the saga of the mouse house, pt. 3

what i want to express up front is that i believe we're in for a long haul, but we're making good decisions and everything is going to turn out alright. we're going to come out of this okay. this is all happening so fast...it's like romeo and juliet. i mean, there's no romance, it's just an epic story contained in 5 days time. and they came to tragedy. we will not.

we took a look at the apartment in the place sarah used to live (and where bethany currently lives), deemed it appropriate for our needs (and, of course, free of vermin), and signed a lease. as we were sitting in the office, someone else came in to look at a 2 bedroom, and it was a little relief to hear the staff say, "it's been rented." by us. and as quick as that, half an hour later, we have a place.

we still have to bring in a couple of documents and pay the deposit, but we're in. it was a fast decision, but a good one. the place has new carpet, a dishwasher, ample storage. it's bright and clean and quiet and there's off-street parking. there's a workout room, so perhaps i can save some money and dump my Y membership. there's a party room we can rent as well, which i'm sure will come in handy.

and, of course, it's in NE. everyone i know who has lived there raves about NE...there's a lot of NE love out there. and i can see why. mikey postle spent some time selling me on the neighborhood yesterday on facebook. that boy loves him some central ave.

sarah had to scoot fast to rehearsal, but i stayed behind and had some major de-stress time with bethany. we went out to holy land and stuffed our faces, discovering that we have a fondness for peas and beef that sarah will never fully appreciate. and she became my hero and bought me an ice cream cone, which is good for curing most ills. (thanks for putting up with me in my shellshocked mood, B.) and who should turn up as we're eating dinner but the man himself, mr. mikey p? it's like he's the NE welcome wagon. in fact, i believe that's how he referred to himself. didn't he guarantee me neighborly happiness? boy delivers. count on mikey p.

so. going forward. it looks like we're going to do a big move of sarah's stuff and my big stuff next weekend. then i'll take the rest of the month to bring more things over (i do carloads because i just don't want to deal with boxes). by may 1, this will all be a distant memory. acute and painful, but distant.

the lamelord, however. he is going to get his due and eat a bowl of dick. we plan on taking him down in a big way, squeezing our cash back out of him and i have fantasies of reporting him to the health and safety board. we'll see what our rights are and exercise them with glorious might. i have to say, i'm learning a lot from this and encourage any yous what rent to be familiar with your rights as well. it pays.

once we wrote him and took him up on his offer, we heard nothing in response. until today. when he emailed us one line:
"Walk thru at 5 and 5:50 tomorrow scheduled right now. Thanks"
seems that he threw the apartment up on craigslist immediately:
http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ram/apa/1680294131.html
really? seriously? you're not going to fix the problem then, just find yerself summore sukkers, eh? what an assbag.

amber's independence day, 2010

here it is again, april 8.

april 8, 2002. it was a newly post 9/11 world, and i had planned out all of my visas and tickets. if i had to do it alone, so be it. although my father always says, "i have no doubt that you'll do it. everything you've put your mind to, you've gotten done," this was the first time i saw it in myself.

i had just finished almost 2 years of teaching in seoul, and was touching down in phnom penh, beginning one of my most awesome adventures: a three month tour of aisa, almost completely on my own. i would sail up the tonle sap river (cambodia) and spend a week touring the jungle temples of ankor wat, meet a friend in saigon and take a tour of the floating markets on vietnam's mekon delta, take a sleeper train from bangkok up to chaing mai, meet elephants, meditate with 3-storey stone buddhas, brave the monsoons of bangkok and revisit wat po and the grand palace, live in a village on bali surrounded daily by the sounds of gamelan music and the smell of coconut frying and be under constant threat of theft...by MONKEYS, be adopted by a balinese family who would dress me up in temple finery and take me to a hindu celebration, hike the broken and crumbling 6 miles of the great wall in simitai provence china, be overwhelmed by the kindness of strangers at the lamastic temple in beijing, attend morning sword dancing at tiantin park, get lost in the pearl and silk markets.... amazing memories.

and every year on april 8, i smile to myself and remember that i am free to go and do what i like. and i have. and i will. many years i go off somewhere alone and do something special and fun just for me. last year, i didn't have that choice, being that i was stuck in L.A. in an apartment with someone who kept hurting me, even though he didn't think that's really what he was doing. but i had a paper chain with less than 20 links on it, upon the last of which were written the words, "drive home to minnesota." but at least i could take a moment and appreciate that i had made the decision to go out there and try to make things work. and when they didn't, i had the strength to pick up my skirts, dig in my heels, and push the cart back up on the road.

and here i am again, a little too busy to do anything just for me. i've got one hell of a script to get in my head and only a few days to do it. i'm trying to get my last-time dual state taxes in (yick). sarah's staying with me and we're figuring out this ... situation. but you know what? it's my independence day. and i recognize today that where some people would crumble under all of this shit, i am not. granted, i have an ultra-awesome friend that is going through it with me, and we're helping each other out. and we're going to beat this and come out shining. so welcome, april 8. you are a reminder that i kick ass, that life is an adventure, and that it includes the weird and the wonderful as well as the rough and tumble. bring it. i will tackle it all.

vive la independance!!!!