Thursday Thirteen 33rd Edition
May. 1st, 2008 10:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xakaraGreetings Kittens,
And Happy Beltane! Time to shake off the last of winter that lingered through spring and look onto to summer in all her glory. I'm sure there will be enough blogs on Beltane today so I will stop here by simply saying that is a celebration of life and vitality, (virility, fertility and a few other itys), and it's that energy I embody in embracing the upcoming move.
For those who haven't read, I was liberated on Monday by a notice to vacate my apartment because the building was foreclosed on and the new owners are going to gut the apts and go condo! Yeah, in this housing market. But despite reassurances to the contrary, I knew this was coming and it would be "out of the blue" with the standard 30 day notice rather than the 60 to 90 we'd been told, so I was prepared. We have the money to move and apparently a high sense of adventure about it to, as we're moving--wait for it--cross-country!
So for this Thursday I'm giving you 13 Wonders of Moving Cross-Country or alternately 13 Freedoms of Leaving It All Behind, since you could technically experience all of this without leaving your state. (With shipping cost this was nearly 13 Reasons To Donate To My Moving Fund, but then we decided not to ship anything and--well, you'll see). Onto the TT.
Enjoy.
13 Wonders of Moving Cross-Country
1. Decluttering ~ It's amazing how quickly things become less important when you look at them and have to consider hauling them in boxes to a new place. We're donating or "gifting" the vast majority of our stuff and recycling everything that's been rough-ridden beyond another's use. It's a very freeing sensation which takes us right into...
2. Unburdening ~ We'll have the computers, clothes, books, dvds, and cds. That's it. No furniture, no more than a handful of knick-knacks, our entire life together reduced to less than twenty boxes by current estimate. This shedding of excess has a great psychological effect as you take each thing down to the basics of need vs. want. And even those things that fall under want cease to be objects and become items of meaning again as the enjoyment they bring must justify the space they take up.
3. Material Limitations ~ As we're getting rid of the things we already have there is a limit of new things coming in as well. Primarily food (and just the basics there to save money) and packing materials are all I'm allowing. No new books (*sniff sniff*), clothes, gadgets, gizmos and whatitzs. Talk about eye-opening. How often do we get to voluntarily examine our own materilism? Which leads to...
4.Re-Identifying ~ Identity often gets caught up in both objects and presumption. We fall into roles assigned by our subconscious and the expectations of those around us. Unshackling your sense of self from your things and from those around you is transformative. It's why college is such a self-defining time. How awesome to have the exploration and adventure of my 20's with the experience and financial security of my 30's to back it up! (Granted I admit that being older makes me more picky and less willing to settle, but I have the experience and zen to do what I got to do for as long as I got to do it, to be and have what I want. So age is still a plus here)
5. New Terrain ~ This covers several levels, but primarily learning a new city and new culture means learning new things about myself and he and I learning things about each other. Through that learning there's the opportunity to break away from how things have always been and begin a new way to approach life.
6. New People ~ I like and love my old people, but there's a definite craving for new people. One I'd planned to fulfill in a different manner this summer and fall by enterring new situations, but the Universe felt that wasn't stepping up my game enough and so here we go. *grin* In this case it's a matter of getting to evaluate each new interaction and decide from the very beginning which situations are bringing out your best self and which ones are depleting. To know the difference between when you're fulfilling yourself and when you're fulfilling expectation. I've always found that exciting whether it was a room full of new folks or in this case like with college, when it's a whole state full of new people.
7. More to Write About ~ This might just be me, but the idea of setting new stories in this new place and with these new circumstances just leaves me giggly with delight.
8. Down time ~ Although I've already begun contacting apartments and prespective employers, (and that it seems both an apartment and job may be waiting when we arrive), there will be a bit of downtime as we hang with friends and learn the city. In ten years we've never vacationed together and now we have vacation and adventure all wrapped up in one!
9. Recluttering ~ I should qualify this as Mindful Recluttering. Getting new stuff is always great, so that's a nifty time all on it's own. It's made even niftier by the fact that we'll be on a strict budget initially until I acclimate to new bills and such, and we've just been through a massive purging of things we've already owned. That means everything coming into our new home will do so with intent and purpose rather than out of habit and instant gratification. And by the time our budget relaxes a bit, we'll have developed the new habit of properly evaluating each thing we're about to purchase, keeping us from the pitfall of constant accumalation.
