This is my life and musings and whatever else I decide to write about in a day.
Pure Imitation Maranie
Saturday, July 13, 2002
We're at Darren's right now. We really need a cable connection. This is heaven. I don't want to get off the computer.We're putting in another offer on a different house, and it looks like we might actually get this one. It's small but a great starter home, good neighborhood, etc. The house needs nothing done to it, except possibly replacing the carpet in the living room (which is nice, only it's a raspberry colour.) So wish us luck. :-)
posted by Maranie on 7/13/2002 08:13:00 PM
So I'm completely creeped out now.
I'm at home, watching TNG around 9:40 p.m., when there's a knock on the door. I'm expecting Jason home at any minute. But I still yell, "Who is it?" because that's what I do, just to be sure.
"It's me. Open up," I hear.
It's a man's voice. It's not Jason's.
"Who's there?" I ask.
"It's me!"
We go through this exchange once or twice more. I don't recognize the voice. Sounds a little like a couple guys we know, but whoever it is, he's not identifying himself. I look out the peephole, but the lightbulb's burnt out on our outside light so that I can't see very well. All I see is a man in a shirt that I know isn't Jason's work shirt, and a pair of shorts. He backs up from the door, looks at it for a moment, then walks away. I don't hear a knock on either neighboring door.
Jason comes home 20 minutes later.
This whole thing creeps me out. It could've been totally innocent - someone who had the wrong apartment number. It could've been one of our friends, although if it was, I'm kicking his ass for scaring the shit out of me. But it might've been neither, in which case, who knows what would've happened had I opened that door. Being home alone on a Friday night and having that happen really scared me. Not like I'm not afraid of the dark enough already, and now this. I'm hoping it was a friend for me to get mad at, for me to feel foolish about, and with any luck that will be the case. But if not, I'll most likely never know what the situation was, why some man was knocking on my door after dark and wouldn't tell me who he was. I won't be sleeping well tonight.
posted by Maranie on 7/13/2002 12:57:00 AM
Friday, July 12, 2002
Bah. Damn me and my lack of HTML knowledge.I was kvetching to Kopi last night how my blog background disappears and reappears with no warning. I've been wanting to change it anyway - I mean, c'mon, I'm on Weight Watchers and it looks like little cinnamon rolls, for crying out loud! So Kopi sends me this really great website, with a rainbow of colors and the codes that go with them.
But now, I fear that I shan't be able to redo the background without fucking up the entire page. Or that should I fuck it up, that I won't be able to paste back in the original code and get it to work right.
Bugger my internet ignorance! Bugger it all to hell! :-P
posted by Maranie on 7/12/2002 12:20:00 PM
Thursday, July 11, 2002
*grin*I love it when Jason doesn't check out my blog for a while, then goes back and leaves lots of comments. A simple pleasure that never fails to make me smile.
Thank you, dear. :-)
posted by Maranie on 7/11/2002 12:20:00 PM
Dammit, am I exhausted. I was up WAY too late last night. But it was for good reason: I had a very good conversation with my husband last night, about a lot of things. It cleared up some things for the both of us. But it wasn't even one of those deep, serious, state-of-the-relationship type discussions, either. It was just a good talk, which I've found you can have with very few people. Either you're not listening, or they're not. I cherish a good talk like that, and while I'm wishing I would've gotten more sleep, I can't say I'd change a thing. :-)
posted by Maranie on 7/11/2002 12:13:00 PM
Lucky Canadians.
posted by Maranie on 7/11/2002 12:09:00 PM
I was watching Golden Girls earlier when I was hit with the strangest thought:
I wished I was old.
I wanted to be their age. I wanted to have this wealth of experience and, hopefully, the knowledge that comes with it. I wanted to not worry about the small things, because I could look back and realize how much I've already survived. I wanted to remember all these great times in the past, to look back fondly on so many things over so many years.
I told Jason this. And his words? "This is the first time you've thought this, isn't it?"
He wants to be young again. I don't. I can move forward but abhor the thought of moving BACK. He talked about just being in better shape, having a younger body and less resposibilities, but the same knowledge and experience he has now. And I said, "OK, so you wake up in college tomorrow. You're 21 again. And you'd have nothing to talk about with your peers, and you'd just end up hanging out with people who are our age now."
