  Man alive! The last 5 days have been nothing short of a whirlwind. It would be ridiculous for me to dive into a day by day summary since so much happened in such little time. Basically, Rita and her incredible boyfriend, Randy, in conjunction with Mariah and Paul, moved Kelly and I into Times Square. It was BY FAR the hardest move I have ever been a part of. Imagine trying to get 2,000 pounds of bullshit up 4 flights of stairs. It was damn near impossible and I almost vomited from sheer exhaustion. It was a beast, to say the least. Beast and least. Kelly and I helped pack up Ritas U-Haul at the crack of dawn on Friday morning and after a gut wrenching sobfest, she and her boyfriend set off for their new home, Syracuse. Pulling away from our Queens apartment, while waving goodbye to Rita, was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do.
Seeing her standing on the curb, tears streaming down her face Me sitting in the cab, chest heaving from losing my co-joined twin It was awful. As we drove over the Queensboro Bridge that morning, the three of us wiped our tears and looked at what was to be our new home. THE ISLAND OF MANHATTAN! Needless to say, the excitement was at a bare minimum. Upon arriving at the apartment, Kelly, Mariah and I worked our asses off trying to set up the new pad.
We had planned on taking a quick nap, but once we got started, we didnt stop until the place was finished. By 5pm that evening, Kelly and I had managed to set up our entire place. Of course, it took us through the weekend to tweek the rooms. We have about 3 apartments worth of stuff and had to find some way to fit it all into our 4-room apartment. It was hard and frustrating and without beer, I dont know if I could have barreled through it. Kellys friend, Stephanie, came by Friday night and was our first visitor. She was much impressed with what we had done with the place. She hung out for a bit and I think my head finally hit the pillow at around 3am. Saturday morning my parents came down to visit. The location and the amount of work we had already put into the place FLOORED them.
They took me to K-mart and bought me $200 worth of stuff. (I was planning on paying for half of the stuff, but my mom informed me, at the cash register, that not only am I not getting a tax refund this year, I owe the IRS $400! After a brief, tear welling breakdown, my parents offered to help me out in whatever way they can. ) After we got back from K-mart, my parents worked their asses off trying to put together the stuff we bought.
We then proceeded to drink beers and play cards for the rest of the night. My dad and I stayed up until 4:30am talking about anything and everything. On Sunday I barely moved out of my bed. Yesterday I had to stay home in order to fix all that should have been fixed by the time we moved in. Lights, heat, hot water, etc. It was a frustrating day, but ended on a very high note. Paul came by around 5pm and he was AMAZING. He was supportive, funny, and a big help. We ordered dinner and laid in each others arms for the rest of the night. How do I feel now that the tornado had spit me out? Well, I feel empty. I feel lost. I feel like I have no idea how to start over. I feel like half of my heart moved to Syracuse. Its been a lot harder adjusting to Ritas absence than I originally thought it would be.
I was sure that with the new environment I wouldnt have any time to think about the fact that she was gone. Unfortunately that has not been the case. On Sunday night I managed to get some reception on my TV antennae (can we get fucking cable already?!?!!? ) and there was a documentary on eczema on PBS. I watched it and was reminded of a story that Rita told me once, about how this girl had an online journal and wrote about how her body was covered in the stuff. Instead of crying for the girl with scaly skin, I cried for Rita and for myself. And I cried hard.
In fact, I put myself right to sleep. And it was 7pm! This whole thing has just been overwhelming. I dont know where anything is in Times Square. Laundry? Blockbuster? A grocery store? Gosh, I feel lost. Its rather intimidating walking out of my apartment and right into the heart of Broadway. There is no time to prepare. One minute you are in my safe, little, quiet apartment, the next minute, you are standing in front of Beauty and the Beast and several thousand tourists. I know that eventually I will love it. But for now.for now its really lonely. Tonight I am going home to drink some beers and to forget.
I have already finished decorating my room, so tonight I will put photos in a couple albums I got lying around. Fucking exciting, eh? Paul works until 10pm, so I am meeting him at his job and then staying over night at his place. I just dont want to be alone. Kelly is being great about everything. We are getting along wonderfully just the two of us. But we are in different places with this move. She definitely has more excitement about it than I do. I am sure I will join her in jubilation, but its just going to take me some time. For now, I lament the fact that Rita is living 5 hours away. My heart hurts so bad. Ok, gotta get back to work. Lunch is almost over. Will try to be more positive tomorrow. 
