welcome to dayton

So far, it is about what I expected. Not terrible, not great. The only disappointment has been that our little rental condo is not as nice as we thought it would be. If it were in Bklyn or Queens, we would be living in a castle. But living all the way out here (beyond the suburbs, just a little, people) I realize I kind of wanted, oh, I don't know, the nicest little rental condo in the world. Something like that. So it is disappointing that the floors, though hard wood, are ancient and scratched up like many an apt in which I lived in Bklyn, that the tile in the bathroom and kitchen is ATROCIOUS, and even that it is off a thorough fare populated by fast food restaurants and a*to zone. I haven't really explored the neighborhood yet though, so I shouldn't really complain. Well, we'll live here for a year and if we HATE it we can move even if we stay in Dayton for another year.

I'm freaking out a lot about what I'm going to actually DO with myself, all pregnant and not very job-marketable, but I'll start doing research and eventually I'll figure it out.

They always make movies and shows about people coming to the Big City and being shocked. They should make something about people who are used to places like NY and LA coming to middle America. Watch our faces turn green for hours after we ate at a T*co B*ll in Indiana. Watch our eyes widen in Kansas when we realize that we have only laid our eyes on white people for the past twenty four hours. Wimps.

The best thing that's going on is that Ace seems to be in some sort of remission. We had quite a scare about a week before we left LA. He'd lost 30% of his body weight in three months and was losing his appetite and becoming lethargic. The vet gave us a big talk about how traumatic the move could be for him and how we should consider euthanizing him before leaving LA. Then, at the last minute, she wrote out a prescription for the miracle medicine, which seems to have caused this remission of sorts. Every day on the road trip he curled up and slept in his little cage while we drove, then greeted each hotel room with purrs. He was a little freaked upon arriving in the empty house in Dayton, but I fell asleep listenning to him purr and woke up listenning to him purr. The only thing he completely rejects is the stairs, which he either can't or won't walk easily. We had an initial fantasy about putting his litter box in the basement, but that's not happening. He gets to be carried up the stairs, because he just stands there at the bottom looking at us accusingly as if saying: what?! I'm 95 years old and you expect me to do this NOW???