Firsts

Soon after I moved in, it was my birthday.

I had already got the gift of my dreams. What more could a girl want? 

The first few days in my new home were spent driving around, getting gas account, electricity, the works. This is the first time I have those kinds of accounts in The US. My previous apartments were all inclusive, so  I just paid one amount and the landlord took care of everything else. I must say, I am embracing having those kinds of bills. I feel more settled in in The US. Stepping Stone! I was lucky in that, even though there aren't any of those offices around my neighborhood, they are all in the same vicinity. I parked in the same parking, did my gas situation, and mailing stuff. I can't remember what but I needed to post stuff as well. Walmart was up the road and Albertsons was across the street. Albertsons was for me to buy their chicken tenders because I got hooked on them in Vegas.Ten minutes or so drive and I did electricity or the other way round. By the end of the day, I had taken care of everything. This was all done in day three because I had to work on day two. I was lucky they never disconnected the services, everything worked in my favor. Thank you stars!

On my birthday, I was home settling in. I was waiting for Internet people to set it up for me. I must say, it was kinda cold outside, I had the heater on, I don't care about things like, just dress warm, and save gas or electricity, whatever the case may be. My heater is a gas one. I don't care because when all's said and done, you have to be comfortable. You can't worry about things like saving $10 per month. You know me, I'm cheap but I like to be comfortable and happy. That's more important than anything else. Plus, if you're worried so much about money, you will repel it because it means you don't believe that you will have it when you needed. Feel me? I know we were taught otherwise growing up. Change your thinking and change your life. I am still working on that myself. I had rented a sht load of DVD's from the library the night before in case internet people didn't set it up in time. I didn't want to be bored to death on my birthday. I was sleeping on the floor. I didn't have one piece of furniture. Wait, I lie! I did! I had a cute Ikea table I got from a good friend when she relocated to Canada. That story is somewhere in my previous blogs. I also had camping chairs, amazing ones that have a shelter/roof like part too. I told you I tend to get things for free. All those were a gift from the friend. I set those up in the living room as if I were camping. I even had a cooler bag to go with them from the same friend. It was great! Those are some of the things Chris had stored from me while I lived in Vegas. They are all fold-able though, so they didn't take much space. 

I had a few cans in the car that I had brought with me from Vegas. I had also bought a few things from Albertsons to munch on. I didn't have a fridge yet, so I could only have limited groceries. I remember texting Carly telling her I was starving, I wanted to heat up a can of something but I couldn't find a knife. Not too long after I got off the phone from her, there was a knock on my door. Who could it be? It was a guy delivering lunch that Carly ordered for me from her restaurant. She was off that day. The food was to die for! I still have to go back there. It was the perfect meal too, three different kinds of meat, sausage, beef and chicken, rice, etc. I was so touched. I called her. It had to be her because no one else knew where I live, not a lot of people do still and that's just how I like it. I was so touched, I was choking up. She picked up the phone and said, Happy Birthday! That was the nicest thing! I tear up just thinking about that gesture. I mean, what do you do?

I sat on my camping chair and enjoyed my birthday gift. I had picked up the rest of my stuff from Chris' as soon as possible. First, he told me he was going to be home at noon. Carly had stopped by because she went shopping in Beverly Hills. We drove to Chris' together. When we got there, I texted Chris to tell him I was outside, he told me that he was in San Francisco. 8 hours away. I was like, but boo! You told me to be here between noon and 1pm otherwise, I was going to miss him. He told me I misunderstood. He meant the following day. So that was a wasted trip. As soon as he was back in LA, I couldn't get the rest of my stuff sooner! He was very nice to me that day. He offered to take me to eat as usual. And as usual, I declined. He asked if I found a place to stay, I gladly told him that I did. It seems like he could tell that he would never see me again. He begged me to go to Santa Barbara with him. He told me he had always wanted to go and thought that now that I have a car, we could go together. I didn't think so, but agreed and left because I was tired of him spitting on my face as he was talking to me.

I blocked that person on my phone as soon as I got out of there! 

My internet was installed, which was a gift on its own because phone signal isn't that great in this apartment. I could then use wifi for stuff. I started shopping for furniture immediately! I may have watched some Netflix, I had Carly's account. I have my own websites that have everything under the sun, unlike Netflix but I was following a series and it was easier to just do it on Netflix. This was also my first Internet account in The US. I got them to waive the signing up fee by committing to a debit order that goes off automatically every month.  I also am saving about $13 per month by using my own Router. They let me use theirs until I bought my own. I bought it online, so I had to wait a few days, then I returned it and they credited my account. I love this people! Those $13 add up, otherwise I would have rented their router forever. It's not even like you're buying it. I am not big on renting if I can afford to buy.

Things went south with a lady I used to get most of my jobs from. She was bitter because I went with a company that was going to pay me cash instead of her that I have to chase after for my money just before I moved into my new place. I needed to have as much money as possible in my account to prove to the renting people that I could afford this place. Her owing me a wad of cash wasn't going to help my situation and I didn't feel like explaining that I need to get paid for the work I have done as soon as possible to someone. That should be a given. She had already owed me for more than a month, I got my money after another month or so. By then I had already stopped asking her for jobs. There comes a point in time where one stops working for free-ish.

I was still sleeping on the floor. I had my sleeping bag, Carly's, bless her heart and my Queen Latifah blanket. And heater! I was comfortable. I was happy!