Just click your heels and say “There’s no place like one year ago… there’s no place like one year ago…”

Sometimes, when I haven’t anything better to do, I go online & visit my blog here to see what I was up to around this date a year or two ago.  I see that this time last year, I was excitedly comparing my ongoing weight loss to 8 sacks of sugar and the February before that… well, you get the idea.

I admit my life (for the most part) has been a pretty boring one, but up until a few months ago it was a comfortable one too; I enjoyed my daily routine and familiar surroundings.   Why I gave it all up, along with years of accumulated books & other things to move back to a hometown which hasn’t been my hometown for thirty years… into a dowdy apartment no less, overrun by a hyper-watchful landlord (who stormed into my place one night because I had my kitchen window cranked open a couple inches while it was sprinkling outside)… it was a poor decision made under duress, from the TMJ that was ravaging my health & mental well-being.   We’ve all done regretful things, but this was a doozy.

When I started this particular blog, I was going to try & make it a more light-hearted one.  Here’s what I miss from one year ago!  My worn couch that was fine for flopping down on, Obama in the White House (had to throw that in), my own thermostat, free tv because I lived in the city, my sexy but deadly Russian neighbor Uriel, etc.;  but the more stuff I come up with, the angrier I get!

And now, a recent conversation with my 84 year old neighbor Nancy

KNOCK KNOCK
ME: Hi Nancy…. Whassup.
HER: I suppose you heard Joe was here this morning.
ME: You mean our landlord?
HER: Yes, he was in my apartment making some repairs.
ME: How come you’re telling me?
HER: Well, you know how people talk…like this one next door.
ME: Haha, oh Nancy…
HER: I wanted to show you this photo of my husband Ed.
ME: Very nice, when was this taken?
HER: 1988… the same year he died. He was 55.
ME: An awful shame.
HER: And now you’re 55. well… it doesn’t mean a thing.
ME: I sure hope not!
HER: Doug why are you in your bare feet? That’s not healthy. Don’t you own a pair of slippers?
ME: I do, I just don’t like wearing ‘em.
HER: Well… Ed didn’t like to wear his either.

Believe it or not, she’s the one bright spot around here.  So for the time being I have no choice but to stick it out… I signed a one year lease back in September, and unlike prison there’s no means of escape.  I just hope that when the time comes, I can get some version of my old life back again. 

There’s no place like home….my old apartment, that is