Holes In Thoughts

Friday, January 18, 2008

A Clean House

Rachel and I didn't get a chance to go to the Phoenix Suns game today, but strangely I'm glad it didn't happen, because we got a chance to do nothing but clean the place the whole day. We didn't even finish, but we did a lot of the little things that had only been kind-of put away. She sorted out her ribbons with a neat way of hanging them on the wall, and I tied up the wires to the little bedside stereo to be a little less messy, allowing me to have a real place to put my wallet and phone charger at night.

Little things like that are why I always have said that it takes a solid year to really move into a new place. Unfortunately, I've paid rent in 11 places in the last 10 years for a variety of reasons:

1. 1998: Moved from home to Cochise dorm. Lived in the funny-smelling place with Eric, and proceeded to do terribly in school. I'm still convinced that my aversion to the lead-tasting water lead to dehydration through the entire year. Moved because I was kicked out of UA for bad grades.
2. 1999: Moved to my first apartment over the summer, and Joe moved in as roommate. It was so very tiny, but he just had a few bags and I didn't have a lot, either. We moved to have our own rooms.
3. 2000: Moved a 2-bedroom place with horrible furniture and a landlady that smoked approximately twenty billion cigarettes. Moved because the landlady was scary.
4. 2001: Moved into a nice 2-bedroom place with a backyard with Joe. Bought my own furniture for the first time, and had one of the better years I've ever had. Tension over my leaving to Japan and not being able to pay rent for summer forced Joe and I to get separate places.
5. 2002: Moved into a small, 1-bedroom place run by a completely neurotic Indian man. Met Rachel that year, who moved in just to avoid my Ex, who was her roommate. Tough times, but made better with Rachel. Moved because the landlord (seriously) wanted to evict us for trimming the bushes that prevented us from getting in the front door.
6. 2003: Joined Rachel in a big house with Sean and Gayle. We were all broke, all the time, but we threw some good parties and had an awesome place. Moved because Rachel and I were getting married.
7. 2004: Lived in a somewhat dilapidated guest house, which was nice except that the landlords were going through a loud, messy divorce, and their favorite place to argue was our front yard. Moved for that reason.
8. 2005: Found a nice duplex in an apartment complex that was nicer than the not-great neighborhood it was in. Had the luxury of sharing the duplex with AZ & Tasha, but were next door neighbors to crack dealers with small children. Moved out of fear.
9. 2006 (1): Lived with Mom while teaching in Phoenix, but that didn't work out and we had to move for two months into a tiny duplex just south of the UA. Only had it during the summer before the new tenants moved in for the school year, but it was a godsend because we were destitute.
10. 2006 (2): After that, we were miraculously making better money and moved into a nice second-floor apartment very close to Rachel's work. Had a very cranky downstairs neighbor, who didn't appreciate our construction projects. Resolved to get a place without stairs and with a carport.
11. 2007: Found a great little duplex that we currently have. It was dirty and had next to no heating, and an absentee landlord, but it feels very much like a home. And now, it's fairly organized, as well! I am fervently hoping that we don't have a reason to move out next summer.

Labels: apartments, house, landlord, To-Do

posted by Steve @ 11:28 PM 0 comments

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Endings and Beginnings

I had a lovely 27th birthday party, and have come to understand that my favorite kind of get-together/party involves about 3-10 of my friends. I'll have to remember that when we have our housewarming party in about 3 weeks.

A beginning: our time here in this apartment is coming to an end, and we're doing it the right way: giving ourselves a week and a half to move. The new place is a duplex with covered parking right outside the door, and enough room for a basketball hoop and a garden in the back yard. It also has laundry machines, thank God.

An end: I picked up the seventh and final Harry Potter book at midnight on my birthday. I didn't go to sleep - I stayed up until about 10am reading, slept for four hours, and woke up to finish the book. I'm still recovering, a bit, but my impression is favorable. Before judging it properly, though, I'm going to re-read the entire series once we've moved (the other books are packed up already).

A beginning: I bought an expensive PDA/phone, the Treo 755p. It replaces my old phone, a Sanyo SCO-7200, which I will honestly miss (still have to donate it to a recycling service). It was a beast, and survived more falls than I care to think about. I'll have to be much more careful with my new phone. The idea with the new phone is that I will be able to keep myself organized, and also have directions on me while traveling (it has Google maps).