10. Sacred Space ~ Again, a personal thing, but I've missed the mountains. I love the Great Lakes and water is my element to be sure, but the earth energy in me connected to the mountains when I was out a USC despite how far away they were. I could see them and sense them and I've missed it being back in the Midwest. The fact I'm going to the Southwest and to the mountains is something that truly feels like going home. I'm still making peace with the desert part of things, I've lived by Lake Michigan for so long it'll take a bit of adjustment. But I'm looking forward to it.
11. New Appreciation ~ I remember coming back home after being out in L.A. and it was wonderful getting to see the place I grew up with new eyes. I'm looking forward to being home sick and coming back to visit with excitement over seeing the city, rather than a sense of stagnation I've felt in where my city is going (or hasn't gone to be accurate).
12. Change for Change's Sake ~ We're moving to one of four places that have been on my list for a very long time for various reasons. Being able to fulfill this desire is very powerful and it gives a sense of being able to do anything I set my mind to. The same feeling going to college in Los Angeles and visiting San Francisco gave since both had been on my list of places I wanted to live or see. (I'd go back but My Sweetie is convinced California will become a chain on islands any day and is earthquake phobic. I'll have to leave L.A. and SanFran for short visits)
13. Gateway Move ~ Being able to pick up and move now, means no fear in doing the same the later on. This will be the "remember back in '08 when we just up and left the Midwest? That was crazy but wonderful", experience that gets referenced any time some other place begins to call to us because some other opportunity is waiting. I'm not saying that I plan to suddenly live a gypsy life because of this, but four moves in ten years was the average stated before the housing crunch. I'm overdue and there's a whole world to see. I may not settle in every place but I'm definitely going to see more than I might have once thought possible. :)
Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants
For those who haven't read, I was liberated on Monday by a notice to vacate my apartment because the building was foreclosed on and the new owners are going to gut the apts and go condo! Yeah, in this housing market. But despite reassurances to the contrary, I knew this was coming and it would be "out of the blue" with the standard 30 day notice rather than the 60 to 90 we'd been told, so I was prepared. We have the money to move and apparently a high sense of adventure about it to, as we're moving--wait for it--cross-country!
So for this Thursday I'm giving you 13 Wonders of Moving Cross-Country or alternately 13 Freedoms of Leaving It All Behind, since you could technically experience all of this without leaving your state. (With shipping cost this was nearly 13 Reasons To Donate To My Moving Fund, but then we decided not to ship anything and--well, you'll see). Onto the TT.
Enjoy.
1. Decluttering ~ It's amazing how quickly things become less important when you look at them and have to consider hauling them in boxes to a new place. We're donating or "gifting" the vast majority of our stuff and recycling everything that's been rough-ridden beyond another's use. It's a very freeing sensation which takes us right into...
2. Unburdening ~ We'll have the computers, clothes, books, dvds, and cds. That's it. No furniture, no more than a handful of knick-knacks, our entire life together reduced to less than twenty boxes by current estimate. This shedding of excess has a great psychological effect as you take each thing down to the basics of need vs. want. And even those things that fall under want cease to be objects and become items of meaning again as the enjoyment they bring must justify the space they take up.
3. Material Limitations ~ As we're getting rid of the things we already have there is a limit of new things coming in as well. Primarily food (and just the basics there to save money) and packing materials are all I'm allowing. No new books (*sniff sniff*), clothes, gadgets, gizmos and whatitzs. Talk about eye-opening. How often do we get to voluntarily examine our own materilism? Which leads to...
4.Re-Identifying ~ Identity often gets caught up in both objects and presumption. We fall into roles assigned by our subconscious and the expectations of those around us. Unshackling your sense of self from your things and from those around you is transformative. It's why college is such a self-defining time. How awesome to have the exploration and adventure of my 20's with the experience and financial security of my 30's to back it up! (Granted I admit that being older makes me more picky and less willing to settle, but I have the experience and zen to do what I got to do for as long as I got to do it, to be and have what I want. So age is still a plus here)
5. New Terrain ~ This covers several levels, but primarily learning a new city and new culture means learning new things about myself and he and I learning things about each other. Through that learning there's the opportunity to break away from how things have always been and begin a new way to approach life.
