Leaving Las Kewgas?

Went to watch Naz play St. Joe's by the Sea in Staten this afternoon. We got blown out in ugly fashion - 70 to 6, but ... it was one of those days where I couldn't stop smiling, can't stop thinking how I have the greatest job in the world.

We have a hot lead on a new place ... saw it on Monday night and told the dude we were interested. He's a subletter and its a co-op so he had to pass the inquiry on to his landlord, the apt owner and we had to wait. In the interim we looked at two other pads - one dank and the other showed by a shady super. The Co-op place is a beauty in a very nice building and directly across the street from Las Kewgas, which is a moving key. The rooms are a nice size - big ol sunny bedroom and nice sized living area plus the clutch eat in kitchen as big as ours now but shaped differently. The subletter called us back last evening to say we could have it as long as we get letters of reference from work and from our current building management (saying we always paid on time and such) which should be no problem. We have to get our paperwork together next week and sort it out. It's tough to get excited when so much has gone wrong recently and also, when you don't really want to move in the first place. But if we gotta move, this place is a nice alternative to dank and shady ;)

In happy and lucky news, Nick's hard work over the past few months paid off in a nice promotion at work where he is now the High Speed Online Project Administrator. Lots more responsibilty and a happy and proud boyfriend. Cool beans.

No posting in awhile - I have been in denial about the whole sitch, trying to pretend there's no move coming up and so on. The hassle time is upon us now however cuz as of Tuesday the Lo needs to be removed from our premises and as my Mom and aunt take wing for Eire, I take wheel with the Lo to their house, which will be quite odd, back to the old homestead where none of my stuff resides.

As for an earlier mention I made of the Jets - I still contend that Vinny Testaverde is a passable backup, but this Jet team on the whole is embarrassingly bad. The defense couldn't stop my 6 year old nephew going up the middle and of the whole receiving core, only Santana Moss deserves to be in on every down. Tragedy. Major market, great fans and all that money and they are trash. So frustrating! Especially since I am a Met fan too!

So last night was a terrible night. I just got completely overwhelmed by how overwrought this whole sitch is and by how overly harsh is this penalty upon us for simply wanting a puppy in our lives. It was one of those nights where I got out of bed and raided the stash of stress cigarettes (as in - wanna be former smokers who know they'll be fiending when bad times come so they keep a pack on hand for such an occassion) at one in the morning even tho I had my first class sessions this morning with my new students. Sitting out there on the fire escape last night smoking into the darkness I can honestly say I had no idea in the world how to go about resolving our distress. Financially we are not equipped to move. Emotionally we are not equipped to give up our Lola. I tried not to make it into the tragedy of the century in my mind, tho. I know we could be worse off. We could have no family or friends for mental and practical support. We could have nowhere to live and no one to give us an interim hand with the Loler. We could be unemployed. We could be different people who would fight like crazy in the face of the dilemma. At least I always know how lucky I am in that regard. Being with Nick makes everything a little bit better and sometimes, a whole lot better. And after seven years (that anniversary is two weeks from Monday!) that just becomes more and more true.

In other news, my luck may have finally begun turning back from the dark side today. At work after meeting with my 5 frosh classes and my homeroom, I found out that the school had hired a part time teacher to take one one of the English 9 classes. That cut my roster of students from 180 to 150 and did wonders for my outlook on the year. I cannot say what a different 5 less kids in each class will make in how well I can teach them and in how I can manage my outside of class work. So that was a major positive and I came home from work feeling tip top.

Went out to dinner with Tricia and Kristin tonight. We hit an unbelievable Mexican place on 58th and 1st called Rosa Mexicano. Holy cow was their food amazing. It helped too that I hadnt eaten since 9 in the morning! Great choice by Kristin and it was super cool to see them and get to catch up. Everyone has so much going on these days, altho I seem to be the friend at the table who is regurgitating a black cloud of unlucky events. Oh well I will attempt not to wallow and perhaps as they say "This too shall pass" =)

Well no new news on the apartment front but I feel less horrible than I felt last night thanks in total part to Bridget who gave me a good, sound talking to on the phone this afternoon - thanks Bridget! The situation certainly is not ideal, but as she said, leaving this place doesn't take away all of our good memories of times spent here nor does it rewind how much we have grown as people since we got here. I will try and keep that in mind when I want to go and crawl into bed and cry about the whole mess for the thousandth time.

The kiddies started back to school today and although I had been dreading the return to teaching life, I was actually pretty happy to see last year's students and I laughed a lot and reorganized my classroom for optimal environmental learning! Tomorrow I meet my freshers - all 175 of them. I'll have to crack the whip and bring the fear ... definitely not a stance that comes naturally. Everyone keeps telling me with that many of them, you've got to be one tough mother. I shall see what I can do.

On the docket for this evening: NFL Kickoff! Jets and Skins with Vinny behind center. I feel good about my Jets, despite the disappointment of two weeks ago. Vinny is probably the best backup in the league, so it could be a lot worse. I don't know what the season as a whole holds but I do predict a win tonight in DC.

You might be wondering why a simple move from rented apartment to rented apartment would be cause for such angst and blogging ... Well, this isn't just any apartment. By New York City standards, it is enormous. The rent is manageable and the neighborhood is perfect. We have filled the overly large living and bed rooms with our myriad of bizarre possessions. We painted the bedroom to an outdoor theme - blue ceiling with oil paint clouds, blue walls, grass green moldings and natural bamboo blinds. The matching white dressers blend in like lawn furniture in a garden.
We've nailed about 100 framed photos from various memorable times in our lives and of various much loved people alongside framed prints of works of art collected in our travels to the walls and we have covered the refridgerator in magnets and pictures, clippings and articles of note. We have left not one corner ignored by personal touches. To move is to leave behind our first home together, a place where we have been very happy for too short at time. To move is to leave behind the exact apartment we were looking for when we answered our first ad in the paper more than a year ago. This is one of those "life is unfair" examples where every turn is a no win. Of course I regret putting myself in this position, but wouldn't I much more regret knowing forever that I gave up a living, loving creature to keep what is essentially just plasterboard and drywall set up in a becoming fashion?

Preface: I am publishing this blog for two reasons - to have a vessel into which I can vent my daily mounting frustration over my current living situation and also, as part of a grand-scale effort to repair some blown writing fuses.

Why is my living situation so frustrating? Well, it isn't the company if you were wondering ;) In fact, I would have been perfectly content to have just been left alone to continue living as I have been, in peace ... Alas.

Two weeks ago Nick and I received a notice from our landlord threatening to evict us from our apartment (affectionately known as Las Kewgas) due to the fact that a building employee has observed us to be "harboring a small, tan puppy." Well now I admit that we have indeed been sharing our quarters with a small, tan puppy (affectionately known as Lola) but we did so without any knowledge that such an offense would cost us our much beloved and bedecorated domicile. Unfortunately we are not the type to cast out a canine in favor of a residence, so we are suddenly in the uncomfortable position of not knowing where we will be living and/or when we will be moving there. We have agreed to relocate the Loler to my Mom's house, thus curing the default situation we have stumbled into and also saving ourselves an eviction conviction.

We would like to be released from our lease early so that we can find some Lola-friendly housing (check that - we would LIKE to keep living here at Las Kewgas, with Lola and without hassle from management but we will ACCEPT an early end to our lease) but that answer lies in the very cold hands of our landlords, who are officially the most hated people in our little world right now.

As I speak, Lola is engaged in the horrifying, eviction worthy act of chewing her bone while laying on the floor and I am sure that all the neighbors would be thanking their lucky stars for such conscientious landlords if they could see her now.