9 Things Making My Life Better So Far This Year (April – June 2019)

These three months might as well have been a big ol’ one called “MOVINGEMBER.” Husband and I moved from a smaller, older apartment to a bigger, still-old-but-renovated condo. Hooray! But also: lots of work! So pretty much the title this quarter should be more like “9 Things That Made Moving So Much Better.”

Anyway, here they are:

1. Two Men and a Truck Movers

Because of the size and nature of our move, it cost us about a month’s rent to hire these folks, and they were worth every penny. Like, to the point where we were just like, “In addition to our planned tip and agreed price, please take all the rest of the cash we happen to have on us.”

In general, hiring movers made the whole day less physically and emotionally exhausting than any previous move.

Two Men and a Truck in particular were on time and communicated clearly. Their estimate wound up being significantly less than the actual price, since they guess-timated cautiously. The three movers who did our move were professional and efficient, and they went far above and beyond anything we would have asked to make sure all our stuff arrived at our new place.

Strongly recommend!

2. Command Picture Hanging Strips

The thing about having nice, painted walls is, it feels almost sacrilegious to drill/hammer holes in them. Plus, sometimes two awesome, fortunate things — magnetic knife strip + beautifully tiled kitchen, for example — don’t add up to an awesome combo.

That’s where Command Strips come in. I bought some heavy-duty ones that are meant to hold up to 16 lbs or more and used them to hang the heck out of everything I could. Obviously not structural things like shelves, but overall, they worked really well and feel solid. The only downside is that you can accidentally pull down some stuff if you apply force in the wrong direction, but because the strips work like Velcro, you just click them back together to remount it. (Ooooorrr… you buy some super glue and glue the Velcro-ish parts together whilst narrowly avoiding sticking your fingers to each other. Not that I’m speaking from experience.)

3. Having a dishwasher and ensuite washer/dryer

Game. Effing. Changer.

Our kitchen counter is no longer a big mess. I have so much more freedom cooking, because I don’t feel bad dirtying extra prep dishes or using pain-in-the-butt-to-hand-wash appliances. Our glasses actually sparkle.

Instead of working between doing laundry, I can do my laundry between working because I can toss a load in and basically leave it in the dryer for as long as I need without worrying about inconveniencing other people. I can wash sports stuff right away before it has a chance to get smelly, and I can open up the machine to add that one towel/sock/etc. that I always seem to forget.

4. Steven Universe: Attack the Light (Android game)

Yes, again.

My phone lived, it died, it lived again in April, which had the side effect of erasing all my save games in Google Play. Which was pretty much only Steven Universe: Attack the Light. So obviously, I started a New Game+ (aka “Diamond Mode”).

It was really great to have this to occupy my time and keep me on an emotionally even keel during my adjustment to the new, longer subway commute. NG+ was enough of a fresh challenge that I didn’t feel like I was grinding my way back to 100%.

5. Monitor arms

I spend a lot of time at my computer, whether I’m writing, grading, dicking around on listicles, etc. In what is not exactly a coincidence, I also spend a lot of time hunched over with terrible posture.

I didn’t exactly splurge on these monitor arms — more like, I was in the fortunate position of being able to invest in them, since making the place I do most of my work ergonomic is less of an indulgence and more of a way to keep myself healthy and minimize pain in the long run. They’re a bit stiff, but they’re high quality, and I trust them to keep my monitors exactly where I put them.

6. Our new local library branch

So my last local library branch was fantastic — great staff, well managed — but it was also tiny. Almost every book I took out, I got shipped from a different branch.

It turns out that my new library branch is pretty much the branch all those books were getting shipped from. It’s huge — 3+ floors! It has an attached theatre venue and a makerspace. I look forward to getting to know it a lot better. It’ll be fun to browse the aisles again without already knowing most of the books I’ll find.

7. Having an in-building gym

And a nearby fitness trail.

The rec centre attached to our condo building has fewer weight machines and less equipment than Goodlife, yes, but it offers a wider variety of facilities: a pool, squash courts, tennis courts, a gymnasium, even a games room with air hockey (no, I don’t know why that’s part of the gym either). Plus the usual cardio machines and a weight room that includes an actual squat rack.

It’s a lot easier to convince myself to just go “do my physio at least” when I’m having a waffling day — schlepping myself downstairs is lots easier than a ten-minute walk down the street in the dark or rain or snow. And no matter what kind of pain day I’m having, I usually feel OK to swim. Bonus, I don’t even have to deal with the tsurris of gendered spaces because I can just change in my own bedroom and mosey on down to work out.

8. Family support

It’s been the best of times, it’s been the worst of times. Right before we moved, Husband and I learned about a family crisis. That… wasn’t fun, but I was humbled by and grateful for the support from other family, like my dad, who drove to Toronto to help with the million fussy details like picking up primer and driving the last carload of tools to the new place, and my sister, who provided emotional and food back-up the day of the move.

(Plus, of course, my sister and my cousin Ken being more into basketball than me and teaching me enough to enjoy watching the Raptors’ championship run. Woohoo!)

9. Radio-drama podcasts like: The Truth, Spines, and Unwell

I’ve tried in the past to listen to fiction podcasts, but I often got turned off by acting that was, well, um, bad. But with my longer commute and frequent lack of ability to do anything with my hands but hold on to the subway straps, I really wanted to find audio fiction that — no pun intended — spoke to me. I particularly like the production values of The Truth and how it dramatizes a short, well-written audio play (no continuity to follow) every episode.