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if you learn to like it you just might love it
Deep breath.
Now, where were we?
Previously on The Shivers�.I was tired, over-worked, listening to an endless, angry Jawbre*ker soundtrack and freaking about the whole thing house thing.
Yeah it�s pretty much the same old song and dance around here.
Except that now I am really freaking out because we have moved on to House. Number 2 and the close of escrow is less than two weeks away.
Things move fast around here sometimes.
We found this place just one day after having to show our current home for the first time � an event that left both GB and I feeling sour and bitter and blue.
So what a relief it was then to walk into this place and feel that sense of comfort that comes from looking at a house that you could imagine calling home �and one that is well within your price range, no less.
It�s a bit different than the last house � built in 1950 instead of 1940, a little further from the center of town, but still close enough to work. It�s two bedrooms, one bath plus a �bonus� room � part of the garage was converted into an office. Hello my lovely office!
It�s in a very nice Edward Scissorh*nds type of 1950s suburban neighborhood that�s still close to everything urban and is a mix of little old ladies (who seem to be spend an inordinate amount of time sweeping their immaculate walkways) and young couples/families happy (like us) to have gotten into one of the last affordable urban-central neighborhoods.
We managed to get it at a very good price (relatively speaking of course) and the house doesn�t need much work except for a coat of fresh paint and a re-finishing of the hardwood floors. The inspection went pretty well and our realtor is confident we can get the sellers to make a few needed repairs.
Here are some pictures � please take note - all these furnishings belong to the current occupants. Hopefully they won�t mind you looking at their stuff. Also, the pictures were taken with this strange soft-focus effect. You remember when Cybi1 Shepard used to be shot for Moon1ighting with Vaseline smeared on the lens to make her appear younger? It�s sort of like that.
Here is the front view:
And the kitchen:
And the small dining room (beyond which is my office)
And the living room:
I love it but am still freaked out.
The price is �good� for this market, but I�m nonetheless worried about the so-called bubble bursting. We�re doing a 5 year adjustable rate mortage � what if interest rates are an ungodly figure when we go to refinance? (Obviously we have to watch the rates carefully and possibly do a re-fi early to avoid such a thing.) As it is, our mortgage payment? Yes - triple what we're currently paying in rent.
What if one of us loses his or her job and/or gets sick?
What if we hate our neighbors?
What if it turns out to be a giant, soul-sucking money pit?
What if, what if, what if? I really can�t sleep at night anymore. I�ve given up on that front.
For better or for worse this place - once we've conquered the mountain of paperwork - will be ours.
Another interesting, possibly good development:
Got a call Friday from my thesis reader. She and my thesis advisor VDW, chose one of my short stories as one of two Class of 2005 nominees for the Best New Amer1can Vo1ces anthology. One of my classmates who graduated last May was selected for the 2006 edition and I think she�s so super talented so my jaw kind of dropped when C. called.
Anyway, this is for the 2007 edition and I won�t know until Dec. if it was selected. Not to be all clich�d and all but it�s such a freakily amazing thing to have even been nominated that actually getting selected would just be the bonus.
Of course the crappy pessimist voice in me keeps whispering: Well that is the only good story you ever wrote, so enjoy this while you can.
Maybe, maybe�if it does get selected and that�s the only good thing I�ve ever done and I�m just a one-hit wonder, well than I guess maybe that�s better than nothing at all? Right? Right?
Anyhoo, back to the here and now. Last night K. & I hit the art galleries � we visited six including the place where GB�s side band was playing a quick set. Six galleries, six very different scenes and crowds. Six different groups, we surmised upon approaching our final destination, by which to be annoyed. Every scene with its look, every scene with its cliques, every scene with its unspoken sets of rules and regulations.
Still it was good to get out, talk to people that I haven�t seen in awhile, meet new people, watch and observe all the social rituals�It was a pretty night too: clear and balmy and perfumed with camellias.
And today it�s a throwback to earlier in the week when we listened to thunder and watched sheets of hail and rain pound our town. It�s gray and chilly�a good day to be here at the caf� with the free wireless. I�ve got a project to work on and grocery shopping to do and, later in the evening, a Surv1vor finale in which to indulge my pop culture sensibilities. All in all, it�s shaping up to be a nice Sunday.
12:52 pm - 05.15.05
sounds: jawbre*ker
words: sunday newspapers
i am: excited, nervous, scared
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previously on ... - next time on ...
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