An end: we're not slackin' anymore, and finally starting to keep proper records. We're going to take an inventory of everything we have for our insurance. Believe me, it's amazing how much stuff one has, especially all the ancillary stuff. Imagine how much it would cost to replace just the stuff you use in the bathroom (razors, shampoo, scrubber, toothbrush, toothpaste, etc.). This also involves keeping track of important receipts and warranties.

A beginning: I'm about halfway through organizing my photo archive. Once I'm finished, I'll be posting them onto various stock photo websites and hopefully I'll make a couple bucks here and there.

An ending: the process of getting the truck all fixed up is basically over, now that it's re-wired, if Saguaro Auto gets the thing to pass emissions (we'll find out tomorrow). At this point, we've pretty much redone everything. Of course, there's a lot of glaring problems: the passenger door doesn't lock, the dash is completely torn apart, and it needs to have the rust blasted out of the bed. But these things don't have any effect on how it runs, and that makes me very happy. Or it will, if it passes emissions...

A beginning: Rachel and I now have full insurance (dental, visual, medical) and an active 401k from Bookman's. It's the first time I've had that since I was a military dependent, and even then, because I had no car, I never took advantage of it because I couldn't get clear across town. I'll be getting a physical soon, and go to the first dental appointment I've had in ages.

Labels: apartments, birthday, friends, Harry Potter, insurance, moving, party, photography, slacking, Treo, truck

posted by Steve @ 11:26 PM 0 comments

Monday, July 02, 2007

Prescott for the 4th

Yay! Rachel and I are going to Prescott for the 4th of July. We'll eat great food, see the in-laws, help build their new house, and rewire the truck. It's going to be great to see them and get so much done. I know that a working vacation is just what I need.

Meantime, I'm going out in a bit to check out where our next place is. I'm sad that we're moving, not because I'm particularly attached to this place, but because I've yet to live in the same place for more than roughly a year since I moved out to college - in 1998. That means this will be my 12th place in 10 years, including Okinawa.

Still, we've got enough money to be able to rent both places for a week or two, and so will be able to catalogue every last thing we own (!), partly to get rid of things we don't want or need, partly because getting rid of things will make the move easier, and also for home insurance purposes.

Oh, and this time, I have a nice camera to bring!

Labels: apartments, family, holidays, in-laws, moving, Okinawa, Rachel, truck, vacation

posted by Steve @ 2:00 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Exciting Event no. 13: Unofficial confirmation/Houses

I talked to my boss yesterday about, well, how I screwed up some things and did well in another.

I've been a bit stressed about something lately, and I brought it up: what's the other Art teacher position that they've been thinking about (i.e., who's that skank who said, "oh, I might be working as the Art teacher next year" - no, that's not what I said but what I thought)? And this person said that with myself and another teacher in the lunch room and the other teacher said that I looked like someone just walked over my grave.

You can't blame me for gettin' my hair up about it: this is my first stable job with any benefits, I like my job, and I make three times my previous high rate of income.

Turns out that they'll just have two teachers - and since she has 17 years' experience in this field and at this grade level, she'll be top of the program, which is fine with me as long as I'm employed full-time doing what I like to do: teach.

Also seems that there may be a Digital Art class next year that I would be teaching, if they can get the hardware (read: computers) for it.

Finally, I'm designing a house - actually it's not that simple, let me back up.

I assigned every one of my students (~200) the same thing: construct a cool house on an 8.5" x 11" piece of paper, so that it will hang sideways along with everyone elses' houses, and the more creative the better. I've had a pretty dizzying variety - shacks, caves, UFO's, mushrooms, etc., etc..

But my 8th graders have been so wonderful lately that they need little to no instruction - leaving me a bit bored, or cleaning, or grading. So I'm using that time to make a house of my own, in my own assignment. Of course, I built a sort of 'dream home' for Rachel and myself (we have conversations about this kinda thing from time to time).

Of course there's a risk in this: I need to prove to my kids that I'm really good - that I'm worth listening to as a teacher. So hopefully this doesn't blow up in my face. I doubt it, though. I'm enjoying myself genuinely and my artwork has universally been great when I do and put time into it.

EDIT: It's kinda sad looking back on this.

Currently reading :
The Sandman Vol. 7: Brief Lives
By Neil Gaiman

Labels: apartments, BASIS, house, school, teaching, work

posted by Steve @ 10:35 PM 0 comments

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Name: Steve
Home: Tucson, Arizona, United States
About Me: I like to think about things, and I occasionally like to write what I think.
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