Y10 D158

While my classes themselves weren't too bad yesterday, I had a long rough day. I left here around 5am and didn't get home until 6pm. I have said it before and while I may sound like a broken record, I honestly don't know how people do commutes like this every day. It would take a significant pay increase for someone to convince me to drive into an office each day and deal with the traffic back home before I could ever do it. I would go nuts so quick. This is why I stay where I am because it is better for my sanity. I also had a huge influx of emails and other stuff coming down the pipe while I was trying to teach which made it rough. Last minute closing documents, my boss wanting things for the recordings I did, setting up a new project for right after we move, etc. It was just a lot to process and deal with while at the same time trying to train 30 people. One nice thing is that it looks like my 'friends' in Chattanooga want me back before the end of the year. Plus since they requested me directly, I should get the 4% commission we are now offering to non-sales people who bring in business. It won't be a lot but it will help to knock down my debt a little and that's all that matters. I should also make up the last remaining nights I need to keep my status at Hilton for another year. I am going to miss the mark on American, but I will deal with it. It sucks but it is what it is.

Stopped and got a pizza on the way home since these guys aren't feeding me and I need lunch. I was shaky yesterday afternoon since I only had 20 minutes between classes and didn't have time for anything. That sucked. But today I have food to bring thank goodness.

I was so tired when I got home I didn't do much of anything. Vegged out in front of the TV for a while and went to bed. I did get the motorcycle pickup mostly arranged. Should happen sometime this weekend. One more thing I don't have to worry about.

Okay, two more days of this then the big day on Friday.

Y10 D157

It started raining yesterday really heavy. I could hear it outside the window. THEN all of a sudden it turned into hail! It was actually kind of cool. Just loud pellets hitting the ground and cars outside. This is why I keep my car in the garage thank you very much.

Three more days until close. I'm kind of glad I am going to be onsite the next three days. Distract me from things. I wish I didn't have to drive in traffic but it is what it is. I did have an interesting exchange though yesterday.

Old friend of mine from years back did this thing on Kickstarter. I backed it because it was cool and because of our relationship. I reached out to him yesterday to see when he was planning on shipping because I wanted to give him the new address. We shared a few emails and it turns out he is CEO of this analytics company. I am now on Friday talking to his CTO and head of product to discuss some of the challenges they are facing. They are also building out a center of excellence in, you guessed it, MI. He was talking about how he could possibly use my help in getting that setup. I don't think I would want to switch jobs, but if I could do some side work for him and make a little extra scratch, I am not complaining. Funny how small this business is and how a simple email can lead to things. Nothing may come of it, but who knows. Like I say, even just a few thousand in side money would help right now. Especially since it looks like it will run me $500 to get the bike shipped. Ugh. But that's cheaper than what the movers want. And it will be done. Get it picked up this weekend and be good to go.

Turned in our 30 day notice yesterday too. I told them it wasn't valid until Thursday but since I wasn't going to be home, I was dropping it off early. They are going to try and work with me on the lease break fee. We'll see what happens on that.

Made pesto shrimp for dinner. Some nice angel hair. Still trying to eat through everything in that fridge. I am doing my best dammit.

So close now to being on the road.

Y10 D156

I ended up working until almost 9am yesterday. I had so much trouble getting files to convert. Sometimes you get what you pay for in terms of software. A real piece of software for the work I am doing is $300+. I am using a $40 piece of chinese software. It works, but. I had one video it would just not convert and finalize. It would spend 40-50 minutes, get to 98% and die. I tried re-recording, I tried rebooting, nope. I think it was the size and it was running out of memory or just bad memory allocation, but either way, I was getting so pissed off. I FINALLY got it to convert and uploaded but that took my whole damn morning. Remember, I was up around 2. So that was a good chunk of things.

I did treat myself to a filet o' fish from McD's though. My big excitement. Then I spent the rest of the day puttering around not doing much of anything. Played some video games, cleaned a bit. Had leftovers for dinner.

This is my last day of peace; next three days I am onsite, then close, then my final weekend alone, then off on a trip. I get home and we have to finalize everything before the movers arrive, then three days of driving, then and then and then. I will relax again come Thanksgiving. So get prepared for shorter posts or longer depending. I am anticipating shorter though. Too much going on and I will get overwhelmed.

Today the kid has an appointment with a therapist to work through her issues with she who shall not be named. I wish her much luck on that.

B is sick and she needs to rest so she can be ready for Friday. Four days people. Four days. I am like wow. I know when we arrive I will be just in shock and will need some time to wander around and cry. Me and the cats.

It's going to be an adventure my dear readers. Strap in tight for this one.

Y10 D155

Okay, I managed to get up when I wanted to this time. I should be able to start recording no later than 3:30 which will give me 3 hours or so before noise starts. Maybe longer because it is Sunday. I have six demos left to record. Wish me luck.

Even though I got up late yesterday I managed to get some stuff done. I packed about 8 boxes and took care of much of the little stuff that was still hanging over my head. I did the pantry, the rest of my clothing, the drawers in my desks, the coffee table drawers, etc. All the stuff I have been staring at but not thinking about. That took me the majority of the day.

I treated myself to a nice dinner last night. I went to one of those places I have stared at for the last three years saying "I need to go there someday". Yesterday was some day. I had Puerto Rican food last night and it was awesome. I had this thing called mofongo. Plantains and other starchy roots all mashed together and mixed with peppers, onions, and skirt steak. Muy bueno. It was nice to get out of the house too. I am actually looking forward to this week because I will get out of the house. Part of me is not looking forward to driving, but I get to be around people and move around. That will be nice.

