As I was unpacking the living room last night, I found good ol' Fredbird. (Yes, I know his "official" name is Mac, but I have always called him Fredbird, after the actual Cardinals mascot.)

"Hmmmm," I said to myself, "when did I pack this box? A little over a week ago? Wait, when did this losing streak start, again?"

So I placed Fredbird in his rightful place next to the TV. I think it is not a coincidence that last night I also found my mailbox keys and a place where the TV gets better reception, AND the Cardinals won.

I like my new apartment a lot. I'd LOVE it if the kitchen weren't roach-infested -- and if, you know, someone had actually cleaned it before I moved in instead of just dusting it. But a little scrubbing and a hefty dose of Raid should do the trick. As long as I can find enough plastic boxes to seal the food up in it shouldn't be a huge problem. Developing the habit of washing all the dishes immediately after a meal can't really be considered a bad thing.

Right, good things about the apartment. The wiring and the plumbing both seem in much better condition than my previous residence: it takes about half as long to dry my hair, and I ran the air conditioner at the same time as the hair dryer last night without tripping the circuit. The bathroom is right next to the bedroom, which not only makes my morning routine easier (with the bonus of actually being able to hear WFUV while I'm brushing my teeth), but doesn't require me to walk past a window in full view of my neighbors while in my pajamas. There is so much closet space it's almost overwhelming: at the moment I have a recreation closet (beach chair, yoga mat, ballet barre, frisbee, etc.), a coat closet, and the bedroom closet (all clothes, bedding, and towels, as it's also the easiest one to keep clean), plus a huge closet next to the bathroom that's currently housing the hair dryer and a random box of lotion and old medications. To say nothing of the pantry by the front door, which may be the games and crafting closet once I get the old phones (!?!?) out of the top of it.

The size of the place is great, and it's nice to have a proper hallway -- feels more like a real house. However, I have discovered that I need to be more organized about where I put things; it's one thing to have to walk from one end of the apartment to the other to retrieve something when the apartment can be covered entirely in twenty steps -- it's a little different when twenty steps won't get you out of the living room. I guess what exercise my legs aren't getting now that I have an elevator, they'll make up in wandering around the apartment looking for the scissors. So there's still a lot of work to be done, and even when it's done, it's not going to be House Beautiful material, but that's not what I want, anyway. I think I'm going to like it here.