So, today I finished moving out of the Moldy Mansion. I have to go back tonight to clean the kitchen, but I'm now all set up in my new place. Where by "all set up", I mean my computer is all set up. The living room is still filled with boxes. We don't have an incoming phone number yet. I still don't have a place to sleep, and I'm deciding between the floormat I bought at the tag sale, and trying to inflate my old air mattress. But my Internet is alive and well, which qualifies as set up to me.

    It's always odd to move, and the Moldy Mansion certainly had some interesting times, which I mean in the full Chinese curse sense of the term. We went through a half-dozen people living in that house, and nobody knows how many bags of microwave popcorn, but it must be a lot because I only transported a finite number to my new apartment. We hosted three smores on the porch, two stone soups, one house-warming, and no house-cooling party because I couldn't plan it in time. It was the first place I've lived that I named both the house (Moldy Mansion-- for obvious reasons) and a room in it (The Miserarium-- so named because it was a solarium that wasn't very nice in the winter). It was the first place I have ever written a theme song for, in no small part because it boasted a piano in the great room.

    Toilets failed to flush, hot water faucets failed to turn, hot water failed to activate, pipes froze, and pipes burst. No serious injuries occurred in the Moldy Mansion, nor any deaths to humanoids. Over one hundred bugs met their demise. Lobster bisque was eaten once in the Moldy Mansion. An actual lobster was brought to the Mansion once, but did not stay to be consumed, as it had a card-playing date. Many gaming groups were hosted. We received mail for at least 4 different people who no longer lived there, including the deceased father of the current landlords. In spite of dying over 5 years ago, he received postcards from a legal firm asking "Do you need a will?" and "Do you have an estate plan?"

    I will miss the Miserarium, the Great Room, and the two bathrooms right next to each other. I will not miss electric heat, freezing kitchens, scummy showers, and moldy basements. For our new apartment, I have acquired four bottles of coffee syrup for making coffee milk (the Rhode Island state drink!) and three boxes of Mocha Chunk ice cream. I have dubbed the new apartment The Mocha Mansion, to maintain some continuity.

    Moving, as a rule, is generally unpleasant. I advise you all to stay where you are.