2023-10-22

at the age of 24, i have finally escaped the house i grew up in and moved into an apartment. it was a convergence of very good luck and circumstance that i was able to find one that was affordable, in a walkable city for my carless, licenseless self, and that both the neighborhood and my job are along easy public transit routes.

this city is one reputed for not-so-great crime rates (hence the affordability) so if i ever drop off the face of the web, perhaps something happened. but if i had to place my money on any victim role i'd play, i think i'll probably just get mugged of my phone and wallet going down the wrong street. i'm not terribly concerned, though i do feel myself motivated to back up the contents of my phone... what will i do without the hundreds of art inspiration images i downloaded and never use!!

i'd also like to keep my phone because i am currently without my own source of internet; i'm hotspotting my phone from my family's unlimited data plan to use my laptop. the idea of needing to deal with internet providers with their negotiable pricing is so unappealing to me that i might just get my own phone plan and continue hotspotting. while i'm on the topic, here are some highlights of names from the list of nearby wi-fi connections:

i've only encountered one of my neighbors in my building— a converted rowhome, like most apartments here— twice, in fact, and both times while myself and the family members i put to work were carrying things up into my apartment. guy has a talent for going places while i'm kicking up a racket.

i'd really like to make some friends... i have one irl friend who i don't think i could convince to crawl through city traffic just to visit my near-empty apartment for however long i feel like paying for her parking, and that's it. at least it's an artsy city (there's even an art college close to me, which makes the demographics of my neighborhood skew towards students) but like... where!!! how!!! i have half a mind to see if the college has a noncredit life drawing class i can take just to give myself an opportunity to be in the same room as a bunch of other artists.

i am also currently deskless, as i opted not to bother trying to transport my existing glass-topped desk that my cintiq's worn down stand had begun to slide around on, so digital art activities have been taking place on my mattress (which is currently on the floor, of course). it's been surprisingly comfortable; my biggest complaint is trying to keep items of convenience within arm's reach without putting 20 million odds and ends on my bed that i'll have to clear off later in order to sleep.

rate my setup

my first night here, i abruptly regretted choosing an apartment situated directly over a charming but busy street, as there is no escape from the constant noise that seeps through the inadequately sealed single-pane window at the foot of my bed. when i'd first scoped out the apartment's location for transit options, i learned there was a bus stop a stone's throw from my building, and i was like omg easy bus ride to work! and then at night i was like omg........ bus engines and hissing breaks right outside my window....... :') i think i'm already starting to tune it out now though, and their operating hours stop not long after my bedtime. my least favorite noises so far are those loud show-off cars and when people decide to have an argument on the street at fuck o'clock in the morning.

but i think i'd probably go a little crazy if it was dead quiet in my tiny little apartment; there's something i like about knowing there's so many people around. i've been keeping up with the subreddit for my city and it's neat to be in touch with local goings-on, especially having come from a nobody suburb. one time a couple users posted pictures of a huge cool cloud formation happening and i poked my head out of my window to look at it too.

among the things i miss from my family home are 1. my CAT. she's 15 years old and a pain in the ass and my siblings and i are still insane about her like idol fans. i will become violent if my sister doesn't send pics at least every other day. 2. being able to convene with siblings for casual chat. this is especially the case for my brother, because we both play a lot of the same games, and who else is going to remember all the skill inheritance restrictions in fire emblem heroes for me!?

speaking of, while i was back home this weekend to pick up some more stuff and bother my cat, i had one of my japanese merch orders sent there for safety and unboxed this fabulous framed print for feh, now displayed on my dresser at my apartment.

print-only variant of the book VI story promo illustration by kozaki yusuke

it came with a whole set of prints so you can swap them in and out, but i'm a little crazy about this group of characters in particular, so i am uncertain as to whether i will ever swap it again. with the current state of my apartment, this is one of the most eye-catching things you would see upon walking in the door, which delights me to imagine what future visitors might think of it. i've lately become an emboldened weirdo, and so it will be a test of each new friendship as to how they react when i go "isn't it cool? look how pretty this boy's legs are. i think the character designer who drew this is a thighs guy. well, his art certainly made ME a thighs guy." and so on.

the walls of my apartment are all white, and very vast compared to my cluttered family home. beyond the bit of decorative space on my dresser and the windowsills, i'm not sure where to start putting up the rest of my collection. all i had back home was a shelf and a bulletin board, and now i have what feels like the world. thankfully i predicted this predicament and packed my merch very nicely with the assumption that they'd be in storage for a while.

i also feel like the space in my head opened up a lot. back home, i'd given up on the bedroom i'd always shared with my sister and had been straight up sleeping on the couch for about a month before moving out, and my desk was situated on the central floor such that people just loved to come by and bother me at any moment of the day. this was indescribably horrid for the attention disorder everyone loved to forget i have. i would get so angry and frustrated about interruptions that i would become unable to focus in anticipation of one. i'll speak no further on the negatives of "back home" because it's already making me mad again lol. i've just had the first full day at my apartment to myself and i was almost at a loss as for what to do with all the time i had completely unstuttered.

i'd like to get out more too, now that everything's within walking distance or along a bus route. the two concerts i went to were in this city and i've set my eye on several venues i want to try hitting up when something interesting is scheduled. there's also a million galleries and museums and libraries and it's so crazy to me that i can just go to them whenever i want. being without any desire to drive a vehicle, i'd had to routinely convince people to take me places or persuade them that they definitely want to go to this thing that is obviously for me (see: the concert i dragged my sister to). no more!! all for me, all by myself!!

hopefully i'll have more to write about soon. i'm not the type to journal roundups of little life things— not publicly, anyway— so my new city life should be good food for what this journal leans towards. at minimum, i've got a ticket for a band in february!