Success / a new home

I got what I wanted, my own place to live.

An old flat in Oakland with two housemates. I moved in a week ago.

This flat has traffic noise and hardwood floors and wainscoting and bay windows and the best wind chimes in the world.

The windows are my favorite: I am lying in bed staring at the branches of a redwood tree; I am sitting in the dark in the living room with night air on my face, the best wind chimes in the world murmuring at me, moon and treetops and rooftops, the floodlit shipping cranes of West Oakland and the twinkling lights of San Francisco on the other side of the bay.

(I have seen every full moon of 2013 with my dear one.)

Moving out of one's parents' house is generally just a thing you're expected to do, maybe an event of some note but I guess not a surprising or unusual accomplishment for a twenty-four-year-old person. It is for me, though.

I have spent most of my legal adult life so far concentrating on becoming a functioning, mentally healthy person and hoping that becoming a person in possession of a bachelor's degree would not turn out to be a mutually exclusive pursuit. Consequently, things like holding down a permanent job (any job, let alone a Career), moving out, etc. are relatively untested waters, and accordingly, relatively intimidating to me even when you don't factor in old habits of considering oneself unsuitable for life.

So I decided that's what I would do this year — I would secure a source of income that would allow me to move out, and I would move out.

All of which is to say, I am basking right now in the warmth of my own ordinary competence, of having tangible proof of that competence, and basking also in the specific loveliness of this new home where I have landed. Absolutely basking.

Gratitudes + things that are making me happy

fresh hummus

afternoon drinks with Odessa and Annelise while the latter was visiting from Australia. such good laughter and conversation.

an electric kettle in my bedroom

people who are lovely and understanding when you need to reschedule at the last minute

grandma hand-me-downs

a much-needed haircut

stolen catering leftovers

homemade macarons

paychecks

venturing into new parts of the Bay Area

reconnecting with my old youth leader and meeting her fabulous cat

Erin, when she was 21

Los Angeles, September 2012.
I took this when I was about to head off for three months in Australia, and she is now in Scotland alone having her own adventure. I am hoping it is very beautiful for her.

From a café balcony

Capitola, California. May 2012.

Read in July 2013

1. The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien (reread)

2. The Decisive Present, by Edmund X. White

3. The Hand That Cradles the Rock, by Rita Mae Brown

4. Somatic Engagement, ed. by Petra  Kuppers

5. Transformations, by Anne Sexton

*Titles link (mostly) to the pertinent Goodreads page — feel free to add me as a friend.