... But You Can Call Me Sarge

I have a new respect for homeless people. It's really not easy when you don't have a home. I'm not even out on the street - merely between places, with nothing to really call my own - and I still felt as though things had been flipped upside down. Getting tours of really expensive, really dumpy apartment buildings didn't help much, either.

It took me until the end of my house hunting trip (the last twenty minutes of it, to be specific) to find a place to rent. I ended up laying down a deposit on it before I'd seen all of it, that was how badly I needed to find a place. But, in the end, I found a decent 1 bedroom apartment in the Glebe for a price that's not nearly as bad as it could've been.

I'm in the process of trying to furnish the place now. Amazingly, at 25 years old, I don't own a single stick of furniture. I'd thought about renting a furnished place while I was looking for a house to buy, but the $1600+ a month price tag turned me off in a big way. The goal is to furnish an entire apartment with furniture from auctions, second-hand stores and Ikea for $1500. Can it be done? We'll find out soon enough.

In a twist that surprised everyone, myself included, I was promoted at my soon-to-former unit on Thursday night. I'd been told that it was "very important" that I attend that evening, but I had no idea whether they meant I would be getting a plaque, a promotion, or a court marshal. Okay, I figured it wasn't a court marshall.

I'm now a Sergeant, and have crossed that ever-important threshold between junior non-commissioned officer (NCO) and senior NCO. I asked a well-respected senior Sergeant at the unit what it would mean to be a Sergeant. He replied, "There's a lot less bullshit." I can live with that.

This week is going to be ridiculous. I need to finish getting my life packed up in Kingston, then start setting things up in Ottawa. I'm the proud renter of a completely empty apartment, that will need to be furnished in the span of three days. I start work on the 23rd. I start with my new military unit on the 25th. But, more than anything, I'm really excited to see how it all works out.