After I had received confirmation that I was going to be the Assistant Manager at the new movie theatre that Landmark was going to open in San Diego, I had to start preparing for my move. Fortunately, I had about a month to prepare everything. I started putting all my stuff in boxes and made arrangements to rent a U-Haul truck and a tow bar so I could take the 1978 Ford Pinto home with me. I literally had not been able to drive that for months and Dad was going to get me a different car that I could drive out to San Diego.
One of the things I had to force myself to do was to stop caring about what was going to happen at the Mayan Theatre after I left. That was very hard. My heart had been in that place for almost two years and I had to keep reminding myself that I was going to have to let it go and that it was my choice. One of the things I was going to miss out on was the disaster that would ensue if the theatre had gotten a liquor license. I don't think that ever happened, but I knew I no longer had to worry about that.
One of the things that made it easy on me was that Landmark had agreed to pay for my moving expenses. While they paid for the woman who had been selected as House Manager to fly out a few weeks early and locate an apartment, they would pay for my moving van, hotel stays, gas and two weeks at a residential motel. But I had to put everything on my credit card and send them the receipts. I wasn't looking forward to that, because I had just recently gotten a loan to cover my legal fines, fees and outstanding balance on my credit card. I did not want to get in the habit of running that card back up again.
A little going away party was thrown for me at the Mayan Theatre. It was actually touching because the Manager who had hired me, Mr. R, didn't get any kind of send off when he went to Palo Alto. (This was odd, because he was rather popular with the employees.)
I spent the next day packing the rest of my things in boxes. I had to figure out what I could take and what I would put in storage in Artesia. I marked the outside of the boxes "Leave" and "Take." Then, I had to get the U-Haul truck. I had wanted as small a truck as possible because I didn't have a lot of things to transport, but I was forced to rent a 14' truck because that was the smallest one that could tow a vehicle. When I drove the U-Haul home, I found it was nice to be behind the wheel of a vehicle again. The only catch was that I had to drive to a different U-Haul store to pick up the tow bar. Even though I had reserved it weeks in advance, the store I rented the truck from didn't have any available.
This was supposed to be the way things were going to go: Rid was going to come over that night and help me load up the truck and attach the Pinto to the tow bar. I absolutely needed help with that second part. He planned to spend the night and we were going to go to an exhibitor screening of "The Addams Family" the next morning. He had been looking forward to that film because he was a big fan of the TV series. After that, I would be on my way.
However, Rid never showed up. I tried calling several times, but he never picked up his phone. I waited until 8pm before I decided that I was going to have to load everything up myself. It was cold outside and there was snow on the ground. I had to make several trips back and forth. I was able to strap my more valuable possessions to the side of the truck. There was a lot of floor space left over after I loaded everything except my bed.
Because it was cold, I had to keep getting up in the middle of the night and starting the truck. I wanted to make sure I was going to be able to leave the next day and I didn't want any vital parts freezing up on me.
I got up the next morning and took the bus over to the Cherry Creek Mall, where the screening was taking place. Usually with exhibitor screenings, only theatre management is allowed to attend. However, the invitation for "The Addams Family" had no restrictions, so we invited all the employees from Landmark to attend. This was good as it would be the last time I would see most of them. We all had a good time. At the theatre, I asked Mr. M to come help me attach the Pinto to the U-Haul.
We got back to the apartment. When we got there, no one was parked in front of the apartment, so I was able to move the Pinto back into a position in which we would be able to easily set up the tow bar. I had to move it back by using the battery and the starter to engage the engine. After it moved back, I got ready to move the U-Haul out in front. Just then, the car parked in front of mine started moving his vehicle back. We waved our arms when we saw him coming our way and asked him to move back so I could park the U-Haul in front of my car. He looked a little ticked off, but relented.
We read the instructions and successfully attached the Pinto and tow bar to the rear of the U-Haul. I said my goodbye to Mr. M and he went on his way. I still had to finish cleaning my apartment and have the apartment manager do a walk-through. He didn't note any major issues and thought I would be getting the majority of my deposit back. However, I didn't get all of it because they charged me for parking, which I had previously opted out of. They never did send the money they owed me, but I figured that since I didn't pay any deposit to start with, I shouldn't be complaining.
But I was still fuming over Rid not showing up or even bothering to call. I mean, I had helped him move at least twice. On top of that, I went to help him out when he was getting evicted a few months earlier. (Because of an incident involving the police and someone else getting arrested, he didn't get evicted.) I felt like he didn't really value our friendship if he wasn't willing to return the favor this one time, the last time we would be seeing each other for a while.
As a result, I wound up not talking to him for the next eight months. I was that angry. The weird thing was that he had three major life changes during that time. I'll be writing about those sometime in the future.
I wrote earlier about how I had to deal with amajor snow storm hot on my heels as I was leaving Colorado. Driving that truck was a very nerve-wracking experience. one of the hardest parts was that I couldn't always tell whether the Pinto was still attached to the truck. Anytime I turned a curve, I would look in my rear view mirror. This got more difficult as it got darker and I was driving through Raton Pass. Miraculously, I never lost the car. I was also nervous about the larger items breaking free from their straps and wreaking havoc while I was trying to keep it under 60 on the highway. I was thankful the truck had an automatic transmission.
I made it down to Ft. Sumner and spent the night at Grandma Bend's. But I still had a full day ahead as I headed toward Artesia the next day, stopping to see someone special. More on that tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment