life

Thursday Ramblings

/ Alyxander James / Leave a comment

It’s Thursday, and I’m tired.

I’ve been tired all week. I’m fighting an end-of-summer cold, and it’s making mornings especially challenging. Today, at least, I was able to get up and out of the house at a reasonable hour – I’m leading a training at work this morning, so it would’ve been especially problematic if I was late. But I feel like I’m dragging.

The fact that the weather got hot again is not helping matters – I am ready for fall weather. I’m also ready for consistent weather – the constant shifting is really hard on my body – but that’s probably not a realistic wish in Chicago.

I’m not having a bad week, exactly. I’m just low on energy. The weekend was good – I got to play D&D and we got the apartment more settled. I wrote a song I liked for class this week, so that was exciting.

How about you, dear readers? How are you feeling as we wait for the season to really start changing? What’s new and exciting in your lives? I’d love to hear from you.

Progress, Slow and Steady

/ Alyxander James / Leave a comment

We’re officially done with our old apartment! It took more time to get everything out than we expected it to. We wound up walking out the door for the last time exactly at noon on the 31st, which was exactly when our lease was up.

While the reality of this is still sinking in, it is great that now we can actually focus on settling into our new place. We’ve gotten ourselves together enough that we’ve been able to do some cooking, which always makes a place feel more like home. We’re still getting our stuff organized and figuring out where everything belongs, but we’re making steady progress.

I’m loving our new neighborhood. There are so many lovely trees, and it’s pretty quiet, which is nice. I have to walk a little farther to the bus in the morning, but that’s not awful. Being walking distance from the Old Town School of Folk Music is lovely – my class on Tuesday ended around 9:30, and I was home before 9:45! (In the past, it took 45 minutes to an hour to get home on transit, which made for very late nights.) Tonight, my partner and I are both volunteering at OTSFM – we’re looking forward to having the option of doing that more often!

Life feels pretty okay right now. I just want to nest in our new apartment and make it fully home. It feels like there are a lot of other things happening right now, but nothing I’m ready to talk about yet (some of which I don’t really have words for yet). I’m looking forward to a fall of writing and introspection and creating the space that I need to thrive.

Cleanup

/ Alyxander James / Leave a comment

Hello, dear readers, and apologies for the tardiness of this post! I am in the midst of last-minute cleanup in our old apartment.

I’m currently waiting for a junk removal service to show up to take away the old furniture that didn’t move with us. I’ve been cleaning the stove, oven, fridge, various walls in and around the kitchen, and I’ve been sweeping some of the empty spaces. It’s 1:15pm and I’m already tired. I just sat down on the couch that’s going to disappear in the next hour or two, and I feel like this may have been a mistake – I know I need to move and get more done, but I would much rather nap.

We’re so close to being done. There are things to haul down to the trash, and a handful of things we need to bring back to our new place with us. There’s more sweeping and wall cleaning to do. The freezer is clean, but the fridge isn’t yet. The bathroom still needs to be cleaned. A few closets and cabinets need to be swept out. But we’re almost there.

We have to be out by noon on Saturday. That’s less than 48 hours from now. It’s weird to think this place that we called home for almost 7 years isn’t home anymore. It was our first apartment together, and it served us well, despite the maintenance issues we had over the years.

I’m looking forward to really settling into our new space in the next few weeks. I’m hoping that will get easier when we no longer need to worry about this old apartment.

I think it’s time for me to drink some water and dive back into cleaning. Onward!

Move and Vacation

/ Alyxander James / Leave a comment

We are inching ever closer to our move date, and the number of packed boxes in our apartment has increased since last week. We’ve been coordinating some maintenance needs with the new landlord so that we don’t need to have them come and fix things when we’re actually there.

We’re down to the wire for packing now, though.

My partner has been in Minnesota for the past few days, hanging out with his parents before borrowing his dad’s car to drive to Song School. He gets back into town this afternoon. We leave for Song School tomorrow.

I am so excited for Song School, for seeing dear friends and digging into the practice of songwriting. I am also worried that I’ll struggle to be present, knowing that we move two days after we get back. I’m hoping I’ll be able to set that aside and fully engage while we’re on this trip.

