Social experiment time

WOOOOOOOO inauguration. A little girl kept saying Obama was a present, not the president. Perhaps a bit of both.

In the spirit of "yes. we. can." the roommate/housing saga has progressed to a whole new level. Apparently when someone says "I'm committed 110%" it actually means that they can then tell you the day before you're supposed to sign your lease that, well, ummm, he's backing out because there's something he likes better that's possible. On Friday (and it's Tuesday evening). And he wants the biggest room (though the two that share one are paying equal rent to all other house members).

Today I told customers I was full of ire. They seemed taken aback.

But, wait, you say. It's the time of CHANGE. Of NEW direction. So Mike, Sarah, and I did what anyone sane would do - we signed a lease tonight and have started looking for a roommate. It's cheap, centrally located in Hayes Valley. Our landlady is wonderful already - she said she was hoping that we'd come back after Sarah and Mike had looked at the house weeks ago. She even spontaneously hugged Sarah when she found out her job as a chef. And our idea of having a rack of ribs bbq once the back yard renovations are done. (Yes, we have a yard. In the middle of the city).

I posted not even a half hour ago, already two responses from responsible sounding grad students. Woot! Feel free to guess how many I get in one day - I'll post the answer soon!

Take that to people who aren't honest. And taking destiny into own hands... Now to start making our home. It's heady stuff - the day has gotten much much better.

But ask me about describing tea tastes. I may or may not have said to the trainer that since I don't eat leather (or hay or other fodder) that I can't quite get to saying the brew tastes like that. It was silly, especially since another attendee and I discovered that if you squint right you can make anything sound serious when it comes to descriptions. "Composty" "Wet" "Woodsy" "Complex"

Just try it. Think "blue steel" and run with it.

Delicious.

And one more thing

I'm more than my credit score. Or my bank account balance.

Why can't we find people who happen to be renting a place we want to live in who agree? Is that really too much to ask?

Happy, um, mid-January?

We threw a party Thursday night because, well, we live in a dance studio. It was surprisingly good times, though not everyone came that said they would we had some new guests and a whole lot of yum chili and snacks. Mike, Sally, and I also rigged up the projector to hit the disco ball and then thought one better - put movies on it! So the original Batman with Adam West provided ceiling entertainment. It was a good party and I'm glad my strategy in Belgrade - invite everyone you know and then see what fun ensues - carried across the ocean.

Housing hunt is demoralizing. But we've found another roommate that allows us to look for bigger places, which has been a success so far. He's a graphic designer, been in the city awhile, and appears to be entertained by our antics. Whew.

I've now gone to a coffee training for work - we tasted SO many and talked about body, if it was dry and lingering or a clean finish, origins and why they make a difference. After that I BARTed over to Berkeley and met Sally and Sarah, ran off to help Cole move a couch. And yes, that's more excellent news - Cole, my old college roommate, has moved to the Bay! His partner, Al, will be going to law school at Berkeley come the fall and currently is working for a non-profit that assists those on death row. Cole's way into bikes and we have plans for riding, gallivanting and general chilling.

Which will be infinitely easier once we have a new house. Lease ends 31st so time is counting down... Unfortunately I've become a bit one track about it. So hopefully this week we'll get things wrapped up.

Craigslist

I have a problem when people don't use apostrophes for things like "I'm" - im is not a word. (You can read it out loud as "em" which is amusing when entertaining the lovely Sarah though).

And yet there are those that post ads like this on Craigslist trying to find housing. Incredible. Here's the title, just to get an idea. It's good for a laugh I suppose.

$800 im funny AND good looking. also im really modest.

Uh-huh.

The hunt for apartments is on.... Happy New Year to all!