On the Homefront

So, I've been "taking time off from work" the longest time now, since I joined the real workforce. It was nice the first month, the second month was kind of hectic, the third I started to get ansty, now I just feel like a big loser. Thankfully, I've had the food blog for a few years, so the $1.00 in ad revenues I get from foodbuzz really helps! So make sure you go to the foodblog and click on the ads often.

Seriously, I love working, but right now I don't miss it so much as the occupation of time and interacting with human beings. My companionship when the FP goes to work is The Fuzz, Stinksy and Pete. The cats mostly just sleep all day. At least they sleep on the futon so that they are in the same room as me. Pete just swims around in his little tank. He also takes naps too in his shell. I did feel like he was lonely, since he always swam up and down in a zig zag fashion whenever I walked into the bedroom. With the cats not really taking naps in the bed anymore, I thought I would move Pete into the other room with us. The only viable space is on the dining room table against the wall. He's not in the middle of all the action, but it's better than nothing, right. I think he's happier, except this morning Stinky finally noticed that Pete had been moved. He pawed at Pete on the glass (plastic) and then he was messing with the lid too. Pete got scared and hid in his shell for a couple hours. He's out now, lazily swimming around, so I guess he recovered.

I don't know if Pete realizes how lucky he is, he gets to swim around all day, and how cool would it be to sleep in a seashell? Plus, he doesn't have to shower. I mean, I don't have a problem with showering, but if I primarily leave the house to go to the grocery store, why do I need to shower, right? I mean a lot of people who go to the store are way waaaay stinkier than me. The only thing that is annoying is that it's pretty warm out, so now that I've been on this exercise kick, I get sweaty every day. I don't like hanging around all sweaty, so I've been showering daily. Before the exercise, I was averaging 3 days without showering. I think the longest I went without was 5, but I may or may not have gone swimming in a pool or ocean once during that time, so there was a possible flushing with water.

Anyway, instead of being repulsed by me, you should applaud me, commend me, and follow by example. We are in tough times now, and conservation is important. So, I like to take long showers, really scrub out all the crevices. So less showers curbs a lot of water usage in the household. I also make sure I use old water sitting in an old glass to water the 3 sad little plants I have. I suppose I should invest in a few more plants. With the carbon load that we put out, we can't neutralize our very large carbon bigfoot prints, but it would spruce up the landing area.

We technically live in a condo, but we rent. So, in the past we had been spoiled by the maintenance around here. All the trash cans were put on the street for every trash day and put back right away. The common areas were cleaned a couple times a week and the plants (succulents that take less water) watered as needed. And the whole property was cleaned with a leaf blower ever Tuesday around 11:30 pm. This used to annoy us, because we were always eating. But, times have changed, expenses have gone up, and now, no more annoying leaf blower. When the FP gets home and we have a beer outside, I talk about how I'm going to sweep the "porch" the next day. I never do. I'm not going to complain about the lack of maintenance. The exterior generally still looks nice enough. I'd rather not get my landing blown then have to have my rent raised to pay for it. I mean, we've been here for 3 years now, and our rent has not been raised once. How did we get so lucky? Oh yeah, my husband is the landlady's boyfriend.

Don't get me wrong, there's some cracks in the concrete and the walls that weren't there before, holes in the walls, like termite holes, and in the wood beams, nails that stick out. But, generally, it's an okay apartment. We used to move a lot before we moved to San Diego. We lived in houses - big ones, or a loft, or an uncool apartment complex in Metry that had a swimming pool. But, we've learned to live with way less shit, and neither of us are housekeepers, so less shit, less room for shit, less cleaning.

Another thing that I love about this complex, is that we are some of the more boring residents. The original maintenance man used to live in the front unit next to us. He was a big loud and boisterous Mexican who talked a lot. But he was nice, and he fixed shit. One day he was with some younger woman and a little girl. He said, look, I married this girl! We just got married! So we said congrats. This lady and her daughter didn't always seem to stay there though, so who knows.

Anyway, one day there was a big sting operation with swat team, police, maybe the FBI and INS. Well, let's just say they were all there, DEA too. There were like 9 cars. And they took the maintenance guy away. The busybody old lady who lives at the very back of the property in condo #1 said that she thought the landlady (FP's girl) framed him. I highly doubt that, because he was a shady guy. He was using the landlady's white station wagon to haul stuff, so he would keep it overnight. It was all banged up. The trunk was smashed in at one point, and after a couple weeks it appeared in the lot with a red door on it, good as new. He had a couple shady compadres who would be appearing at the door all hours of the day and night. Sometimes late at night there would be someone banging on his door. So it was either him trying to get in because he lost his keys, or maybe someone wanting to engage in some kind of legal activity. He definitely seemed like he could be doing crack or meth. We often would be behind him at the corner grocery store at 9 or 10 am. He would be buying a pint of whiskey, you know, an eye opener.