On that note: there will be no blog next week, as I will be in Colorado and off my phone as much as possible. The next time I write a blog will be from our new apartment!

Boxes, Boxes Everywhere

/ Alyxander James / Leave a comment

Moving is a lot of work.

Our reusable moving boxes from Chicago Green Box were delivered on Saturday.

30 big green bins. So far we’ve packed 17.5 of them, and it feels like we’re running out of places to stack the packed ones. We basically have to finish by the end of this weekend, because Monday my partner heads to Minnesota to hang out with his family for a few days before we borrow their car for our trip to Colorado, and I’m hoping to not have to pack too much on my own.

It feels like we have so much to do before we leave for Colorado next Friday. I believe we can do it, but it’s going to be a challenge.

I am excited for Song School, though. Looking forward to seeing friends and filling my brain with the wisdom of other songwriters. I’ve been feeling a bit stuck in my own songwriting lately, so I’m hoping this helps to shake some things loose.

Music and Mending

/ Alyxander James / Leave a comment

Our apartment is in a bit of chaos right now. We’re doing the KonMari thing and going through all of our stuff before we move. We made huge progress over the weekend – there’s a steadily growing pile under our dining room table of stuff that’s not going to move with us. I’m proud of the work we’ve done so far.

One of the things we decided when we went through clothes was that we wanted to mend as many things from our (rather sizable) mending pile as we could before we move, so we’re starting out in our new space with usable stuff. So I’ve been slowly chipping away at my share of the mending this week. I’m kind of making it up as I go, but so far I’ve made good progress:

So far, I’ve fixed two holes on the outside of the pocket of my favorite jacket, replaced a broken button on a pair of shorts, fixed a failing seam on a favorite bow tie, darned my favorite fingerless gloves, and fixed two holes in my favorite work shirt. I’ve never done much by way of mending aside from sewing buttons back into things, so it’s been a series of adventures and learning experiences!

The other kind of bananas thing we’re doing while prepping to move is a songwriting challenge called 50/90. The goal of the challenge is to write 50 songs in the 90 days between July 4 and October 1. So far we’re both on track to complete the challenge…I have more faith in my partner’s ability to see it through than mine, but it’s a fun thing to try! At the time that I’m writing this, I’ve gotten four new songs out in the last week, so that feels good.

/ Alyxander James / Leave a comment

It’s been a bit of a whirlwind week.

Friday night after work we made our way to the airport, where we caught a flight (complete with hilariously punchy flight crew – well done, Southwest) to Minnesota to celebrate my partner’s mom’s retirement.

Saturday was the party, and we also ended up seeing a friend for a bit that evening. Both were fun!

Sunday morning we got breakfast with my bestie, who I’m pretty sure we hadn’t seen since Christmas, so that was delightful. That afternoon we got lunch with my parents, which also went well.

Monday morning we stopped at a favorite coffee shop for coffee and pastries before heading to the airport to fly home. That flight was less fun – the crew was still great, but there was a fair bit of turbulence on either end of the trip.

Tuesday I worked from home, because I needed some space to recover from our trip. Yesterday I had to rent a car to drive out to Lisle, IL for a day-long meeting. And this morning, I returned the car and am now on my way to work.

The rest of the week also looks pretty busy. Tonight I’m volunteering at the Old Town School. Tomorrow after work and all day Saturday we’re planning to do some major sorting and purging of stuff in anticipation of our move in August. Sunday we have separate plans for social things in the morning/afternoon, and then we’re seeing a show together that evening.

All good things, but it does feel like a lot right now.

What do you have going on this week, readers? I’d love to hear from you!

Changes in Motion

/ Alyxander James / Leave a comment

We’re moving!

Last night, my partner and I signed the lease on a charming new apartment, and we are so excited. (Also anxious and overwhelmed, but excited!) This new place is a ten minute walk from the Old Town School of Folk Music and close to the transit we need to get to work. It’s got a sun room, a built-in hutch, and a substantially larger kitchen than what we have right now.

