Apartment Cleanup 101

 

I find it amazing that my apartment once looked this "Neat".  But it is getting there again.  Because RQS and I have a virtuous circle relationship, it seems that when I work on cleaning up my apartment, RQS is inspired to work on hers (and vice versa.)  This weekend, I went to RQS's place for a change, and we did a little work on cleaning out junk from her place.

But first....

Last week, RQS expressed a desire for me to go down to her place for a change, and I said yes.  This decision was fortunate, as I have to get a handyman to come to fix the tiled wall near my bathtub.  So, I took care of several errands before driving to RQS's house, one of which included donating 2 large boxes of books to a local library's thrift shop, returning another book to my local library, and talking with my building's super.

Once on the road, I hardly hit any traffic, and I reached RQS's place earlier than usual.  RQS was waiting for me with a couple of lobsters to be cooked.  Yum!  It was a good evening for a lobster boil, and she noted that it was more enjoyable than eating lobster at any local restaurant.  Both of us were tired, and we decided to hit the hay a little early for our next day's activities.

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The sun came out, and there was more than enough light coming in through RQS's windows to cause me to wake up much earlier than usual.  After relaxing in bed for a while, both RQS and I (mostly her) proceeded to declutter her apartment.  By the time we were ready to go for dinner, she had a couple of boxes of books to go to the donation bins.  I was tasked with bringing her old bookcase down to the trash area, and her apartment looked much cleaner for the work put into it.

Next, we got showered and dressed, and off to "Curry Hill" for dinner.  Our first stop was at the bookstore, where I picked up a guidebook to Bermuda.  Then, it was off to Third Avenue for dinner. We found a nice place via Yelp, and were lucky to get seated without reservations.  RQS said that the food was a little better than our usual NYC go-to pace.  As for me, I felt that it was as good or slightly better.  But it was $20+ more expensive for a similar meal.  (It was worth it.)

Why did we go to "Curry Hill" instead of Greenwich Village?  Tipsy Scoop!  We wanted our booze infused ice cream.  And we got it.  Yum!  We paid for it though.  We couldn't find a bus that would take us back to the subway which would return home.  In the end, we walked over 1/2 mile to find the bus stop before going into the nearby subway to go home.

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Sunday came, and so did more apartment cleanup. While RQS was organizing things, I fixed a problem on her computer which prevented some things from printing.  Once we showered and dressed for the day, we delivered more stuff to the local donation center before I left for the evening.

Hawaii Vacation - Day 11: A Day in Honolulu and a Long Trip Home

 

I'll have to do some Photoshop work on this picture before doing anything else with it, as it looks terrible.  Such is life.  I chose the wrong picture to buy last night.  But I burnt off the rest of the $100 credit I had from the cruise line.....

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The more I go out and about, the more that I find that people tend to treat transgender people as "just folks" when we make efforts to blend in as a member of the gender of which we identify ourselves.  Although I heard the dreaded "S" word a few times. I feel that these were people seeing paperwork that was incongruous with my feminine presentation. going with the formality they normally show to others based on paperwork alone.

The two day ordeal started at 11:00 pm the night before I was to leave Hawaii.  I had logged on to United Airlines' website to check in for my coming flights, and found out that a computer error was preventing me from completing the check in process.  Since there was no way that I was going to call United from the ship (at $4.99/minute), this would be a task I'd have to put off until the morning.

Waking up at 4:00 am Hawaii time, I knew that I was going to have an exhausting 36 hour ordeal ahead of me.  First, I'd have to go to my day-use hotel.  Once there, I'd have to call United to see if they could fix things.  Then, after some midday sleep, I would proceed to the airport at 6:00 pm, and be in transit from 10:45 HST to 6:00 EST, not being able to get any real sleep until I got back home.  Well, things didn't work out according to plan.

Once I got to my day-use hotel (the Holiday Inn Express, Waikiki), I called United.  The service agent said that she couldn't fix my problem, and told me that only airport ticket agents may be able to help.  Was she passing the buck?  Who knows?  I didn't have the energy to fight, as I needed to rest before my long trip home.  Around 5:30 pm, it was off to the airport and the ticket counter, where they took about an hour to "fix" my problem.  Although they were finally able to generate paper boarding passes, they didn't fix what was in the computer.  This meant that I had to guard these documents with my life, as I could not retrieve them electronically if needed.

After waiting 3 hours, it was time to board the plane. These had to be some of the most uncomfortable airline seats I've ever been in, as the adjustable headrest would not allow me to put my head in a comfortable position, much less a position where I could get some shut-eye.  Yet, I know I had to have passed out for an hour on this flight, as my cell phone stopped playing music that I had previously stored in its memory.

Next, I had to change planes in Los Angeles. This time, I was on a more comfortable plane.  However, due to limited overhead capacity, I was forced to check my carry-on.  AARGH!  I could live with a gate check, but what would happen if my bag got lost?  (This happens to 0.7% of all bags.)  My winter coat was packed in my carry-on bag. With 40° weather outside, I couldn't afford to lose this bag .  This plane was more comfortable than the first, and the carry on made it to Newark on the same plane.  In fact, both of my bags were dropped onto the luggage carousel first, and I was able to leave the airport within 30 minutes of my arrival. Finally, my airport luck had changed!

Back at the hotel I stayed at before my trip, I was able to see why I felt so scared driving there a week and a half before.  Not only was the route convoluted and confusing, but it had enough risky intersections that would invite an accident in dark and rainy weather like we had before.  Luckily, Google Maps was able to get me home by 6 pm with a minimum of confusion....

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