeah, so I've been undergoing an adventure. At this point in time the adventure is not yet complete.

But it, but it's, it's almost there. Well I can't say complete because it's a journey. It's something that's never complete because life, life is a journey as are the many, many aspects of the journey.

But, uh, I've been in the process of going from one place in my state of residence to another place. And it's been a very, very interesting journey that Kit has been journeying alongside me with.

Uh, with. So, I figured, why not talk a little bit about the process of moving and, and why and all of that. And who knows, you know, maybe you'll get something out of it. But it's just something that I've been thinking about and going through. And it's, it is exhausting. And you gotta watch out for scams too. We'll talk about the scams.

Scams. Scams. Scams. Scams. Scams. Scams. So, as to the question of why I'm moving. Well, when two people love each other very much.

Well, okay. So, several years ago, uh, Kit and I's mother decided that things were not working out very well between us. And we called it quits. And that was mutually beneficial for both of us. So, that was good. I think Kit will agree that it, it generally made both his mom and I better.

And that was better, happier people to not be with each other. Would you say that's an accurate assessment, sir? Nah. Okay. Uh, of course, Kit was caught in the middle. Uh, we, we had to decide to cut him in half in order to determine, you know, custody. Uh, I got the half with the brain. And that, that's, that was good. So, that worked out for us. I mean, what you can call, I guess, a brain for you.

kid. No, everything went relatively okay. But that happened. And then there was, you know,

a time of transition there and tried to date, which was difficult after I had given time apart

and whatnot. And then I met somebody and things worked out pretty well. And we've decided that

it's time to, you know, combine worlds in a more permanent way. So that means moving in with her

because her location is better than my location. I think objectively speaking, her location is better

than my location. Her location is cats. Yes, her location has cats. And everybody likes cats,

except for people who don't like cats. But everybody likes cats. Unless they're allergic to them.

You can still like cats. Yeah, but not everybody likes cats, especially the musical. Definitely

not the movie version of the musical. Yeah, that's a travesty. But anyway, so I've been over the past

month or so going about the business of packing up my life and getting ready to move 60 miles south.

And it's definitely a bigger undertaking than you might think. Like you think you don't have that

much stuff. Relatively speaking, I don't have that much stuff. Like I have stuff. But I didn't think

that I had that much stuff until you have to move said stuff. And then it becomes a problem.

And leading up to things, I had started moving some small amounts of things, like some small boxes and,

and whatnot, over to the new location. And it was not, you know, not all that much getting done. And I always

constantly like, I had a great plan. I'm going to tell you straight up, I had a great plan. I was,

I was going to start doing, because I knew the date that I was going to have to move out.

So I was like, okay, if I start moving, and knowing that I have to move out on this day in late May,

um, if I start moving stuff during this week, and then I move more stuff during this week, and I handle this

room on this day. So like, I had a great plan. And my girlfriend's a teacher. So I was like,

okay, we can use April vacation week, maybe I'll get like, a big push of stuff done during April vacation

week. And that didn't happen either. So it came down to really, three days in mid May, that I took off,

three days in mid May, that I had to get everything that I wanted to keep kind of ready, packed up,

etc. And I got boxes, and you know, I started boxing stuff up. And there was all sorts of other stuff going on,

that, you know, made it interesting to try to get that done. Anyway, so we, I got the boxes put together, and then I ended up renting a truck. And Kit was there for this process.

And I've said this before, and I'll say it again. You don't know how much you appreciate the rear view mirror in your car, until you can't use it. Because with a box truck, which is what you get when you go to say a Home Depot, or a U-Haul, or a Penske, uh, when you rent a truck, there is a, there is a window in the back of the truck.

But there's a box behind that window, so you can't see directly behind you. So the most nerve wracking part about moving, isn't the fact that, don't get me wrong, it is a nerving and depressing, I will say, to pack up your stuff and watch the space that you've been living in for, you know, four to five years, become a bare empty space again. Because when I moved in,

into the space, I had very little. And people helped me out, and I'm grateful for that. But it's, it's just a mind trip to see the space become more and more empty over time, as you're, as you're starting to move. And you're packing up your life, and you realize how much stuff you have that you don't need, and you get rid of stuff. Like, I made a huge trip to the Goodwill.

but it was definitely a weird experience driving one of these big box trucks

and Kit was with me and it was it was definitely unnerving

and I will say it took a while to pack the box truck

so I had packed a bunch of boxes and everything in advance but

there was some stuff that I couldn't pre-prepare until the day of

so for example my bed I needed to take the mattress off the bed

and then I needed to take the bed frame apart and the headboard and the footboard and all of that

