Laundry

This is probably the most mundane topic one could blog about, but for anyone who's lived in any city, you can understand my pleasure: I just put in a load of laundry, without using any coins, plastic cards, or other payment devices! I just put the clothes in the machine, added detergent, and came back upstairs! I even left my phosphate-free detergent on a little wooden shelf in the basement, without fear that someone will steal it!

When I told my friend S over IM that I was doing laundry, NO COINS, she, New Yorker that she is, suggested I just run out to the deli and buy something to get some change. I had to explain that what I meant by "no coins" was that I didn't need any money at all to wash my clothes. I'm not sure she understood.

Ah, life's little luxuries. There was a time I had to haul my dirty laundry down five flights of stairs, then choose between sitting in a cold laundromat blaring a rerun of Hogan's Heroes or something similarly depressing, or hiking up the five flights of stairs again, only to have to come back down in 30 minutes. If I did go back to my apartment, I ran the risk of having some stranger take my wet clothes out of the machine so he could start his own load. If I stayed, I risked subjecting myself to the peculiar ennui that is specific to laundromats everywhere, no matter the city, state or country. I usually left the laundry there and went back upstairs.

At least I was in great shape back then.

Lost highway

I told everyone that I didn't need a car in Portland. I'd spent nearly 9 years walking my groceries home, why would I suddenly need a car to take home my two bags' worth of groceries?

Yesterday, I walked the mile or so to the new Whole Foods in Bayside. The walk itself wasn't so hard, but Portland is much more hilly (hillier?) than New York, so that was a bit of a challenge. Factor in the lack of sidewalks along some of the major streets, and I understood why it isn't just distance that can make a walk difficult. Going downhill on the snow-covered no-man's land along the side of the Franklin Arterial and through the massive parking lot of the looming, freestanding Whole Foods isn't exactly the same thing as walking along the sidewalks of the Lower East Side to Earth Matters to pick up some soy milk and cereal. And with my wonderful sense of direction, I of course made a wrong turn, and ended up walking through the "projects," which in Portland look like some ski chalets I stayed in on a family skiing trip to New Hampshire when I was in 7th grade. I'm sure I looked like a nut walking down the front sidewalk of someone's home, only to end up on the side of Marginal Way, which is basically the frontage road for I-295. Ever wonder who those weirdos are who walk along the shoulder of a frontage road? Now you know! They're people new to a city with a bad sense of direction, like me! Nothing like walking along the highway and through a parking lot to get some groceries to remind you that you're not in New York anymore.

The neighborhood

I live on the East End of Portland, in Munjoy Hill. Pictured are the Portland Observatory and N, in the Hilltop Coffee Shop, the day after I moved in. He likes Portland, so far. The seagull is perched on one of those viewer things that looks out over Casco Bay, and the ocean. This is along the Eastern Promenade, this beautiful stretch of biking and running paths that wind along the coast. I can't wait for the snow to melt so I can get out there.

The apartment!, cont.

So, you can see here the kitchen, off of which is my tiny, cold, but very cute bathroom. Stepping out of the kitchen, you enter the bedroom, followed by the office. Of course, all my stuff is still unpacked and a mess, so look for new pics when everything is all set up.

The apartment!

The living room, from the front door. My poor plants died in the back of the truck. This big one smells like a root vegetable in boiling water. The smell reminds me of something my Chinese neighbors used to cook in the apartment above me on Mulberry Street in New York.

No heat

My apartment is cute. The wood floors are painted a sort of pale turquoise, which I love. I've got an office, a living room, a large kitchen, and a peaceful bedroom, and windows everywhere. There's even a tiny view of the Casco Bay. I also have a tiny, unheated bathroom. Yes, it's unheated. So the toilet seat is as cold as ice in the mornings. If I leave the door open, it warms up a bit, but it certainly isn't cozy. Yikes.

The drive up north

N and I left Red Hook not-so-early Friday morning, sometime around 10. It had been snowing/sleeting all night, so when we woke up, road conditions were already pretty slippery. And they only got worse from there.

We drove about 40 miles per hour from Brooklyn all the way to somewhere near Framingham, Massachusetts. It took us almost 10 hours. Yes, 10. By the time we hit I-495 outside of Boston, several inches of snow had accumulated on the highway, and the lack of lights on the side of the road made it even harder to see than the combination of snow itself and crappy windshield wipers. Worn out, we checked into a Holiday Inn. We ordered pizza then fell asleep under scratchy polyester sheets.

Adopt a Rooster

This is what I'll miss about New York. N found this on craigslist while looking for a cat to adopt:

ADOPT A ROOSTER

Reply to: ED2TWELVE@YAHOO.COM
Date: 2007-03-03, 8:26PM

HELLO, I FOUND A ROOSTER IN FORT TRYON PARK. IM LOOKING FOR A GOOD HOME FOR THIS LONLE ROOSTER. THE ROOSTER IS IN GOOD CONDITION, JUST NEEDS A LOVING HOME. PLEASE CONTACT ME AT THE EMAIL BELOW!

Poor lonle rooster! And in good condition, too!