Well, kiddies, it's been officially a week since I began my exodus from the hellhole of Memphis back to greener climes in the north. On my very last day, my car battery died and I had to have that replaced. The day before that, I found out that U-haul doesn't stock hitches for my car and I had to have one installed. The week before THAT, I needed to get new struts and new rear tires. SO, over the course of a week, I had to drop about $500 on my friggin' car, not counting U-haul rental cost. Damn.
Then there was the drive. Because I have such helpful roommates, I got absolutely ZERO help loading my car. Actually, two of them were out of town, and the remaining one was just a jerk as always. I was kind of impressed that I got all of the furniture in all by myself.At about 2:30 that morning I quit and went to sleep. I got up again at about 6:00, got my battery fixed, did some last minute packing, and was on my way by 9:30. One of the notable adventures was the fact that the knuckleheads at the car place didn't put the connector on right so it goes and pops off when I'm drivng down the highway.
So to make a VERY long story short, I finally make it at 4:30 in the morning. Accounting for the time change, that's 18 hours of almost non-stop driving. More fun than I should be allowed to have.
I am friggin' glad to be out of that place. I had no idea how toxic my living situation had become until I got out of it. I also didn't appreciate just what a thoroughly crappy town Memphis is. Maybe I'm a provincial boob, but the projects on every corner, the bars on every window, the bulletproof glass surrounding the stock of every liquor store, the plethora of check cashing places and pawn shops, and the child care center encircled by razor wire kinda took some getting used to. The OTHER thing is that a chick who is 20, on average, has at least TWO kids already but isn't married. Freaky-assed city and I will not miss it one tiny bit.
Now I got to get a job, but at least I got free rent. On the downside, it's at my parents' house, so it's a definite hit to my Ego. Oh well.