driving, moving, drawing

Goodness, I am not doing well keeping to my every Monday posting schedule at all.  In my defense, though, these past two weeks have not exactly been typical for me.  As I already told you, two Mondays ago I was helping my little sister move in to her dorm.  Well, this past Monday, I was moving myself in to my new apartment, seven hours away from home.  Even after moving into my apartment I didn’t really have much of a chance to update this thing last week, what with my apartment’s lack of internet, my focus on settling in, and a shortage of hard, flat surfaces on which I could set up computer and mouse (the following drawings were done on the touchpad of my laptop, so please excuse their somewhat wobbly nature).
So, as I said, I drove the seven hours up to my new abode last Monday, and I’m proud to say I only got lost two times.  I’m slightly less proud to say that both times were within view of my intended destination, but that's another story.  Oh, no, wait.  That's this story:
The first time I got lost was when I drove straight past my new apartment because I was so focused on not running over any bicyclists.

After realizing I was in the process of driving past the entrance to the buildings, I confused myself by trying to circle around the block (and at the time I was sure I had found the single weirdest block on the planet--if you had asked me on Monday, I would have sworn it took me five right turns and a dramatic loop to get back to where I started, but I retraced my path just a few days ago and found that the only weird thing about it is that the block is slightly curvier than is in fashion for most modern rectangles).

The second time I got lost I was actually already inside the apartment complex, trying to get from the leasing office to the parking lot near to my apartment.  What I didn’t realize was that the two parking areas are connected (by even more parking) and I could have driven straight across and I would have arrived in less than a minute.  Instead, it took me fifteen minutes to figure it all out.  I first drove out of the parking lot and circled back around the wavy block again (still more confused by the area than appropriate) only to find the exit to the parking lot.  So I drove around again and turned into the entrance for the neighboring apartment complex’s parking lot, thinking the two lots might be connected to each other and I would find the entrance on the other side.  And I did find that entrance.  And, as a bonus for my hard work, I also found a gate blocking that entrance off.

Luckily though, I could see past the gate to the connecting parking lot that I had missed before.  I used my finely tuned detective skills (learned from my good friend Veronica Mars) to figure out how the parking lots actually work and drive on over.

So it’s been a week since I moved up here.  Our boxes are mostly unpacked, I’ve discovered a few grocery stores (I have yet to find the elusive public library, but worry not!  I shan’t abandon the search!), and I’ve yet to run over any cyclists, pedestrians, dogs, cats, or geese.  I just have to find myself a job, and I’ll be golden.


Fingers crossed!