The year of living conventionally

So I'm looking back at the postings on the blog and it's coming up on a year now since Larry made that comment about finding his own place sometime in 2011 that got me moving on buying a place at last. In a way it's hard to believe that was only a year ago... feels like a long, long time ago now.

But it really did all come together, and surprisingly quickly. Well, I blogged about that, right? But there you go. Feb. 27th we're sitting around talking, three months later I take possession, a month after that I've moved in. In that time my job moved offices again, Twinkle died, Ally was given to me.

I suppose some good things have happened. I got involved with Toronto Cat Rescue as an occasional driver and even though I haven't done much yet (so much of what they do seems to be in the west end and downtown), it did introduce me to a wiry black and white cat named Spencer who looks to me like nothing so much as the feline reincarnation of Frank Zappa. I mentioned him to Larry, who's talked about getting a pet, and so I offered to pay the fees for Spencer for Christmas, Larry accepted. It was worth the price just to get this story:

Recently Larry agreed to put up a buddy at his place for a bit while the guy finds his own place. The fellow smokes. On the day he arrived, he let himself in, went out on balcony to smoke, and Spencer played with the lock on the sliding door and locked the guy out. On the balcony. In winter. For three hours, till Larry got home. Now is that a great cat story or what? :)

Anyway, owning a place, yeah, is expensive. It's like rent, plus. I know in the academic sense I'm buying a place, and one day—ostensibly—it'll be mine. But it's hard to see that clearly right now. I have a slightly smaller, somewhat better-appointed place than I had 12 months ago today. I'm alone again, though I have to admit, being the sort of person I am, that the advantages to that pretty much balance out the disadvantages. Larry was around on Monday and we watched some vids, ate some pizza, had some laughs. It's like it was before, which is really all I hoped for. At least we don't have very far to drive when we want to get caught up.

I've got a nice view, too. I tend to forget that lately because, even enclosed, it's bloody cold on that balcony. Might be able to better appreciate it in the spring. (Of course, by then, I'll be sad that it isn't open air like the last place... spring was nice on that balcony.)