S&M: settling into st louis

Been busy the last few days settling into my new apartment. Spent Thursday and Friday shuttling back and forth numerous places; from the temporary dorms at Danforth campus to Central West End (CWE), where my apartment is (I'd be studying at the medical campus, which is over at CWE); from the thrift shops along Forest Parkway and back; from the malls at Brentwood area and back...

And all done at over 100F or 40C temperatures. I may have mentioned it in passing before, but I'd say it again -- it's freakishly hot here. And it was no joke walking back and forth in that heat. Most amazingly, we carried back 2 barstools from Brentwood, and on another occasion, a sturdy dining chair from Goodwill.

But we officially moved in Friday morning. It felt great to have a place of my own again, even if it's a rental. For one, I can walk around barefooted. First thing I did after all the stuff and suitcases were put away was to clean the floor (the non-carpeted parts). On my knees with a wet toilette because there was no mop yet. Luckily the studio is small.

The other great thing was to be able to prepare our own meals again. It's expensive eating out, and food choices here tend to be higher in fat. Even a salad, though generous, comes laden with grated cheese and dressing. Thinking about it: the past week we spent at the dorms, we had to eat out for almost every meal (except for the times we bought back bagels for breakfast); the week prior was spent at Mike's brother's place, where we also ate out everyday; and the week before that was spent clearing our flat at 88 and settling administrative stuff, so we hardly cooked as well. I'm trying not to think about the amount of money we spent eating out..

Furthermore, we spent a lot of money over the past few days buying stuff for the apartment, though the place isn't quite done yet. I'd still need some stuff next week, like a vacuum, lamps and another table, but for now, it's livable. Today was spent vegging out, just a lazy Sunday. Probably the first day we've had to relax in the past 3 weeks.

Earlier today, I was comparing this move with the first time we were setting our own place at Blk 70. The second time we moved to Blk 88 doesn't really count because we had a lot of furniture by then. Moving into Blk 70, we had minimal stuff and some furniture like a couple of shelves, some chairs, tables... Everything else, we bought new. New bed, bookcase, tables... New toilets. New KITCHEN. Thinking about it, we spent a LOT of money.

Moving to North America was more extreme; we literally arrived with 2 suitcases each. But this time, we've realized that we didn't need so much things. For example, back then, we had desktops, and we had 2 stereos (one for the bedroom and one for the living room). What the hell did we need 2 stereos for?? We also had a lot of CDs. Because we had a lot of CDs, we needed 2 CD towers. Now, we have ripped everything onto our portable HDs and everything plays off our laptops. That's it.

Another important thing we've realized is that we didn't need all new stuff. I've bought or been given some used stuff from graduating students (rice cooker, microwave, frying pan, small desk), and I've bought some stuff from thrift shops like St Vincent de Paul and Goodwill, which were amazingly cheap. Very decent crockery going at around 50 cents (USD) and cutlery going at 10 cents. I got a nice, small stainless steel pot at $4. Some stuff were really new, like this Brita water filter; a piece of plastic was chipped off (it helps hold the filter cartridge in place but is not crucial) and I guessed perhaps it was for that reason that the previous owner gave it to the thrift shop. I bought it for less than half what it would have retailed for new. One of the purchases I was really pleased about was this winter trenchcoat at $6.

It's a mixed bag of stuff at the thrift shops. The electronic equipment were mostly old and probably not working, and the appliances were also not too confidence inspiring. One can find very good quality flatware though, at rock bottom prices. It's almost impossible to find forks and spoons but for some reason, knives (the butter spreading kind) are everywhere. Furniture tended to be old, but as long as it's undamaged and still sturdy, it's generally a good buy. The dining room chair I'm sitting on right now was a good buy at $25; it's sturdy and comfortable. In contrast, this office chair a student gave me for free (when I bought her desk), was cheap and hence light and flimsy. Shoes were still in surprisingly good condition and clothes; that's the biggest section. If you can be patient in digging through to find your size, it can be a good bargin.

I wished I bought more used stuff. =P
Would have saved me a bundle.

So yeah, those yuppie days when we got married, moved into our first flat and were feeling rich since we were both working; they seem like a long time away now.

The issue about using used stuff is also a bit of environmentalism as well. I really would have like to get all second-hand stuff, partially on the principle of it, but I just can't find some stuff so it can't be helped. I had also been reading about freegans and I agree with their reasoning.

On another note, it's 7:17pm right now and it's still bright outside. I'm not sure what time the sun rises because I usually wake at 8:30am and the sun is high in the sky by then, but sunset here is about 8-8:30pm. It sets slowly; the sun first starts to dip beneath the horizon around 8, but there's still plenty of light from the fading rays until 8:30.

And a final random observation. A senior wasn't kidding when she said that one of the reasons she moved away from her first apartment at CWE, one that faced Forest Park, was because of the noise -- in addition to the medical campus, there's a huge hospital and many other medical facilities around the area, and hence there are ambulances and medical helicopters. The place I got is slightly further away so it's rather quiet. No ambulances yet, but I heard 3 helicopters in the past 2 hours or so.