I'm doing that like first thing in the morning which you know

it's a little bit weird taking apart your bed first thing in the morning after you've slept on it

but you know hey that's what had to happen

so I did all that and then we went we got the truck this was a long day by the way we got the truck at 9 30 in the morning

drove back I think it took us to like 10 30 10 45 to pack the truck with all the stuff that we needed to put in it

and then we were using straps to tie everything down and whatnot I know this is riveting stuff but it really is like just what I'm going through with life right now and occasionally when we're recording some time usually it's about games or movies or fun ideas but this is just what's going on in life right now

and get the truck packed up it's at least an hour one way in good traffic but we weren't given good traffic

on any leg of the journey

so we're driving the truck down we're hitting construction and or accidents

we get there we unload the truck pretty quickly like get unloading the truck into my girlfriend's garage was not that big of a deal in fact that went pretty quickly actually I did such a superb parking job in front of the garage that we were so close to the garage that we kept almost hitting our heads on the brick of the garage

like we had to duck down a little bit as we were taking stuff out but it took about a half hour to get the stuff out of the truck but then I wanted to bring some stuff inside because some of the stuff that I was bringing over was stuff that I wouldn't want sitting in a garage you know like computers and stuff

so by the time I brought some of the stuff inside and we used the bathroom and we headed out it was another hour

and then we got to drive back and driving back ended up taking longer than expected because

traffic more traffic more accidents more construction okay so great so we get back

we bring the truck back to the home depot we turn it in we get in my car

I think maybe we stop back at the apartment briefly I had to get gas oh I had to get gas twice I had to gas up the truck

which was like 40 something dollars just for the trips that we made down to the town that I'm moving to and back

but then my car needed gas and that was another 50 dollars

So in one day, I paid $200 for a truck rental, $9, well, $10 really with taxes and stuff

for the straps that I needed, and then $100 basically in gas.

Now that's cheap.

That's moving on the cheap.

When you move expensive and you hire a company to move you, oh, well, then things get more

expensive.

And actually, I did buy some new boxes because as much as you can go to a big outlet, or sorry,

not outlet, but what do you call them, like bulk store like Costco or BJ's or whatever,

yeah, you can get boxes for free, but they're used and they're like produce boxes and things.

And I really just wanted to get boxes that I knew were brand new, that I knew weren't going

to fall apart on me.

So I did, and those didn't cost all that much.

But yeah, so the majority of the move has happened, but now I still have some furniture that I'm

trying to get rid of.

And this, this is a story, all right?

So I have, I had a few, I had like four different pieces of furniture I wanted to get rid of.

Two of them I've already gotten rid of.

One of them I'm getting rid of today, and one of them I'm probably going to have to hire

somebody to come and take away.

Okay, fine.

And this is where the scam happened.

The scam, sir.

The scam.

The scam.

The scam.

So there is a social media site called Nextdoor.

The entire point of Nextdoor is it specifically is focusing on the neighborhood you live in.

So by default, most of the stuff is people who live around you.

And it's mostly people complaining about town governments, people complaining about neighbors

not picking up after their dogs, people asking for advice on what's the best mechanic in the area.

You know, stuff like that.

And it's a great place to list furniture and other things that you want to sell or for free.

I also have used Facebook Marketplace as well.

But I was super excited because I put up a table and chairs and sofa and a few other things,

and somebody messages me, and she's like,

hey, I'm definitely interested in the table and chairs and in the sofa.

I'll pay you full price.

I'm like, full price?

Hell yeah!

That's a lot of money.

At the time, that would have been $275.

And I didn't pay anything for these.

These were given to me for free.

So that's pure profit, baby.

Pure profit.

And so the lady's like, hey, my husband's not on Nextdoor.

Can you text him?

I was like, okay.

So I text the guy.

He's like, yep, so where are you located?

Give him the location.

Can I Venmo you the money?

I'm like, yeah, you can Venmo.

Venmo's a trusted thing.

And he's like, yeah, and I'll have my son come and pick up the stuff this afternoon.

I'm like, great.

It's like my son and his friends will show up.

Great.

Now, the number is not a number that is in my state.

I checked that because I'm not stupid.

But lots of people can have numbers that are not in a particular state

because they could have moved.

So that's not necessarily a determining factor

as to whether or not this person's a real person

or they're a scammer.

So the person's texting back and forth.

They're like, okay, how do I pay?

Like, what's your Venmo address?

I'm like, oh, it's the same as this phone number that I'm texting you from.

Okay.

So then they send a follow-up.

Oh, well, to confirm that Venmo, it's asking me for an email address.

I'm like, that's weird.

Venmo doesn't normally ask for an email address.

This is starting to feel a little bit weird.

Maybe, you know, if you've never paid a person before, it asks them for your email address.