We’ve been in our current apartment since we moved to Chicago seven years ago. It was our first official place together. It’s served us pretty well over the years, but it’s in need of some maintenance love that it’s just not going to get while it’s occupied. (I hope it gets it when we move out, but it might not.)

I’m going to miss our neighborhood. I’ll miss the proximity to some friends (though we’ll be closer to others in the new place). I’m anxious about moving and change and logistics. But mostly I’m excited. It’s a super cute space. It’s going to be good to have a fresh space to work with. It’s an excuse to go through our stuff again and hopefully get rid of some things before we move. It’ll be good.

What Day Is It?

/ Alyxander James / Leave a comment

Hello, dear readers, and apologies for the tardiness of this post. I had Monday off from work due to a Jewish holiday, and I have spent the whole week confused about what day it is. The week has been a little chaotic on top of that (more on that in the coming weeks, I’m sure), so yeah. Definitely forgot it was Thursday.

Over the weekend, there were some big shifts in plans for the next couple of months. It looks like we’re moving in August when our lease is up, which we had originally intended to put off for another year. We’re looking at places on Saturday, and I am holding my breath and hoping we find the right place ASAP. We’re still planning to go to Song School in Colorado in the middle of August, so it’s going to be quite the month.

Last night we got a beautiful break from thinking about moving logistics, though. We got to see a supergroup of our friends Heather Mae, Crys Matthews, Joe Stevens, and JJ Jones play at Evanston SPACE, which is one of our favorite venues in the area. They’re doing a Pride tour all month, and it was a beautiful show. (If you have a chance to catch the Singing OUT tour in your city, do yourself a favor and go.) The room was full of family. We all cried. We all laughed. We all sang along. And then we got to get hugs and handshakes from some of our favorite musician friends. It was exactly the sort of life-affirming experience that I needed…that so many of us need. It feels good to feel seen.

Saturday we’re heading back to SPACE to hear Barbara Carr and On Big Shoulders, which we’re also super excited about. If you’re in Chicago and looking for Saturday evening plans, I recommend checking this show out, too!

Thoughts on 31

/ Alyxander James / Leave a comment

My 31st birthday was on Monday, and it’s been a good birthday week so far.

My parents came down on Saturday. We had brunch, picked up my birthday present (a new air conditioner), went to a movie, and ate pizza. It was a nice day.

Sunday was a lot of hanging out and tidying up the apartment. That night, we hosted a friend of a friend and his adorable dog on their way across the country. (Waking up Monday with a dog in my apartment was definitely a highlight.)

Monday I worked from home, both because it was my birthday and because I was hoping the maintenance guy would come and install the new AC. That didn’t end up happening before I had to leave for therapy, but it ended up being fine. Therapy was heavy, but good. I came home to find that my partner had picked up stuff for tacos, which was a delightful end to the day.

Tuesday I called off work. I wasn’t feeling great when I woke up, and I was still trying to get the AC installed (it took some pestering, but it did end up happening in the end). I spent a fair bit of the day processing what I’d worked through in therapy Monday night. And then, Tuesday night, I had songwriting class, which is always great. (I didn’t love what I’d written for this week, but that’s not the point of class. The point is that I wrote something.)

Yesterday, I went back to work. It was a pretty nondescript day, work-wise. But last night, I got myself over to Volumes Bookcafe in Wicker Park for an author conversation between Sarah Gailey (author of American Hippo, which I wrote about here a couple of weeks ago, and whose novel Magic for Liars was just released Tuesday) and Ferrett Steinmetz (who I was unfamiliar with but turned out to be super cool). It was a delightful event that reminded me how much I love learning about other creative people’s processes. I also had an exchange about names with Sarah while they were signing my book, where they told me they got to watch a young non-binary person use their name for possibly the first time at the signing the night before. It felt good to be recognized, especially because I’d been feeling like I was maybe not presenting queerly enough last night.

Tonight the great week continues, as we’re going to see Mary Gauthier in concert at the Old Town School.

Thirty-one feels pretty good so far. More settled than 30, but also maybe a little more willing to grow. It feels like it’s going to be a year of integration – connecting past iterations of myself with my present, listening to what I need and what I want and hopefully addressing those things. I’m looking forward to seeing what this next year holds!