6. New People ~ I like and love my old people, but there's a definite craving for new people. One I'd planned to fulfill in a different manner this summer and fall by enterring new situations, but the Universe felt that wasn't stepping up my game enough and so here we go. *grin* In this case it's a matter of getting to evaluate each new interaction and decide from the very beginning which situations are bringing out your best self and which ones are depleting. To know the difference between when you're fulfilling yourself and when you're fulfilling expectation. I've always found that exciting whether it was a room full of new folks or in this case like with college, when it's a whole state full of new people.
7. More to Write About ~ This might just be me, but the idea of setting new stories in this new place and with these new circumstances just leaves me giggly with delight.
8. Down time ~ Although I've already begun contacting apartments and prespective employers, (and that it seems both an apartment and job may be waiting when we arrive), there will be a bit of downtime as we hang with friends and learn the city. In ten years we've never vacationed together and now we have vacation and adventure all wrapped up in one!
9. Recluttering ~ I should qualify this as Mindful Recluttering. Getting new stuff is always great, so that's a nifty time all on it's own. It's made even niftier by the fact that we'll be on a strict budget initially until I acclimate to new bills and such, and we've just been through a massive purging of things we've already owned. That means everything coming into our new home will do so with intent and purpose rather than out of habit and instant gratification. And by the time our budget relaxes a bit, we'll have developed the new habit of properly evaluating each thing we're about to purchase, keeping us from the pitfall of constant accumalation.
10. Sacred Space ~ Again, a personal thing, but I've missed the mountains. I love the Great Lakes and water is my element to be sure, but the earth energy in me connected to the mountains when I was out a USC despite how far away they were. I could see them and sense them and I've missed it being back in the Midwest. The fact I'm going to the Southwest and to the mountains is something that truly feels like going home. I'm still making peace with the desert part of things, I've lived by Lake Michigan for so long it'll take a bit of adjustment. But I'm looking forward to it.
11. New Appreciation ~ I remember coming back home after being out in L.A. and it was wonderful getting to see the place I grew up with new eyes. I'm looking forward to being home sick and coming back to visit with excitement over seeing the city, rather than a sense of stagnation I've felt in where my city is going (or hasn't gone to be accurate).
12. Change for Change's Sake ~ We're moving to one of four places that have been on my list for a very long time for various reasons. Being able to fulfill this desire is very powerful and it gives a sense of being able to do anything I set my mind to. The same feeling going to college in Los Angeles and visiting San Francisco gave since both had been on my list of places I wanted to live or see. (I'd go back but My Sweetie is convinced California will become a chain on islands any day and is earthquake phobic. I'll have to leave L.A. and SanFran for short visits)
13. Gateway Move ~ Being able to pick up and move now, means no fear in doing the same the later on. This will be the "remember back in '08 when we just up and left the Midwest? That was crazy but wonderful", experience that gets referenced any time some other place begins to call to us because some other opportunity is waiting. I'm not saying that I plan to suddenly live a gypsy life because of this, but four moves in ten years was the average stated before the housing crunch. I'm overdue and there's a whole world to see. I may not settle in every place but I'm definitely going to see more than I might have once thought possible. :)
Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-05-01 06:46 pm (UTC)chelle y.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-01 07:25 pm (UTC)You rock, girlfriend.
hugs, love and more jokes about ten inches--
Susan at West of Mars
(btw, Trevor's sad you're not coming here. So am I; we'd have wicked fun together)
no subject
Date: 2008-05-01 09:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-02 01:41 am (UTC)http://singleparentsunite.blogspot.com/
no subject
Date: 2008-05-02 04:17 pm (UTC)Your excitement is contagious and I look forward to reading about your adventure.
Vix
http://vixensden.com
no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 03:47 pm (UTC)Malcolm
http://popculturedish.blogspot.com/