Offline Reflections

Friday evening, 7:30pmish, at home. We've been out buying things for the apartment – mostly for the kitchen so we can make proper meals for ourselves: a set of sharp knives with kitchen scissors, cutting boards, cork place mats, a sugar bowl, a dish rack, a small trash bin for the bathroom, a toilet scrubber, a baking dish, a boatload of hangers (I'll still need more), two lamps for the bedside tables, and various other items. We brought our goodies all back here, put them away, and then set out again for some more groceries and sundries. Of course when we came back, all I wanted were some crappy ramen noodles and peas. The dishwasher is going – it's an adorable little unit that fits our adorable little dishes. I really love this place and I commend Mark on his choice. I know he spent a lot of time looking at places and tearing his hair out over which one to choose. This place seems to fit us perfectly, and everything is shiny and nice and new, it feels like the lap of luxury, to be honest. It's the nicest place I've ever lived in by far. We still need to buy a couple of things to hold our stuff (we are both such clothes horses so we have to make special accommodations for that), but all in all, the three of us are pretty happy. And there's a bath tub!! We have both already taken baths. After a long day of traveling from Galway yesterday, it felt truly wonderful to hop into a nice warm tub.

I do think I'll need to fashion some kind of comfy bed for Gypsy that she will prefer to sleep on besides my pillow next to my head at night, though. When I was on my own in Boston she had become accustomed to sleeping at the foot of my bed on the heating pad. But with the two of us on the full-sized bed, there isn't room for her at the foot of the bed, and she seems to like plopping down on my pillow. I'm making special allowances for her right now because of the transition, but that's not really going to fly in a couple of days. I'm hoping that once I get the heating pad going, she'll just plop down on it and that'll be the end of that.

Mark is fixing to go to a show right now. I would join him, but I am fighting a cold and I am just not feeling energetic enough. In fact I could really fall asleep right now. I took some cold medicine, so at least I'm not sneezing my head off anymore, but I do feel like a piece of crap. I'd like to pour myself some stout in a few minutes, watch some Project Catwalk on the computer, and turn in early.

Five of my six parcels came today. For some reason, the hand-addressed one didn't come. I hope it arrives tomorrow because I have no idea what's in each one so if it never turns up, it'll be a huge hassle figuring out what's missing.

We tried to register with the Immigration Department today, but they are closed until Monday. I hope that goes smoothly. If it doesn't, finding under-the-table work could be a huge pain in the ass. But I see no reason why it shouldn't.

Dublin, at least upon first impression, doesn't seem like the easiest town to get around in. Even Mark doesn't know how to navigate the bus system (then again he wasn't so great at it in Boston). And, like Boston, the roads don't follow a grid, so I'll just basically have to memorize where things are. I like our neighborhood – there are a couple of parks in the vicinity, and there seems to be a few neat little restaurants and pubs that are worth checking out.

Well, it seems that Mark isn't going to go out after all, so my quiet night alone is going to be a quiet night for two. No big whoop. I wonder what it will be like living together again after being apart, especially in such a small space. But I do like the setup of this place: it has a little entranceway for our bikes when you first walk in, then the bedroom has a built-in “wardrobe,” which is essentially a closet with a set of shelves. They should fit most of Mark's clothes pretty well. It'll be a tight squeeze for the hanging clothes, but we'll make it work. There is a two-drawer bedside table on either side of the bed, and then we have put Mark's desk and printer at the far end, and that's also where we'll put whatever we get to store my folded clothes. There's sliding glass doors and a little balcony off the bedroom that looks onto a little courtyard (and into the apartment building next door) and then off to the right ,the Tolka river, some hills, and some people's gardens, and then beyond that a soccer field where I guess there are matches. Next to that is the kitchen/living/dining room area, which has a dishwasher, a washer/dryer unit, a small fridge, and a separate freezer unit, a glass table that seats 4, a leather love seat, and various other things like little tables, Mark's two bookcases (we're buying 2 more to accommodate our books), a microwave, and more that I don't really need to mention. It's nice. We'll probably try to get a chair for the living room now that the desk is in the bedroom. I could always get a desk for myself, but I think I'll be ok working at the kitchen table when I need to. Then again I may find that I really need to work space. We'll see.

Well, off to drink that stout and relax now. I hope this cold eases up soon.