2AM Traffic

Yesterday I was on my way to the new apartment (which needs a name. Suggestions?) when the thought struck me: I needed to pack my shit. The night would be my last at Riverside. I'm taking off for Peterborough/Toronto today, and when I come back it will be to move everything out. I couldn't believe I'd forgotten about it. Thankfully, I still hadn't unpacked a lot of things. Most of it is still in my closet, untouched since I moved in. The bulk of the rest was books, DVDs and my computer, so it didn't really take that long. Right now all of my stuff is in boxes yet again. Another move. Another freaking move. My ninth in ten years. Why can't I stay still?

I finished off the living room yesterday, or at least it's as finished as it's going to get. Fuck painting. My hands are really tender from washing them 20 times a day. I might pick up a small can of white to do some touch-ups, but I'll worry about that when I get back. It's done for now. I've figured out how I'm going to organize the living room once I get a new loveseat and coffee table. It's going to be swell.

I picked up the kitchen set at Hartman's yesterday - pots, a frying pan, oven mitt, measuring cups, dish soap scrubber, bag clips, spatula, spoons, steak knives, etc. etc. Over the week I've been eating the fruit salads they sell at the veggie counter for lunch. I've also been frequenting the Tim Hortons at Gloucester and Bank more than I ever have in the past. I'm starting to get used to the idea that the meaning of Ottawa, in general, changes only if I change. Cities can mount construction sites and tear up streets and physically alter in innumerable ways. I can move into a new apartment and change my surroundings. But the way I see the city only changes when my own needs and concerns and desires shift. So the city is new to me, in a way, which is a very positive thing, because it means I'm not allowing myself to get bored.

They're putting up a new building beside the Scotiabank on Bank Street. I can say that I was there when it was built. I watched it go up, from my seat in a Tim Hortons over a bagel and coffee, thinking about all the packing I still had to do.