Six days ago, I contacted three moving companies via the Updater app. This morning, I finally got a call back – SIX DAYS! When the agent asked when I plan to make a decision, I told him “five days ago, when you were supposed to call me.” The point is, I’m on the schedule.
Probably, because I’ve got only a handful of furniture to take with me. My desk is broken, so is the chair, and I found out last night that the nightstand in the same room isn’t in as good condition as I thought – so that’s one entire room taken off the docket. However, I have decided that I am taking the loveseat (though I’ll put it in the office rather than the living room), coffee table and TV. The bed frame goes too, but the mattresses will be tossed. Top it off with my dresser and nightstand and that’s the whole move – which could fit in a normal pickup truck, but I’m getting a full van anyway (…or HALF of one anyway as I’m sharing it with another client moving, conveniently enough, from Osceola to Baltimore County on the same day as I am!).
It’s officially Summer here in Florida with a heat index of 101 degrees this afternoon with chances of pop-up thunderstorms throughout the weekend. Pity, I was planning on going to Disney Springs for the day, but, boy, oh boy, am I glad I didn’t.
UPDATE: It’s been raining off/on for most of the evening, but that hasn’t stopped me from getting some work done inside. I got my electricity cut off, and I’m working on getting my credit cards switched over, However, I did find out that the nightstand I was planning on selling isn’t in as good condition as I’d hoped, so it joins the -to-be-scrapped heap along with my desk/chair, counter stools and mattresses.
That last one is an interesting problem as I’m taking the bed frame but not the mattresses which means they have to go before the movers arrive (otherwise they’d probably try to take them), but I still need something to sleep on until then. Do I rent a hotel for a night or two or do I force myself to sleep on the loveseat?
Then after my furniture is gone, do I stay at a hotel at/near the airport or do I find someplace cheaper somewhat further out (like the Florida Mall Hotel and Convention Center which is halfway between my current apartment and the airport) and take a bus into MCO on Friday morning?
It’s Friday night. I’ll figure this out on Monday…
Prompt: Are you able to drive? If so, was it difficult to learn? What was difficult about it? If not, do you use any alternatives?
This is a tough one for me to write about as it involves unpacking a lot of complex traumas. I took a deep drive – I mean dive into the topic years ago… but that was on my previous blog, which was stored on my previous laptop. In other words, it’s long gone.
Yes, I had a license, but my parents had little to nothing to do with it. In fact, my mom refused to teach me to drive because… well, I don’t remember her giving me a straight reason besides “I don’t want to” or “it’s too much fucking work.” Dad was too self-absorbed to care about anything outside his own very narrow set of interests (where have I seenthatdescription before?), so was of even less help in the matter.
This leads to an interesting paradox: Neither of them wanted to teach me to drive, and neither liked acting as my “unpaid chauffeur.” Did either of them ever stop to consider there was someone trapped in the middle here? Of course not.
If I can’t drive myself, and they won’t drive me then what were my options – public transit was not only an infrequent “taxpayer boondoggle,” but it literally didn’t exist in our part of town. So, even when I moved out to the opposite corner of town, the local bus system didn’t follow me. I couldn’t even go out on a Friday night because the local cab company stopped service at 10pm (thus defeating the entire fucking purpose of being a cab company).
I’m sorry, what was that? Hahaha, no, Friends was just a TV show. Wait, what? Um, “real friends?” Oh, you must have mistaken me for my über popular brother. Happens all the time. I don’t get his fancy legal contracts or complex schematic drawings, but I’m sure he gets some of my hate mail. I do get hate mail, right?
Back on topic, and this is where it gets hard to write… but, yes, I did eventually get a license and a car and some glorious semblance of freedom.
For all of three days. Then, in a single moment, just as my life was starting to look up – it changed. Dramatically. Instantaneously – and very nearly permanently. That moment was 6:39pm on April 26, 2008:
The sun was still out, there was no traffic – literally. no vehicles coming in either direction – and I had just finished a rather disappointing meal at Wayside Inn and as the light turned from red to green, I made the left turn from SR-61 onto Hospital Road, another car came out of nowhere and…
Despite me doing everything exactly as the DMV Handbook said to and that no-one from the police to the media ever bothered asking me what happened (believe me, I can write another full post about the way the ableist cops treated me at the scene that evening), the accident was deemed my fault. Literally, all my attorney told me was to “shut up and take the fucking [guilty] plea – because you fucking are” (which shocked the hell outta me as I thought my attorney was supposed to be, I dunno, on MY side).