All right.

So the guy says, okay, thanks for an email address.

I submit a payment.

You should receive it shortly.

Now, being a smart person, I'm in my Venmo account.

I'm just refreshing the screen over and over and over.

Refreshing the screen, refreshing the screen.

I'm not seeing any money coming in.

And then I get an email that looks like it's from Venmo.

But I can immediately tell it's not because Venmo doesn't use the email address v underscore enmo at aol dot com.

Like, it was pretty obvious immediately that it was somebody trying to scam me because it was like, oh, well, this person tried to send you funds from a Venmo business account.

And you don't have a Venmo business account.

Please call this phone number for us to release the funds or something.

I'm like, so I immediately called out the person in the text.

I was like, this is not a real email address for Venmo.

And also the phone number is not for Venmo.

This is a scam.

I am blocking.

So I blocked and reported the phone number.

Then I reported the account on Nextdoor as being a compromised or phishing account.

Then I emailed three different email addresses to report the email address that was a scam.

And then I posted about it on Nextdoor so everybody knew.

And I will say, even though I didn't fall for the scam, it's one of the more demoralizing things that you go through.

Because it gets your hopes up.

It's like, oh, I'm going to get rid of this stuff.

I'll make a little bit of money because moving is expensive.

You know, I've spent way too much money.

And like right now, I don't have a microwave.

I don't have like any cutlery.

I don't have any of this stuff that's necessary to like live a normal life.

And so like it's painful being in a transition state between point A and point B.

And because of that, you know, a little extra money and getting rid of some stuff that you need to get rid of brings a great sense of hope and relief because it's like I'm moving on with the process.

But guess what?

Somebody instead tried to scam me.

And it just makes you feel so defeated because you're sitting there.

It's like, oh, I was going to get rid of this stuff.

This is great.

I don't want to deal with the stress of the fact that it's going to be like the day before the move.

And I still haven't gotten rid of this stuff.

Well, it didn't work out.

And that was unfortunate.

Luckily, I have been slowly but surely getting rid of this stuff.

But it's been an interesting series of events that have led me here.

And I don't regret it.

And I'm going to say something that I've talked about with my girlfriend.

And it's just, you know, this is an open conversation.

So I'm not sharing anything I haven't shared with her.

But it's like also trying to figure out how to fit all of the stuff into a place that largely belonged to somebody else up until now.

You know, imagine you live someplace for eight years and now somebody else is moving in.

You had everything set up the way you wanted.

And even then, she didn't really have the place set up the way she wanted because of a water heater incident that happened.

Read into that what she will.

So it's taken her some time to get everything reorganized and back into shape.

And, you know, she's finally getting the place back into the condition she wants.

And now somebody else is moving in.

And she needs to figure out how to accommodate them and make them feel part of the home.

So it's got so many layers.

And it's, as I kind of have been describing, it's been a big, long process.

It's a lot of work.

And you might say, well, gee, like, is all that really worth it?

And for me, the answer is yes.

Otherwise, I wouldn't be doing it.

You know, I love this person.

She loves me back.

I would hope.

Kit is falling asleep as I'm telling my story.

Rude.

Whoa, what is this person doing?

Rude, sir.

You're supposed to be riveted and hanging on my every word.

But, yeah, the last episode, you did most of the talking, so.

That's fine.

But, yeah, I don't know.

Like, so, you've been there for parts of this experience, Kit.

What have been your general observations of the move?

Cheese quesadilla.

Didn't we get a cheese quesadilla?

No, we got pizza.

We didn't get cheese quesadillas.

We got tasty, tasty pizza.

Although, it's a quesadilla.

Not your favoritest pizza.

Yeah, there's a pizza place that my significant other and I both enjoy.

And, to Kit's credit, he didn't give in to the hype.

To Kit's credit, he had his own opinion.

And, it did not match our opinion.

And, that's okay.

I actually patted him on the back and said, good.

I'm glad that you have a different opinion on it than we do.

And, you're standing up for your opinion.

So, my opinion is, hey, this place has pretty good pizza.

And, my significant other, her opinion is, wow, this place has really good pizza.

And, Kit, your opinion was, eh.

Eh.

It's fine.

It's pizza, but, it's fine.

It's not my thing.

And, I was like, you know what?

Like, I jokingly said to him, how could you, sir?

How dare you?

How dare you?

But, then I actually said to him, hey, you know what?

I respect your opinion.

You don't like that particular pizza that much.

I mean, to be clear, if it's pizza, and you put it in front of Kit, generally speaking, he's gonna eat it.

It's like if you give a mouse a cookie.

You know, if you give a mouse a cookie, it's gonna want some milk.

