Moving and Winning

So as I mentioned in a previous blog post, Amanda and I were looking for a new place to move to because of the building management company and their retaliatory rent increases. The place is 4243 Mary Ellen Ave, Studio City, CA 91604. It would be a shame if this blog came up in the Google search results now. Anyhow, since that last blog post we found a place nearby and have since moved in. If you’ve done any sort of moving in your life at any point, you know how painful it can be.

It took a while to find our current place, having toured several townhomes in the area for months, but when we finally found this one, it felt like a good fit. Less than what we were paying at Mary Ellen, and a whole other room on the third floor. We negotiated a contract with the landlord, and aimed to move-in the first weekend in November. Because the move-in date was the 8^th, we actually managed to make smaller moves with the more fragile items in the days leading up to the big move. A lot of back-and-forth, but the benefit was that our new place was less than a mile away.

Over the past few years, I’ve drifted more and more away from mainstream comics. Unfortunately, my bookshelves make up a lot of graphic novels, omnibuses, and other collected mainstream works. Have you ever tried moving around a box of books? It sucks. Now multiply that by around 20 boxes and you suddenly start asking the real questions: “Is it worth it to have all of these books still? Do I really need them all?” I did do some pruning before the move, and now that I’m settled, I’ve done a lot of pruning after as well. Nothing will be thrown away, and at the same time I’m not going to waste my energy trying to sell them and ship them. They’ll be donated to those who I feel would appreciate them.

A friend of mine Erik Rose recommended Tom’s Marathon Movers to me, and I ended up using them for the move. They quoted me 5 ½ hours, but got the job done in 4. I’ve written glowing reviews for them since, and can honestly say they removed all the stresses of moving for me that day. I was a little stressed in the days leading up to the move, but they moved everything in a professional and timely manner, that it was as if watching a choreographed dance routine. Even the heavy boxes of all my books were no problem whatsoever!

Making sure the old place was clean and spotless was a chore. We dedicated the entire weekend and a dozen Magic Erasers to making sure we would get our deposit back. We know they’re going to replace the carpets anyway (they do that regardless just to ding you), but after the incredible job we did, we’re expecting a majority of our deposit back (UPDATE: we got a majority of it back). It was startling to see the place you’ve lived in for the past 4+ years reset to factory settings. Dinah wasn’t a fan of all of the missing furniture and hiding places. Once we transferred her shortly after to the new place, she hid for a few hours in our walk-in closet amongst the sweaters and jackets and our familiar smells.

Moving books from the first floor to the third. Box one of many.

It’s been a few weeks since the move and everything has been unpacked and a majority of the pictures are now hanging on the wall. I even started buying frames to hang a lot of my original comic art that has been stored in binders for years. We’re slowly making the space our own. Next is to get a few area rugs (everything is hardwood floors), and make minor adjustments here and there. The main street we’re on isn’t as quiet as Mary Ellen was, but on the plus side a used bookstore and my favorite vinyl record store are right down the street! Dinah has also adjusted nicely so far, and we plan on maybe getting her another scratching post and bed for different spots by the windows throughout.

I’m loving my new office up on the third floor. I’m surrounded by all my books and framed artwork, and listen to music all day. I just need to find a nice side table for my record player, and hopefully some better storage options for my vinyl. However, it can be a little inconvenient if I want a snack in the kitchen, and have to march down three stories. My legs are going to look amazing in a few months, I can tell you that much.

The week after we moved in, the CLIO Awards were happening that Thursday and I attended with a group of coworkers since a project I produced was shortlisted for an award. If you’re not familiar with the CLIOs, it’s basically the Oscars for Creative Advertising and Marketing. The ceremony was hosted this year by Rachel Bloom (who was hilarious), and while we were up in the nosebleeds, we kept an ear our for our category just in case we had to rush down the stairs in the lobby to make it to the stage. All ceremony I was on the edge of my seat, anxiously waiting for the category to be called. We had a good feeling we might win since our project was highlighted for a few brief seconds in the sizzle reel at the start of the show.

By the end of the show, our category hadn’t even been called, so we caught a shuttle to the afterparty unsure of our project’s fate. Apparently last year the show went 3-hours, so categories were cut this year to make it shorter. I assumed our project category was one of the casualties. It wasn’t until after we searched the CLIO website that we discovered that we had won gold! It was a welcomed surprise, to say the least. It would have been nice to carry the statue around at the afterparty, but I was riding such a high the remainder of the evening. I gorged myself with the endless food and drinks, and partied with my coworkers. It’s truly an honor to win a CLIO on something we poured our all into for several grueling months. Now we’re reinvigorated, and giving 110% to the current motion piece we’re working on.

Thanksgiving is only a few days away, and with that, November has gone by in a blink of an eye. Crazy to think 2026 is already just around the corner. While it’s not time for New Year’s Resolutions yet, I think one of mine will be keep track of all the books I read in 2026. I usually make a social media post that disappears after 24 hours of the last book I read, but why not keep a list and post it at the end of the year like I did during early COVID times?

Hope you’re nice and stuffed on Thanksgiving. Here’s our own little turkey to cleanse your palate.