We are now two weeks from moving day — and haven’t been over to the trailer yet to clean it out. Part of it has been that both Mum and I have been feeling a bit under the weather — and part of it is just dread of doing the job. I haven’t packed anything, though I don’t really have that much to pack, most of the stuff in my room isn’t actually mine. I have books and whatnot about, and clothes in the closet, but the only piece of furniture I’m taking is the bed — and the mini fridge.
We’ve called to have the trash service turned back on, so they will be dropping a can off either tomorrow (Friday) or sometime next week, so that’s set us back a little, we have to carry trash back home and throw it away in our can here, which only holds so much. But mostly we need to go over there and just get started, even if we don’t really want to very much.
We’re going to start in my roomie’s end of the house and move toward mine, and honestly we should be able to do it in a week if we are consistent about going over there and working on it. I figure we can do the bedroom quickly enough, most everything that’s not trash will go into storage, and the biggest problem will be sorting out all the old food in the kitchen — I dread to think what that fridge looks like on the inside. We will get it done though, so it will all work out.
I have some anxiety about living on my own again — it’s been 2 years after all, and while I won’t be entirely alone, I will have more bills and responsibilities than I do now. I’m not too worried about the financial side of things, it shouldn’t be terribly expensive to pay half the utilities, and my rent is pretty low — food is kind of a worry though. I eat a lot of fresh veg and meat right now, and I’m not going to be able to afford as much as I get here at home. I’m hoping I will get some SNAP, but you never know how that’s going to go, particularly in a southern state.
I also don’t really know my roomie at all — our therapist suggested we move in together. So in addition to getting settled in and ready for school to start, I’ll be getting to know him as well. That’s a little nerve wracking. He’s about half my age — and also a student — but hopefully our quirks will blend fairly well.
I talked to the rabbi today on Zoom, and we are making tentative plans for my conversion to be finalized in August, right around my 51st birthday — looks like it will be an outdoor Bais Din meeting (or Zoom) and then a dip (in a tunic) at the beach in Bay St Louis. One of the rabbis will supervise my immersion and that will be that, I will officially be Jewish. I’ll get some paperwork, and will have to swear to be a good Jew and to raise any kids I have as Jews — not that I plan to have kids or anything, but just in case. Some charming, handsome Jewish doctor who wants a couple by surrogate or adoption could always walk into my life someday I guess. I just kind of doubt it at this point. I think I’m going to wear my green tunic, it’s my favorite color.
On the plus side, I now have a place to stay for Shabbos if we ever go back to having real services again — the male rabbi who teaches the intro to Judaism class with my rabbi is single and will open his home up for guests, so no more needing a hotel every time I go down there. My rabbi will take any female guests, since she’s single too — so it all works out. Of course we just don’t know when or if that will ever happen since the numbers are rapidly rising in Louisiana at the moment.
I have all my books that are currently listed for school bought, but I haven’t gotten my tuition bill yet, so we don’t actually know how much the semester will cost. I’m thinking around $3,250 or so, give or take a student fee or whatever. (that’s a $2,250 a semester savings because of the program my therapist got me into) I don’t know how crowded the classrooms will be, though we are required to wear masks — I have a pile of them now — couple of different colors and styles with more on the way. They have said if the numbers get too bad we will go to distance learning, and they have removed the fall break completely from the schedule — now we go from August 17th to Thanksgiving and that’s that, with the next semester starting in January some time.
I have approximately 2 years of school ahead of me until graduation, so I guess I will just have to decide what my minor is going to be and get on it — I’m thinking religious studies, but worry it’s going to be very Christian oriented since it’s the deep south — I’m not entirely sure I want to put myself through that. But not much else really appeals, and I could do some independent projects on Jewish stuff just to keep my balance I guess. I’m thinking a paper on why Jesus isn’t Moshiach wouldn’t go over well. I’m thinking of grad school in Israel, I found a masters program in Archaeology that’s reasonably priced (1 or 2 year program) based in Tel Aviv, which is supposed to be a really nice city, with a possibility of a PhD track as well. I could be Dr. Mortifyd, the archaeologist. That would be cool.
So, yeah. Lots of things to do, very little time to do them in. Tomorrow (Friday) I have therapy, and I need to go to the pharmacy and to the store to pick a few things up for Shabbos. I’ll be in around 9 — 9:30 or so to reply to comments.