August 11, 2006
Summer, continued ::
personal — tagged buffalo, new york, travel and vermont
9:24 am
So, I finally found a place to stay, starting September 1. It’s a shared house in Montpelier, with two other people. The house is north of the city on Elm Street, and is right on the Onion River. It has a nice little back yard with lots of trees, a garden space, and a little lawn furniture set. I look forward to spending the warmer part of September in the back yard, reading. I’d also like to set up a bird feeder, but we’ll see what my housemates think about it.
I’m particularly looking forward to this because I’ve been semi-homeless since I took the bar exam back in July. I have kept my stuff in storage over at Rick and Sarah’s place, and have kept only a minimal amount of clothes, hygiene supplies, and tech equipment (and of course my bike!) with me. I’ve been staying with friends in South Royalton and have been travelling a lot (e.g., my Pitchfork/Milwaukee trip last week) which has made it seem that my life is more like it’s temporarily transitory than totally up in the air. Now that I have a definite end date of September 1, I’m more comfortable with my life, and feel that I can just enjoy my time rather than get stressed out about getting my life in order. Now if I could just find a job.
The weather has been really beautiful here, too. Last week it was hot and humid, weather akin to, as David Foster Wallace has said, living in someone’s armpit. But after a series of wet days the weather finally broke and we’ve had really cool nights (it got down to the 40’s last night) and dry, warm days in which the temperature doesn’t get much above 70. It’s been perfect for bike riding, and I’ve been taking advantage of it, going on 30-35 mile excursions over mountains and through towns I would have never imagined biking to just a year ago. So it’s a great summer, and I will be sad to see it go.
And yesterday I helped a friend move down to New Haven so she can attend Vermont Law’s joint degree program with the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. She paid and fed me, and even reimbursed me for mileage on my car. And the best part? She was actually packed before we got there, and we got the van packed in less than an hour. The drive down to New Haven was really no problem either, and we got her stuff moved into her place in even less time than it took to get it all into the van (fewer stairs involved in the unpacking phase). It was a fun trip, and it was nice to make a little money. But even better was making new friends, which I’ve tried (with a fair amount of success) to make a recurring theme in my life this summer.
