Saturday, December 29, 2007

Apt pics!

My first apartment!

WOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO is still about all I can process in light of my new apartment!!! Kelly and I have been talking about finding a place to live in until I leave for the Peace Corps in late September. We had this lovely notion that we might be able to find a place near the ocean that was in our price range...which is not large, I can tell you! So you can only imagine my surprise when I was walking down Ingrid's street and I noticed an "Open House" sign for an affordable place RIGHT near the ocean! And in Belmont Shore, of all places! I LOOOOOOVE Belmont Shore...we joke about how it's our/my vacation spot. And now I get to live there!

Anyway, I popped into the apartment and picked up an application, thinking I might as well get my feet wet with learning how to find an apartment, since I've never done it before. I filled it out, then stuck it in the mail slot of the realty company, since it was 6:00 and their office was closed. I didn't really think much more about it until I got a phone call at 8:30 the next morning. The lady gave me all the reasons why I was not necessarily a desirable tenant...I don't make enough money, I've never rented before...and then said she'd run my credit check anyway. An HOUR later she called back asking if I could drop off my deposit the same day!!!!

So I've taken in my first deposit check and given it to the realtor of my first apartment, and now I just need to wait for Kell to get out here! I am SO excited about this new turn my life has taken into this adventure, and I can't wait to see what all happens!

Monday, December 24, 2007

P.S. for yesterday's escapades

More remembered stories from Dave:

"So my sisters got all mad and wouldn't talk to us. They thought my dad had a part in my mom's death. Right, like the man who had been married to her for.....um.....48 years would do that. So I told my dad, 'We'll just have to wait it out.' And we're still waitin'."

"I was dating this French girl, and we walked by and there was this guy hanging off the scaffolding around a building that was under construction. He kept yelling, 'Let me out! Let me out!' and called my name, Dave. But we just kept walking. But I didn't really like the French girl, and the other guy was just really out there, so I ditched the French girl and told the guy to come over. I call him Corona. He plays guitar...classical guitar, and is the most talented musician I know. I mean, he can write music and lyrics and he plays the guitar wonderfully...but the guy can't sing worth a damn. I told him, I said, "Corona, you can play your guitar but don't you dare ever sing in my house. And if you ever sing a song that's playing on the radio that I like, I'll kill you."

"So back in Nevada, I had this historic house with 10 acres. Every year, for the town fair, it's the oldest town in Nevada, you see, there would be this huge fair and so I'd make a little money off my property by charging $2 per car, $5 per truck, and $10 per motor home, you know, for the whole day. And my kids would help me out, but I know they were skimming their cut off the top. They'd have all this stuff from the craft fair. That's how I knew they were taking their cut. They pretended to be all helpful, but then they'd disappear for a few hours and come back on the tractor with hot dogs. I never told them they could take out the tractor, and I didn't say they could go to town and buy hot dogs!"

"Am I making sense?"

Sunday, December 23, 2007

I feel the need to blog...

So I just said to Ingrid, "I feel the need to blog." I am, incidentally, using two hands for this one, because it IS just that good. And I realize that there is no one yet reading this, because I have not kept up with my blogishness for quite some time, and have only just recently (last night) decided to begin to keep it up again as I will be traveling for quite some years very soon (Sept) and this might be read by someone other than Ingrid once people start reading my blog. Either that or it will simply melt into the oblivion of an internet-recorded interesting day....

It all started with Noah's Bagels. Innocently, I asked the cashier if I could get an empty cup with a lid in which we would pour one of the girls' milk so she wouldn't spill it. The cashier, ostensibly dumbfounded, asked, "a cup?" "Yes," I replied. "Just an empty cup with a lid so that the little girl over there (gesturing toward our table) doesn't spill her milk." "You mean like this?" the cashier asks, holding up an enormous soda cup. "Um, no, do you have anything smaller?" "Um, I dunno. Let's see..." The cashier stepped back and began looking under the counter for several minutes. "Why don't you give her one of the small coffee cups," a lady in line behind me suggested. "There are lids by the soda fountain." "So, like this one?" the cashier asked, holding up a small empty cup. "That will do juuuust fine," I said. WOW. And "Can I get a cup with a lid?" has now entered our family vernacular for sales people who apparently have no idea how they happened to end up behind a counter wearing a bright yellow hat. Needless to say, Ingrid gave them a pseudonym instead of "Ingrid," fearing that its Scandinavianness would overwhelm the poor girl.

From there, we (Ingrid and I) went shopping. Somehow, we lost all sense of reality and just stood in the aisles and STARED at baubles and tops in the Sixteen Dollar Store, Target, and the Buffalo Exchange. Did I mention that it was at least 70 degrees out, on the 23 December (a.k.a Christmas Adam, thank you Chloe)?! And speaking of reality, when we visited Starbucks to purchase Brewing Equipment, we met Reality, who is another member of the "Yellow Hat Club." We went from him not having a clue which machine was which, what the prices were, how to find said prices, whether we could put something on hold, and then leaving with a "see you later then," from Reality.

So in the land of fantasy, we met Ingrid's neighbor, Dave. A 52-year-old quasi Hippie ex-truck driver who has "roof access" and the greatest view of the sunset over Long Beach harbor and Catalina EVER. He took some of his "medicine," then regaled us for quite some time with stories and insights into life as we watched the sun dip down and the moon turn full and bright in a purple sky. Any day with Dave is a fun day, perhaps because he has no idea what day it actually is. He asked what day it was, and if it was Christmas or not, and then confessed his dark secret that he deeply loves Broadway musicals. Picture a chain-smoking, incessant-coffee drinking, mismatched ex-trucker confessing a love of musicals. And once he put it together that we were sisters (we later specified the air by clarifying step-sisters), commented, "Your mom must be HOT." Ah Dave...

We did go back to Starbucks, incidentally, but Reality was not there. It was all Fantasy. Or, more correctly, Jason, who asked if the machine was all we were getting this evening. "Not unless it happens to come with free drinks!" I flippantly quipped. "For you, anything." So, we got free drinks, an invitation to San Fransisco (he's moving there tomorrow...in about 6 hours, actually), an email address, and a HIlarious walk home. So now, we sip our beverages, the machine needs to be wrapped, and we're watching "Uncle Buck," a.k.a. the greatest movie EVER!

Merry Christmas and Happy Return o' the Blog!


Saturday, December 22, 2007

i blog now

i blog now with one hand.