The Big News From Casa De Kleefeld

I've hinted at lots going on lately here at Casa de Kleefeld, and I'm finally ready to let everyone in on what I've been up to. For those of you who aren't that interested, I'll let you off the hook by dropping the big reveal up front...

I'm selling my house here in Southwest Ohio to move up to the Chicago area.

Although it's been something of a trend for comics folks to move throughout 2012, this has actually been part of the plan for the past few years now. I've been in a long-distance relationship with a woman from Chicago for nearly five years now, and we agreed that I would move up there as soon as I was able to completely take care of some of the debt issues I got saddled with after my divorce. I wanted to move up there (as opposed to her moving down here) for many reasons, but they largely boil down to this: the only thing really tying me to this area is my house. I can do my day job remotely, I have very little in the way of family or friends down here, the comics scene in Chicago is much more active and, quite frankly, the air around here has gotten pretty unhealthy for me the last few years (metaphorically speaking).

I think it was 15-20 years ago that the idea of "toxic relationships" gained some cultural traction; that's kind of how the Cincinnati area feels to me any more. I spent many years thinking that maybe it was just me; maybe I was just noticing more problems the longer I lived down here. But I started counting the physical manifestations of what I don't like about this area, and they have been increasing since I first moved down here. I don't hate the area and my visual play on the Escape from New York poster is mostly in jest, but it's not emotionally healthy for me any more.

The S.O. and I are eager to move in together and really start our collective life in earnest. I can't tell you how happy we are that we're going to be physically together. I'm not sure my dog and her cat feel the same way, but they'll have to sort that out between themselves. Me? I'm thrilled!

But, before I can move up there, I need to sell my place down here. It officially went on the market today, and you can check out all the photos and stats and stuff here. Before you click over, though, I'll warn you that just about all of my comic stuff is sitting in a storage facility in Chicago already. In fact, I had professional stagers come through and try to make the place look more sale-able; so a lot of what you see in the pictures isn't really my home. It's still mostly my stuff, but it's not really a reflection of me or how I live, and you don't get an updated tour of my comic collection!

I've been absolutely swamped getting things ready for going on the market. Lots of organizing, lots of packing and hauling, lots of painting, lots of cleaning, lots more cleaning... And, needless to say, once this place DOES sell, I'll quickly get very busy with buying a new place and moving. I'll try to keep the blog updated and running as smoothly as possible, but I'll apologize now for any downtime between now and the end of the year.

This is another great adventure for 2012 for me! This year, I completed my first marathon, appeared in the second-highest grossing movie ever, got published in a handsome academic library volume, and now I get to join my girlfriend under the same roof. Man, just wait until I actually get my act together!

Say, you know anybody looking to buy a house located about half-way between Cincinnati and Dayton?

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