It took me nearly twoyears to pay off my hospital bills, but again that’s another post. Because I was once again carless and license less, I was once again fully dependent on my parents for transportation. I hated it as much as they did, but what choice did I have? Well, I was online when I found a story about how Baltimore was an “affordable, up and coming city for young professionals.” Did I mention the “affordable” part? Because it was. It didn’t stay that way for very long, but that’s another matter entirely.
Not only did Baltimore have relatively cheap housing, it also had JOBS and more importantly it had buses, light rail and “24hr cabs” for me to get around in. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any of those fancy jobs for the same official “reason” I couldn’t find one in the Coal Region: Ablism “Lack of personal vehicle.” I was eventually hired by an upstart media company to cover “arts, movie and entertainment” within the city. Kind of a gay stereotype, but they didn’t care how I got to my assignments, so it worked out.
Eventually (2014), I grew tired of rising rents and covering the same venues week in and week out and sought out a change of scenery. I settled on Orlando because of its centralized location and abundance of entry level theme park and resort jobs. I didn’t get any of them either, but my new apartment was on next to a small forested area halfway between Disney and Universal as well as directly on the I-Ride Trolley line as well as the Lynx 1111 to the airport.
Unfortunately, as I posted before, the I-Ride has suspended service without notice TWICE due to the pandemic. Thankfully, rideshare and delivery exist… but they’re expensive. I could walk to the grocery store in Baltimore, but in Orlando it’s a $7.65 ride each way. I know they’re supposedly bringing the trolley back in “late May,” but in the meantime, my forest is gone and those rideshares add up really, REALLY fast.
In my previous post, I said I wanted to “eat healthier, catch up on travel and rely less on ‘convenience apps.” The first one is going well enough, and I’m working on the second one as I type this (I might have something fun planned for the second half of this month)… and the third is a work in progress.
What I didn’t mention was, I want to stop living in fear of my previous editors and get my novel out there. I also want to put out a shorter book about my life in Baltimore which has the added benefit of enabling to delete all or part of my blog posts from 2009-2014 (as, believe me, no-one is reading them) which would free up a considerable amount of space for future writing/photos. The problem is, I don’t know if I have enough material for the latter book (as the copies of said posts on my laptop are long gone due to a transfer error on my previous computer. #techisfun), and it’s a bit late to start adding to it now.
I have other plans, some of which I can’t make yet due to the pandemic (I think have or, at least, had COVID at some point) as many events are either cancelled or postponed. For instance, Universal Orlando has not announced the dates for its Mardi Gras celebration (though Busch Gardens has :p), and Family Kingdom in Myrtle Beach, SC has no operating hours through the end of April.
Unfortunately, I just spent the past hour trying to fit multiple attraction visits for the second half of the month into my itinerary and my budget. I wasn’t accounting for “we downsized our routes to smaller airports” wall. All I want to do is fly into Sanford on my return trip so I can get some pictures of the Central Florida Zoo (that closed the day I came back from Baltimore last year) and then take the Sunrail back to downtown so I can transfer to… you know, I think I’ll just fly into MCO and be done with it.
Note: These are some actual updates from my Facebook page of the same name about my day going to\getting back from seeing the new exhibit at Orlando Science Center (a traveling one at that). Some of said stats have been edited to fit a more detailed narrative timeline.
10:56am – Chased out of the apartment by the obnoxious noise the landscape crew was making with their mowers and whackers. I got everything together to go out… just in time to see them packing up as well. Maybe a little adventure will give this headache a chance to go away…
11:35am – Disembarked at Lynx Central Station and immediately traded my transfer pass for a Sunrail card as I figured (wrongly as it turned out) that an 11-minute train ride would be easier than a 25 minute bus ride… or it would have been except the last morning train left six minutes ago…and “mid-day” trains come at TWO HOUR INTERVALS?
11:55am – I am strongly considering opening my Lyft app and requesting a fricken ride. The only problem is the battery on my phone is running out so I shut it down for the remainder of the afternoon to conserve power.
12:25pm – I am hungry, and decide to go into the actual station itself to get something to eat. It turns out, the building itself is pretty bare bones with restrooms (complete with not-at-all-creepy “these restrooms are being monitored…” sign #eww), vending machines and a rack of schedules across from the entrance (which was closed due to maintenance).
12:47pm – I just finished lunch at their tiny in-station café. No menu, no tables and the cashier tried to rip me off, but it filled 15 minutes so whatever. Yeah, meanwhile, I am sitting here realizing how noisy it is out here: birds, buses coming\going, station announcements and guys with leaf blowers (because someone hates me today).
