Wheel of Fish Part 2

So it turns out it really was a Wheel of Fish.  They weren't really gonna TELL us it was, but it totally was.  $0 in the reserve account, pending special assessment scheduled for the next 12 months, and current litigation.  The upside is that OnPoint was really on top of their game.  We couldn't get any info out of the HOA, no matter how many times we asked, but OnPoint did.

So it was quite a relief to not get ourselves into a stressful condo, but we had to regroup with the quickness, because we were running out of time where we currently live.  The rental market is all that fantastic either, and I wasn't looking forward to it.  I did remember a tip that someone gave me about a small, family owned business that have  few properties here on the west side.  He said they're very reasonable, honest, and not over priced.  I shot the owner an email, and within 24 hours we scored the kind of apartment we needed!  It's even within the price that we wanted, and comes with a garage for all that junk I've been packing up the last few weeks.  What a tremendous blessing to find something so quickly.  The Good Lord is lookin' out!

Sentimental Moment

Allow me just this one sentimental moment.  I just spent the last two years with an amazing group of middle schoolers, and though it sounds a bit cheesy to say aloud, I have to admit I'm gonna miss them!  There was a whole lot of quirk, spunk, and personality in that batch!  I had some really talented artists and authors, and unless I missed something there's at least a couple comedians in the group.  There was a rather strong thread of Giggle Squad in some of those classes, but they also got some work done... well... most of them did.  Also, I have to say that a lot of those students showed very good manners in that they didn't totally make fun of the staff band, and they cheered for their other classmates at the talent show.  I wish them all very well as they move on to high school!

Wheel of Fish

Buying stuff, when you don't really care to buy stuff, is a bit unnerving.  The bigger the purchase, the harder it is on the nerves.  Selecting a beverage, for instance, may not cause one much grief, but buying... oh... say... a condo... is rougher.  It makes your mind go places... form analogies that may not otherwise be formed.  Here's a good one:

Putting an offer in on a condo in a real estate market such as we have right now, is like spinning the wheel of fish.  You know you have to spin because... well... you're on that game show.  I step up to the wheel, and give it a spin, watching the different options going around the wheel until it lands on the RED SNAPPER.  Game show host asks me, "You wanna red snappa... o WHATINTHEBOXDANIELISBRINGINGDOWNTHEAISLE!!!"

I can't decide.  I look at all that red snappery goodness and then at the box.  Red snappery goodness or box?  The audience is hurling their answers in my general direction.  Game show host is looking at me expectantly.  I quickly figure out that the box has so much more potential than the red snapper.  I've had red snapper before, and I know where it goes.  I choose the box

Game show host says, "What's in da box?... NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!  YOU SO STUPID!!!"

I wonder to myself how it is that all these crazy Californians are coming up here and paying cash for the grand prize box that actually has stuff in it... where do they gets all that cash, Precious?  New Yorkers, too.

So tonight our realtor is coming over to take the lid off the box and show us what the new condo has.  We put an offer and they accepted.  Hopefully the realtor doesn't say YOU SO STUPID!!! :)

30 day notice, condescension, and buying an apartment

I almost never get flack from people when I say "moving sucks".  That's because most of us prefer not to have to change much.  I have a co-worker to told me she likes the search for a new apartment... all those empty clean spaces full of possibilities.  I had to smile because that's how I think of some of my students... EMPTY brains full of possibility :)

Anyways, Kisha and I got something we never really planned on or thought would happen: a 30 day notice to vacate the duplex on Buckskin.  We didn't do anything wrong, it's just the owners are retiring and wanted to sell the place.  It just so happens that this is a terrible buyer's market, and we are about a year away from being able to realistically buy a house.

We had a few months to warm up to the idea, as we went through the process of making our place available to prospective buyers and had to deal with our landlord's real estate agent.  So it's not a big shocker.  We made a run at buying a house, but everything is super competitive and overpriced.  So we calmly and collectively went out yesterday to find ourselves an apartment.

Mind you, it's been a few years since we've done the apartment thing.  With that said, it's not like we've not done this before.  What I totally forgot about is just how condescending those apartment employees can be.  They dress all swanky, like drug reps walking through a doctor's clinic, and seem to have the general attitude that they're better than you.  I'm not really a violent person, but there was one stop along the way that I wanted to smack all three of the girls in the office, tell them about both of my university degrees, and to go back to school to get a real job.  Maybe a few choice swear words were peppered in there somewhere.

Plus the rent prices were REFREAKINGDICULOUS!!!

After a couple hours and multiple stops, we went home.  Kisha and I had separately decided buying a condo didn't sound like such a bad idea after what we had just seen and been through.  It wasn't the original plan, and I don't love the idea of paying an HOA, but it's just sort of where we are, and we don't want to be bouncing around apartments every year at the end of our lease.

So now we're looking at buying an apartment.

18 month pause...

Yeah, so I took an 18 month blog pause.  Whatever, not too much has happened.  Well, actually, I did get a teaching job, so there's that.  Oh yeah, and my firstborn child arrived last August, so I suppose that was bloggable material.  But whatever.  When those things were happening I was... um... not feeling gassy.  This morning, however, I feel a huge bubble somewhere between my brain and my abdomen that just might need some Gaseous Admission...