inspection

Today marks five years since I’ve been at my job (which is the longest I’ve ever worked anywhere), and I kick-started the day by having my home inspection bright and early at 8:30am. It seemed to go well. My realtor was there and my brother in law joined us, too, which was nice. Everything looks good except for the central a/c unit, which, as I predicted, isn’t working. I really need to talk about this with my realtor in depth and find out the best way to either convince the home warranty people to replace the unit, rather than just fixing it, or convince the bank that owns the property to get this fixed/replaced before I move in. I didn’t think this was an “as-is” property (which would allow the bank can wipe their hands clean of fixing things), but who knows. Buying a house—even if it’s just a little condo—is so fucking complicated!

The condo has really been dominating my landscape, along with freelancing. Everything else (like getting my car to the mechanic for its 90,000-mile tune-up) is falling by the wayside. But I do need to carve out some time to hit the Corcoran Gallery soon, as they have an Annie Leibowitz exhibit and an Ansel Adams exhibit starting soon. This will definitely be the biggest downfall to living in Frederick: no longer being a hop, skip, and a jump from downtown DC. I’ve gotten so spoiled spending the last five years living so close to the city!

To distract myself from the gnawing anxiety of home buyership, I filled out one of those random questionnaires circulating on MySpace:

1. What is your salad dressing of choice?
Honey mustard, I guess, but I rarely eat salad, so it’s hard to say!

2. What is your favorite fast food restaurant?
A tie between Subway (I love their Veggie Delite subs) and Burger King (because they offer veggie burgers and onion rings). But if I feel the need to eat fast food while abroad I always go to McDonald’s, since they still sell the phenomenal old-school apple pies there that McDonald’s in the US ditched a million years ago.

3. What is your favorite sit-down restaurant?
I don’t really have one—I’ve been to loads of amazing restaurants over the years.

4. On average, what size tip do you leave at a restaurant?
20% unless the service was awful.

5. What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of?
Breakfast cereal and Cedarlane vegetarian ham and cheese pockets.

6. What do you like to put on your toast?
Butter, maybe with a little jam.

7. What is your wallpaper on your computer?
At home: a picture of Plath and Freyja cuddling. At work: a picture of Olivia in one of her Disney Princesses dresses.

8. How many televisions are in your house?
Two. And I live alone!

9. Are you right-handed or left-handed?
Right.

10. Have you ever had anything removed from your body?
You mean aside from my ability to hope and dream, which was yanked out by life? I don’t think so. I’ve had four major surgeries but nothing was removed during them. Well…actually…I think a bit of bone from my skull may’ve been removed during one or two of the surgeries.

11. When was the last time you had a cavity?
Two or three years ago.

12. What is the last heavy item you lifted?
The weight of the world, currently residing on my shoulders.

13. Have you ever been knocked unconscious?
Just by anesthesia!

14. If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die?
I don’t think so. Knowing me, I’d just fixate on it and ruminate constantly about that date. It would consume my every waking thought.

15. If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
Something not shared by 12 zillion other Gen Xers—something like Freyja or Finley (two names I love).

16. What color do you think looks best on you?
I’ve been told garnet red looks good on me, and I guess light blue, too, since it matches my eyes.

17. Have you ever swallowed a non-food item by mistake?
Probably just gum, fragments of gnawed pen caps, and harmless nonsense like that.

18. Have you ever saved someone’s life?
Not that I’m aware of. But who knows…maybe I inadvertently saved someone’s life in a Sliding Doors kind of way by, like, leaving for work late one morning.

19. Has someone ever saved yours?
See above answer.

20. Would you kiss a member of the same sex for $100?
Sure.

21. Would you allow one of your little fingers to be cut off for $200,000?
No, because I’m really freaked out by deformities like that. But if I were offered $2 million…maybe. I’d just hire a therapist to get me over my deformity issues!

22. Would you never blog again for $50,000?
Hell yeah!

23. Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000?
I’d try it, but I honestly don’t think I could make it all the way through without vomiting.

24. Would you, without fear of punishment, take a human life for $1,000,000?
Ditto Seabold’s answer: It depends on the target.

25. What is in your left pocket?
There are no pockets on the dress I’m wearing.

26. Is Napoleon Dynamite actually a good movie?
It’s okay. It had its cute and funny moments but I don’t quite understand why it became such a huge pop culture phenomenon.

27. Do you have hardwood or carpet in your house?
Carpet now, but once I’m in my condo it’ll be hardwood (laminate) all the way, baby!

28. Do you sit or stand in the shower?
Stand. My shower is tiny, and who regularly sits in the shower, anyway? (OMG, I just typed that as “shits in the shower.”) But when I’m really sick yet still have to shower, I’ll sometimes sit just because I’m afraid I’ll pass out if I stand.

29. Could you live with roommates?
Nope! Maybe a significant other someday, but other than that? No way!

30. How many pairs of flip flops do you own?
Just one; they were given to me by my sister and I wear them if I’m barefoot and need to run outside and it’s wet.

31. Last time you had a run-in with the cops?
When I got my last speeding ticket, which was maybe a year or so ago.

32. What do you want to be when you grow up?
Retired. And not being forced to live on dog food because of it.

33. Who is number 1 on your top 8
On MySpace? Uh...Shawn, I think? Because he was the first person to accept my friend invitation.

34. Last friend you talked to?
On the phone it was Heather; over email it was Angela.

35. Last person who called you?
My sister.

36. Person you hugged?
My niece, this morning.

37. Current mood?
Meh. Worried. Pensive.

38. Listening to?
Nothing right now. I was listening to a Paul Potts CD as I drove to work earlier.

39. Watching?
Nothing right now; tonight I’ll watch House.

40. Worrying about?
Buying a condo. Money.

41. First place you went this morning?
My condo, for its home inspection.

42. What can you not wait to do?
Get completely settled into my home.

43. What’s the last movie you saw?
Vacancy.

44. Do you smile often?
No. And because of that, I don’t have to worry about smile lines!

45. Are you a friendly person?
Not really, but only because I’m shy and a bit asocial.


song heard most recently before posting:
Por Ti Seré—Paul Potts