— पांच हजार एक सौ छियासी —
Big news today, which first came right before I went to bed last night: Ivan's moving out already. Well, in another month. This came through on Facebook Messenger at 10:31 pm:
Hi Matthew, we didn’t see each other today so I didn’t have the chance to tell you this in person. But I wanted to let you know that I will be moving out and leaving Seattle permanently at the end of April.
I saw the first few words only, in a pop-up notification on my phone, but I had a feeling instantly that it would be news of this nature. The thing is, Ivan has a history of moving every year or so on average, so I totally expected that; the only surprise here was that this time it happened so soon. I don't suppose it should have been; by the end of April he will have lived with us nine and a half months; he was only here eight months the first time in 2014, after all. (His December 2016 - February 2018 stint was fourteen and a half months.)
It's interesting how differently I am reacting to the news this time. I don't care nearly as much as I did the first two times. Like, in 2014, when he was 29 and I was 38 and I almost instantly developed the biggest, dumb crush on him, I missed him like crazy when he left in early January 2015—a loneliness compounded by the fact that Shobhit went back to L.A. after his 2014 holidays visit on the very same weekend, making the condo feel deeply empty. When he left after his much longer stint between late 2016 and mid-February 2018, we had established a far more genuine friendship, and I literally cried the night we said goodbye.
I still have a deep affection for him, mind you. But I haven't "crushed" on him in ages, and having now known him for eight years really makes a difference—he feels a lot more, like many of my other friends, like family to me now. Plus, I'm a lot more used to his nomadic tendencies. This will be the
third time I say goodbye to him. Honestly I take this "leaving Seattle permanently" phrasing with a grain of salt—he's been that emphatic about "permanence" many times before, and sometimes within months his attitude changes. I do think there is far less likelihood of him ever living with us again this time around, but it's also good to note that when he left in 2018, I was absolutely convinced he'd never live with us again, and look where we are now. It may not be for another several years, or it could be in another one or two years, or maybe never, that he lives with us again. With Ivan, you truly never know, no matter what he actually says, regardless of the conviction with which he says it, in the moment.
I asked him where he was going and he responded with a "shrug emoji" and said,
No idea. I asked if he's just tired of Seattle again, or ready for that proverbial "change of scenery" (a phrase he has used many times over the years), and he responded,
I am done with this city. There’s not much left to keep me here. I’m going to work as a travel nurse and get paid to live like a nomad as that’s what I do anyway.
He's actually right about that. I do think he has this problem of never recognizing that moving to a new location won't ever solve his problems—they always follow him, predictably—but, he does seem to be well suited to the nomadic existence. I messaged him,
Actually being a travel nurse does sound kind of perfect for you. Even better pay and most gigs probably end before you inevitably get sick of it, and you do travel constantly by default anyway
He responded:
es, most contracts are for three months with the option of extending if you like an assignment
I can go anywhere in the country
And get paid about twice what I make right now
So it’s just a no-brainer
Frankly I would be stupid not to. Probably should have pursued this a long time ago but there weren’t as many opportunities for travel nursing before COVID
Now they are short EVERYWHERE
In the meantime, he has made several travel plans for before he tries to find a nursing job somewhere else. He's taking most of the next week off of work, leaving for his presumed to be last (though I actually doubt that) trip to Portland tomorrow, not coming back until Tuesday evening and not returning to work until Thursday—we've made plans to see a movie right after I get off work Wednesday. He plans to spend a couple of weeks exploring Vancouver Island in British Columbia in early May, and he said he's already booked a
two-week (!) cruise to Alaska that leaves in mid-May. He had already been talking about doing both of those things, before he decided it would be part of officially moving out again.
It should also be noted that I would not be in the least surprised if he even changes his mind about the permanent "move out" by the time the end of April even gets here. But I do appreciate a month's heads up to be prepared for the expectation of him not paying rent as of May.
In any case, I don't expect it to be a teary goodbye this time, as I'm essentially used to it now, and have zero expectations regarding how right he is when it comes to whether he'll ever return to Seattle again. And if he does, I fully expect he'd live with us yet again. Maybe he won't, or maybe he will. Whatever.
— पांच हजार एक सौ छियासी —
— पांच हजार एक सौ छियासी —
I just finished my twice-monthly FaceTime lunch with Karen, originally scheduled for Friday last week but her schedule necessitated rescheduling for today. This means we'll have our next in only one more week again, next Friday. But, she's going to have to reschedule the second one in April.
There's not much to report on the lunch and hour chatting with Karen. It was pleasant as is typical, but lacking in any major news. I was going to tell her about Ivan's announcement but then I never had the time to tell her before we had to leave the call.
— पांच हजार एक सौ छियासी —
Shobhit is at the Delhi airport as I type this. His flight to Paris is delayed about two hours, so he's leaving at about 23 minutes after midnight, his time. He just texted me a few minutes ago that his plane had arrived. He'll have a roughly six hour layover in Paris, and the flight scheduled to leave there for Seattle is scheduled to take off at 4:10 my time. That'll be 1:10 in the afternoon local time in France, I believe. He's scheduled to land in SeaTac tomorrow afternoon at 2:30, and of course I will drive down to pick him up, since it's easily done on a Saturday.
I'm going to do grocery shopping tonight after work, in preparation for his arrival. I won't have everything he'd prefer to have available when he gets here, but I should have a lot of it. Thus, I have made no other plans for tomorrow. Laney has suggested she come up and watch a movie at my place this weekend, so we've made a plan for that on Sunday. She's asking us to take home covid tests, which is reasonable, in spite of it being both redundant for Shobhit (he's taken two tests in the past day to qualify for flying into France) and too soon after his flights for anything he potentially picks up on planes to show up on a test only the very next day. But, if it makes her feel more comfortable, that's fine. We have more home tests than we need anyway.
— पांच हजार एक सौ छियासी —
[posted 1:10 pm]