-1:13pm – Only fifteen minutes to go. ^_^
-1:28pm – After watching two Amtrak and one southbound Sunrail train zoom past me, the Northbound train to Orlando Health finally arrives.
-3:38pm – On my way back from Orlando science center. I was there to see their temporary exhibit #AstronautOSC. I haven’t decided if it is worth writing a review of or not. I like space stuff, but this exhibition was kind of #meh.
-5:04pm – Got on at the wrong bus at the transfer so the driver rudely threw me off at the last stop. He did begrudgingly let me back on 15 minutes later with a condescending lecture about it being “YOUR responsibility to make sure you get on the right bus.”
Sorry, I keep forgetting I CHOSE to have a brand-new car totaled by a teenager I never saw coming. The best part, the state rewarded my pain and suffering by revoking MY license forcing me to deal with assholes like this. 😡
-5:21pm – Thanks to that blunder, I arrived at The Florida Mall about 40 minutes later than I planned. I have less than 20 minutes to get dinner on the opposite side of the mall before my transfer pass expires (as he refused to issue me a new one). Fortunately, it’s a food court, so it shouldn’t be too hard.
–6:20pm – On my way back now, I had to use my last remaining ones as my transfer pass expired just as I was leaving the food court… but I still haven’t decided if I’m doing a full write-up my visit to OSC. Fortunately, I have just over a half-hour to make up my mind…
10:21am – Woke up “late,” but decided since my reservation wasn’t until 6:50pm that I had a little time to spare before heading out. I logged onto FB (where most of the following items were originally posted) and shared the first “Happy Thanksgiving” photo I saw on my “News Feed.”
-1:59pm – Had lunch here and am now going around looking for fun holiday stuff to photograph. Sadly, I may have to go elsewhere, as decor has been decidedly underwhelming so far. – At Disney’s Boardwalk Resort
-2:23pm – Arrive at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and immediately begin snapping pictures of the giant tree in front of the entrance. It doesn’t fit in my viewfinder, but the presents\train and oversized film reels at the base do. I spend the next hour trying to snap as many holiday decorations as I can (somewhat complicated by all the other people around doing the same thing)
-4:09pm – left the “Sneak preview” of The Good Dinosaur at One Man’s Dream when I left a comment on Orlando Weekly’s post about Thanksgiving in Central Florida: “I’m thankful the cast members are here and spending their holiday with me instead of their families.”
Two minutes later I get a message about a reply to my comment: a picture of a cat with the caption “Why don’t you donate blood – ALL OF IT!”
Congratulations, I’m in the middle of Disney World on a holiday and I’m completely 100% PISSED OFF! Thank you, guy who literally thinks I fucking kill myself, my Thanksgiving is now completely RUINED! Trust me, that is NOT an exaggeration.
-6:51pm – Dinner at Hollywood & Vine. I got a photo with Santa Goofy at the entrance. The food was excellent, but I was extremely annoyed when I specifically asked Mickey for a picture and be blew me off – just like Stitch did at PCH Grill three years ago.
-7:56pm – finished eating about 20 minutes ago, but can’t leave because I have photos of all the characters… except ONE and he’s on the other side of the restaurant.
-9:13pm – Left the restaurant and got onto the 2nd boat out of the park – which happened to pick up as the climactic fireworks for Fantasmic were going off. We got out towards Boardwalk as the fireworks for “Wishes” (EPCOT) were starting – perfect view of both shows!
-9:42pm – Damnit, I just posted about what a wonderful night I was having and then I got to Epcot just to be turned away because the park was “closed to all non-guests.”
“I’m not here for the attractions or the restaurants. I need to get to the Transportation & Ticket Center and the ONLY way to get to the Transportation & Ticket Center is by monorail and the only monorail line that stops there is the EPCOT line.”
“Sorry, I can’t let you into the park unless you are staying on-property. You’ll need to go to one of the resorts and then catch a bus from there to another park where you can get a bus which you can take you to your bus stop.”
10:02pm – the closest resort to Epcot is the Beach Club. I love the decorations throughout the lobby area with the train display and looking for a restroom lead me halfway to the Yacht Club with its festive gingerbread houses. It’s also where I (eventually) found the bus stop at the far end of the sidewalk outside the convention center.
10:35pm – Get to the Lynx bus stop at the far side of Disney Springs exactly as the bus is pulling into the station. Things are finally starting to look up. 😀
11:02pm – return to the unit. I am sweaty and exhausted, but I am far too aggravated to sleep.
Life in the Uncanny Valley 