I think I already discussed the current residents in that unit - the other guy who got hauled away in a police car, but that was only one car.

The lady who lives in #1 one day had some guy in a suit knocking on her door. He asked me if she was home or if I see her. I told him I see her come and go a lot. The guy left, and I saw her walking up. I told her some guy knocked on her door, and she got all suspicious. Who? Why, what did he want? I don't want some guy knocking on my door.

The guy that lived in the first unit on the other side got foreclosed on. This was a long time coming, because before we moved in, I googled the property. His condo was listed, but it seemed like in was sold. Apparently, that sale must have fallen through. He's a nice guy, he had this religious roommate. One day the roommate asked the FP if he had a few minutes to help him move something. The FP said sure, and next thing he knew he was helping the guy move this basketball hoop into his car. He had set it up at the end of the road. Our building is the last on the street, and then there's a fence and then the 94. So, the guy was bringing the hoop to his church.

Anyway, lots of people would knock on these guys' door and tape notices and envelopes on the door. Finally, one day, they had to move out. The foreclosure sign went up in the window. Luckily, the owner's brother owns the condo below him, so he moved in. But, the brother seemed to get notices and visits too, although not as often. They never seemed to have had regular jobs. I know the brother downstairs said something about them going into business together - import export or entrepreneurship or some sketchy generic thing like that. A week ago, two big muscular eastern european guys were knocking on the brothers' door loudly. They asked the FP if he knew them and if they were home. He said he didn't know, that he saw them come and go. The big dudes waited for 30 minutes before they left. The brothers' cars were there, so they were huddled inside. I guess the dudes didn't know which cars were there. Now the brothers pretty much stay home all day, and then they sneak out at night for a while.

The kids below us are college age. They would have friends over starting at around 9 on weekdays, maybe earlier on weekends. They would blast the techno music and party. They smoke cigarettes, so a few would stand outside and have a loud chat. Or they would laugh and party and joke with each other very loudly inside. Around 11pm, the place would go silent. And then around 1:30 or 2, the music would be pumping again, getting louder and louder. The cigarette smoking would increase, the conversation would get louder, more shrill, more voices. There would never be parking on the street. And they would party til 4 or 6 am.

One night, the music was the loudest it had ever been. Then all of a sudden silence. So, I don't know if a neighbor complained or called the cops. But now, they don't ever blare music and there are way less kids that hang out there. So, I don't know if they got a notice from the HOA, but it's nice. I never thought I would become one of those old people who hate those crazy kids making noise. I mean, I didn't care too much about their noise, because the acoustics from one unit to another are much quieter here than other places. But, every once in a while when I was already predisposed to insomnia but trying to sleep, they were annoying.

The people who live directly behind us are relatively quiet, except for the fact that they will play this driving game for hours in the afternoon, and it's really loud. The first couple times I heard this, I had no idea what it was. It was this hum, like on the freeway, but constant and close. One day it was pretty damn loud, so I walked outside to try to find the source. I could see the video game on the TV through the security gate. Once I knew what it was, it didn't bug me as much.

The women who live across from the foreclosure brothers are nice enough, but their dog is horrible. He's like a cocker spaniel or some kind of spaniel, and he's ugly and he barks all the time. Whenever someone walks by, he barks at the door and scratches and pushes against the door with all his might like he needs to get out. When they take him for a walk, he pulls at the lease and barks at anyone who walks by.

The guy that lives in the front who was arrested, him and his wife have two little poodlelike dogs. They look out the window and bark at everyone walking by. When they are taken for a walk, same as the spaniel, tug at the lease, trying to get free to attack. One time we were walking into the complex and the dogs were about 15 feet away. They started barking and ran as close as their leases would let them. Then one dog's lease snapped and he was free. He stopped for a split second when it snapped. Then he realized he was free and he went after the FP. He ran up to him and grabbed his pantleg and shook. The guy got the dog and put him back on his lease and apologized profusely, but I think we were just laughing. That little guy was a menace, but he was just shaking the pantleg. He might have broken through to the skin, but not a big deal.

Anyway, that's the exciting story of where we live.