Of course, I'm sure my imagined older self has no health problems, has no wrinkles, and can get around with the ease that I do now. She listens to cool music and drives too fast, yet with great accuracy, on 315. *sigh* Better to be happy with the present, rather than to long for the past or only look toward a future no one can predict.
posted by Maranie on 7/11/2002 12:03:00 AM
Wednesday, July 10, 2002
Y'know, I've never seen the play Rent. But I know people who have, and they loved it. So I have a feeling this will piss them off to no end, although on the bright side, perhaps this will encourage some teenage girls to start listening to something other than pure crap.posted by Maranie on 7/10/2002 12:27:00 PM
And the nostaglia train keeps on rollin'.
I got hit by another blast from the past yesterday from the radio on the way home from work. Flashback to spring 1997: I've just broken off my engagement with Jay, just gotten out of the hospital, and I'm getting ready to move to California and start all over again.
The most popular song at the time? "Sunny Came Home" by Shawn Colvin.
You have to just love it when Fate steps in and provides a soundtrack to your life.
posted by Maranie on 7/10/2002 12:25:00 PM
Tuesday, July 09, 2002
So I'm drinking my SlimFast this morning and I turn on VH1. The video to "Ray of Light" by Madonna comes on, and I instantly am watching it on a console TV in my apartment in California. That song was a big hit just before I moved back East, and it (among so many others) reminds me of California - the sights, the smells, the FEEL of the place.I've gotten to the point where I do not believe I was there. I look at the pictures, even watch a video or two, but cannot reconcile that the person in them is ME. It was such a different world, to the point where I don't believe I was on Earth during that time. I was in a state of suspended reality for a year and a half. Is it any surprise that I long so much to return there now?
posted by Maranie on 7/09/2002 05:35:00 PM
Monday, July 08, 2002
They rejected the offer.We're putting in another offer, our highest we can go. And if they don't like it, well, they don't like it. I have a feeling, though, that what looks like a crappy offer today will look like a great opportunity here in a few weeks, as the house STILL doesn't have any other offers on it, it's been on the market for a month, the owners have already moved 99% of their items to Cleveland, and the only other person who's expressed an interest in it has to sell her own home before she can entertain the idea of moving into this one.
And if not? Piss on 'em.
posted by Maranie on 7/08/2002 05:05:00 PM
Jason and I did something last night for the first time:
We put in an offer for a house.
We just went driving around yesterday, looking for open houses in Clintonville. We stopped at a 4 bedroom home, thinking it would probably be too much but deciding it would at least give us a feel for the prices in that neighborhood.
Oh, my.
It needs some fixing up, mostly painting, and the kitchen's functional but absolute shite. But it's an old house, built in 1926. It has all hardwood floors, a basement, and a clawfoot tub. It's in a lovely neighborhood, close to 315, Kroger's, and an elementary school. It has built-in bookcases. And according to the real estate agent showing it, the reason it hasn't sold is that people are put off by all the levels. It has 5 different levels - the basement, the "bonus room" and bath, the kitchen/dining/living room, an extra bedroom off the landing on the stairs, and the last 3 bedrooms and the main bathroom. It's quirky. It's unusual. The reason everyone else hates it is the reason we adore it.
So we look around this house for over an hour, drive right home, and call our real estate agent. We're waiting to hear back from him. We're offering WAY below what they're asking, but it's because the home needs so much work. I mean, every wall in the place needs painted. The kitchen, as mentioned, is absolute shite. There's no garage or driveway. So we made an offer and will hear back by tonight on whether or not it's been accepted, rejected, or counter-offered.
I hate getting my hopes up too much. But I'm really loving this place, can see myself and Jason and our future children living there. We can picture Pita running around all those stairs. We have a really good feeling about it, and I will admit that if we don't get it, I'm going to be really disappointed.
But hey, we made our first offer on a house. Another step in the moving forward and growing up that terrified me until just recently. I'm so excited. Wish us luck.
posted by Maranie on 7/08/2002 12:34:00 PM
Sunday, July 07, 2002
What a wonderful night.Went to Spagheddies with Jason for dinner. Had a lovely dinner and talked quite a bit. Then we saw Men in Black II at the Lennox. Eh. It's pretty much what you'd expect, and most of the funniest stuff has already been shown a thousand times on the TV trailers. The Michael Jackson cameo was the only "surprise", and it drew the biggest laughs. But Jason and I both wanted to check it out, and for some silly reason, I really like seeing movies the first weekend they come out. I think it's so I don't hear about them from everyone else who's already seen them. And at The Lennox, the newest movies are usually in one of the four biggest theaters, which I always dig.
Now we're winding down for the night, and Spaceballs is playing on Superstation. Yup, this has been a very wonderful evening. I can't imagine how it could've been any better. :-)
posted by Maranie on 7/07/2002 01:09:00 AM