don’t be a jerk

Ever since moving in with Eddie, I’ve noticed that I don’t have a problem with static electricity anymore. Used to be that when I came home to my old apartment and got out of my car, I’d shock myself every time I touched a metal part of my car. I would even occasionally have static electricity problems when I worked on my computers at home (not a good thing, BTW.)
 
But for the past month, I’ve had no such issues until I went back to the old apartment yesterday to drop some stuff off for Katie. Again, static shock when I touch my door.
 
Why is this? I’m parked in my old parking lot of the apartment in which, until recently, I lived for five years, and I look up and I see power lines. Lots of them. I listen actively and realize that I can actually hear the crackling of the electricity. I think I had noticed these pretty early on, but never really given them a second thought.
 
Obviously the source of the ionized air and static in the area. This couldn’t possibly be a good thing. Suddenly, I’m extremely relieved to not be living there anymore.
 
Also I remember that when we left the windows open, even for only a day, there would be a coat of black soot on the windowsill. Probably from the 10 freeway, about a hundred yards away. I’m a little horrified at what 5 years of soot and power line radiation must have been doing to my body.
 
***
 
I lived in my old apartment for 5 years to the day. I moved in on February 2000, and moved out February 2005. Five year cycle. Almost perfect, you could say.
 
A lot happened within that 5 years, and moving out coincided with a new stage in my life.
 
For someone who’s an agnostic, possibly an atheist, I sure do spend a lot of time finding patterns in my life. I look at a clock and it reads 12:34 or 11:11. Coincidences draw my rapt attention. Milestone numbers. Like 5. I can understand why people become religious or spiritual. It’s comforting to have explanations, however specious, for the unexplainable.
 
***
 
On another note, I got one of those new 30 gig iPod photos. Not that I really had the money to spare, but I need my tunes. The philanthropic satisfaction I received from giving my old iPod to my sister wore off after a few weeks, and since then it’s been a continual state of sucking to not have my music collection on hand. God I love this thing already.