Doc Hop

Time has been ticking away and I have been BUSY!

My apartment has been completely packed up for weeks already, but I finally have a place to lay my head in Long Beach! Remember a couple of posts back when I was raving about how much I wanted to visit the Naples and see the canals of Long Beach? Well, I’ll certainly see them now, likely every single day, because that’s where my apartment is! (Naples, not the canal.)

I can’t lie — the search was incredibly easy, because there wasn’t much of one. Every time I looked for apartments in Long Beach I kept coming back to this one, because it met every single one of my needs. It’s pet friendly and it has hardwood floors, an in-unit washer and dryer, parking, and an actual bedroom. I’ve been on a list for a few months, and an apartment finally came through so I jumped on it. The best part is, the complex is located .6 miles from campus, according to Google Maps. Long Beach living is going to be much more expensive than what I’m used to, but saving time and money on my morning commute sounds like a win-win-win for me.

Not just that, the on-site amenities are also pretty incredible! I’ll have access to a pool, a gym, all sorts of indoor and outdoor chill spots, and even one of those human-size chess boards. (I’m more of a backgammon person, but can you imagine how exhausting it would be to move all of those giant pieces around? Talk about a work out!) Oh, and there is a dog park and even a pet spa, which Lemon will absolutely hate, but it’s a very cute touch, nonetheless.

The space is comparable to what I have now, but I’ve gotten rid of a lot of stuff and I’ve decided to ditch my couch as well. In fact, I have decided to ditch a living room all together. I never have company, so I’ve decided to use the living room space as a bedroom and the bedroom space as an office. Fuck convention, in California I am doing whatever I damn well want.

My other big piece of news for this post is that I am now moving about two weeks earlier than I originally intended. I had planned to make it to California by August 1, but the apartment is opening up July 19, so I will be there then. (I love that I have created a life for myself that allows me to just pick up and move two weeks earlier than planned without it throwing everything into a tailspin. It makes me feel fiercely independently, incredibly lucky and kind of cool.)

Every day it feels like I can see the path ahead of me more clearly, and I can hear California callin’ my name! I can’t wait to get to steppin’!

And speaking of stepping — I think I have my route planned out as well. I hope to arrive in Little Rock on July 16th, Amarillo, Texas on the 17th, the Grand Canyon on the 18th (allowing me to see the sunset on my birthday!), and Long Beach on the 19th. And it’s all here — in print, in case I go missing and get True Crimed.

So — with the logistics of my move finally set — I am also happy to report that I am feel very prepared for the upcoming semester as well! I have completely built out all of my materials for Research Methods and I will finish up with News Writing and Ethics tomorrow. (It could have been tonight, but I decided to take a night off when I was approved for the apartment, and then there was the House of the Dragon season 2 premiere. Team Black and Queen Rhaenyra till I die.) That just leaves Media Design. That class meets once a week and will be more hands on and technical than research based, but I plan to use the next couple of weeks to brush up on all of my skills. I’m super excited about that class, because I have always wanted to teach it.

That’s about it, ya’ll! I’m glad I finally have real things to report! I sure can’t wait to see Augusta in my rearview mirror! Georgia can suck my dust.