I have a new apartment!

Well, technically it isn't mine yet, but I expect in another few days the lease will be signed and I'll officially have the place. And it is gorgeous! A BIG one-bedroom apartment, hardwood floors, fantastic view of the city, big yard in back, attached garage that can double as an artist's studio, AND lots of storage space under the house! And I got it for I'd guess a good $400-500 under market value. I'm psyched.

The only downside to this particular apartment is that it's located near (but not in) a bad part of town. About three or four blocks away is an area I wouldn't want to walk in at night (or even in the late afternoon). But I interrogated a couple of neighbors about it yesterday and today and they unanimously said that yes, the neighborhood a couple blocks away was bad, but up on the hill it was fine. So I'm reassured by that.

I'm incredibly excited by the amount of space I'll have. Apartments in San Francisco, at least the cheaper 1-bedroom type, tend to be quite small, so space is at a real premium. This place is big enough to give me the luxury of a real live living-room--not a living room doubling as craft space, computer desk, and so on. I wonder what that will be like?

The owner wanted to start the lease as soon as possible, so we're targeting a March 1 move-in date. Which makes my own moving date March 3-4...i.e. a week and a half from now. Yikes!! I'd better start packing fast.

Various updates

Training is going well. I've been having some trouble with knee pain (leftover from the knee surgery, I suspect), but Curtis-my-cycling-coach looked at it and said it was tight adductor muscles pulling the kneecap out of position. He gave me some exercises to loosen it up, which I have been doing religiously, and that seems to have helped somewhat. I'm still keeping an eye on it, though.

I'm feeling better and stronger physically. It's no longer an effort to drag myself out of bed to go to the gym, and I feel good after workouts. It feels like the first rains sluicing through a cluttered gutter--the first trickle of water only brings out dirt and debris (and feels awful), eventually the water washes away the debris and the flow runs strong and clean. I feel like I'm getting the gunk out of my body.

And did I mention that I've lost another 3 pounds? No effort at all. I'm way psyched.

That being said, I'm also incredibly stressed right now. I'm apartment-hunting, which I loathe. Not only is it stressful not knowing where I'm going to live, but it means I have to drive into work and then spend hours driving around the horrible, evil traffic in the city. And then view apartments, which almost invariably turn out to be not what I'm looking for.

But someday the perfect apartment will turn up...and I have months to look. I don't have to move until May. I keep telling myself that. It doesn't help.

Not much going on book-wise or fiber-wise...been too busy/stressed apartment-hunting.