If you give a Kit some pizza, he's gonna want more pizza.

Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow.

So, the move is going pretty well.

This is my last week in resonance at my current location.

But, I will say that if, if the release quality, so if the editing quality and the, uh, overall sound quality has been a little bit off for the previous episode and for this one,

it's because I'm, I'm still kind of getting set up at my new place.

And, if I have to edit on my laptop, I don't have the same plugins available to me that I have on my desktop computer.

Because, right now, like, and you might say, well, why don't you set up your desktop computer?

Well, because I, I have to set up my desk.

Well, why?

There's nowhere to set up anything.

Yeah, we're still working on rearranging the space so that I can, you know, fit some stuff in.

And, that's not, like, a negative.

It's just a matter of, like, people's lives have to be rearranged to make room for me.

So, it's, it's, it's an interesting journey to say the least.

But, pretty much the majority of the way there now.

There's very, you know, there's very, very little left to move.

Um, the majority of what I have left that I'm going to have to move are cleaning gadgets and supplies.

Because, I have to keep them here, where I am now, in order to clean up the place so I can get my deposit back.

And, it's not filthy.

I actually vacuumed on a regular basis.

I generally was pretty good at keeping the counters decently clean and all of that.

So, hopefully, knock on wood, I'll get my $1,200 deposit back pretty quickly.

And, I'll be in good shape.

So, that's something that's been going on.

I know Kit didn't have much to say about it.

He's been part of the process, though.

He's been a trooper.

And, it's kind of upheaved his life a little bit, too.

Because, I mean, he's not used to my girlfriend and her daughter.

He's still getting...

I mean, like, I don't think you hate them.

Right?

You don't hate them, right?

You're not going to murder them in your sleep like you did the last...

I mean, nothing.

In my sleep?

How would I do that?

No, murder them in their sleep.

Sorry.

I don't know.

You could be a sleepwalking murderer.

I mean, sir, you bury a lot of your angst and your rage and hold it deep inside.

I mean, that's got to come out eventually.

Wow.

You're doing such a great job of articulating yourself.

Meow.

Okay.

But, Kit's also getting used to the cats.

Kit and cats.

I like it when there's a specific cat that likes bothering Kit at bedtime.

Comes in and just tries to take over the bed.

So, like, Kit's getting...

That was only, like, those two days.

So, I don't know if he's going to do it again.

Oh, you know.

He probably will.

He's a cat.

Cats have habits.

Anyway.

But, yeah.

So, I know this is me talking a lot.

But, it really is what's been pervasive in my life right now.

And, of course, there's money concerns tied up into all of that, too.

You know, it costs money to move.

It costs money when you don't have stuff at your house to be able to cook food.

So, you have a tendency to order out more because you can't cook food.

Like, don't get me wrong.

I have stuff I can eat right out of the fridge.

But, it's like, well, after you're working your ass off packing stuff, like, and you get to the end of the day,

do you really want to be eating, like, lunch meat and cheese out of the fridge?

Yes.

When you could have a nice, hot McDonald's sandwich?

The answer is yes.

That's your opinion.

But, yeah.

So, it's been a journey.

And, we're getting near the end of it, which is good.

And, hopefully, when we record, well, I don't even know when we record the next episode that I'll be fully moved into the new location yet.

Or, I might be moved into the location, but it's still going to be getting stuff ready.

And, getting stuff taken care of.

And, it's going to be little by little, you know, for example, getting my bed moved.

And, it's going to be little by little, you know, getting my bed moved in and set up and taking hers apart.

Because, we have mutually agreed my bed is betterer.

But, stuff like that.

And, trying to make things comfortable for everybody.

So, it's a journey.

Anyway.

So, not the most entertaining show.

But, it's been a long, stressful journey.

It's not terrible.

It's not.

It's just a lot.

It's dealing with a lot.

And, again, Kit, I commend you for helping.

And, trying to make it a seamless transition.

Speaking of seamless transitions.

Is this person waiting for me?

Is this the...

No.

No? Okay.

I was like, what?

Because, I know somebody's coming to pick up the couch today.

So, anyway.

Well, speaking of transitions.

If you like what you're listening to, feedback@nontopical.com is the place that you can share that.

I'm going to have to rush through this because we're just about back.

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That means, if you get value out of it...

Please show us some value in turn.

And, you can do that by, as I mentioned before, emailing us.

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And, toss us a few bucks so we can buy some delicious cheese quesadillas.

All right.

So, I'm sorry to be short with you, podcast audience.

But, we are at our destination.

So, we are going to get going.

But, thank you so much for listening.

Thank you for being part of our lives.

We appreciate it.

Until next time.

Bye.

Bye.

Bye.

Bye.

Bye.