Today is our 4th anniversary and unfortunately we're spending it apart. I didn't send anything because I didn't know what to send. When B gets home we will go have a nice dinner or something. I mean we get a house for this anniversary so um, yeah, not bad. That's our Christmas gift too. We are five days from closing. Holy heck. This is going to be a nerve wracking week.

Y10 D154

I am up later than I wanted to be. I went to bed around 2 last night after getting extremely frustrated with the software I am using to do my video stuff. It keeps quitting on me at 95% of converting one of the files. One of which took me forever to record. I rebooted, I exited out of everything, nothing. I am probably going to have to re-record it which is pissing me off. I have like 7 demos left to record before Monday. This is going to be a fucked up weekend I can already tell. And now next week I need to be onsite three days at a local client. There goes my whole fucking week. The only good thing from last night was we booked B's flight home. She will be coming home Tuesday 11/6. Too bad I will have left on the 5th. We won't see each other until the 9th. Fun times.

I did a webinar yesterday which went well I think. I was afraid it was going to be too short and it ended up going 2 minutes over. I heard that my attentiveness numbers were the highest for any webinar we have done so far. Cool. I'll take that.

I did also manage to sell the treadmill last night. There's 117 lbs gone from moving. That helps too. I have to go to FedEx this morning and pick up the manuals for next week. I need to pack boxes. I need to finish these demos. Fuck. I feel overwhelmed already. This is what happens when I sleep longer than I'd like. Fucking stupid sleep.

Y10 D153

Didn't got to bed until after 2am. Tried to do some work. Worked from 9 until I got frustrated because the stupid application I use to do recordings kept locking up and quitting unexpectedly. I had to shut everything down to get it to work. I did manage to get all of the slide audio recorded in the morning, just need to finish the demos. The demos are harder because the average length is 4-5 minutes versus 30 seconds or so on the slides. It's more of challenge making sure it's quiet for the whole thing. I am going to try some this morning but we will see if that works or not. I have 6 more modules to get done before Monday morning. Sigh.

That was my day. It was dark and gloomy here all day and between late nights, weird hours, and no formal classes, I struggled with knowing what time it was all day yesterday.

We are one week from closing. One thing that struck me odd yesterday as we arranged time and place, that they were trying to coordinate with the seller. When I did my other closings, the seller was nowhere around. It's odd to me that we would have to be there the same time as the seller. I wouldn't want to meet them because, well, I just undercut you and don't want to see your sad face. Sorry.

Kid drama still continuing. She has made an appointment with a therapist for Monday to work through some things. Good for her! I also told her to block her mother if she doesn't stop sending BS texts at 12:30 in the morning. She keeps sending the kid links about "how to discover a closet narcissist.". Bitch, look in the mirror.

Ugh. I am frazzled. Got to get it together. Have a webinar at 11, then working on recordings. Let's do this.

Y10 D152

The drama came to a head yesterday. It got so bad at one point the kid was considering blocking her mother's number. I put my foot down and made it clear in so uncertain terms that I wanted nothing to do with any of this. That there was no immediate threat or danger to the kid and therefore anything that was going on was between X1 and KBF and none of my damn business. Took me repeating that multiple times before it sunk in and she finally left me alone. Hopefully that's the last of that.

I also had to deal with my Spotify account being hacked. Yeah, fun times. Someone managed to hijack my account and was the reason my account got changed. I could tell because all of the recently played was some K-Pop bullshit. After much back and forth and them having to cancel my account, I think I have it squared away. I lost a ton of playlists and stuff I set up which pisses me off. How'd they do it? Who knows. Spotify seems to be clueless on how it happened too. They have an entire section in their FAQ on it so it seems to be something that happens regularly. That doesn't do much trust level any good.

I didn't get as much done yesterday as I hoped so I am going to have to work around noise today and get it finished. I don't have a choice. I am running out of time and can't seem to get a good night's work in either. I need B here to help me. I keep sleeping through alarms. Plus it doesn't help that I just don't care about this shit.

Got chicken for dinner last night. KFC chicken. I wanted leftovers and they hit the spot when it comes to that.

Slept on the couch and my back is killing me and I have a splitting headache. I was supposed to only sleep for a couple of hours. Yeah, that didn't work out. Now I am screwed.

Y10 D151

I was supposed to be up earlier than this but a certain someone wouldn't stop texting me even after I told them I was in bed already. Yes, the drama continues. Now X1 has it in her head that I need to speak to KBF to find out if he is 'evil' or not. She keeps going on about red flags. Sigh. I have met the kid. He's a doofus and a bit stubborn and a bit dense but he's not an abuser. I don't know what she thinks she is seeing but she needs to calm the fuck down.

In other news, I got the email saying my loan is now approved to close! YAY! All they have to do is meet with the title folks to confirm that 11/2 works for the title company and we are good to go for next friday. A little over one week and we will have the keys. B is planning on making a spare so her dad can go by and check on things until we get there. I worry because it will be sitting for two weeks. On the 3rd I need to start calling folks to set up utilities and the like. I need to know who to call, etc. I am still waiting for that information back from the realtor. Now that things are almost done, the realtor has pretty much vanished. Not that that surprises me to be honest. It's expected.

I taught a good group yesterday. One of the best this year. Ever since the Disney debacle, I have been trying to be extra professional and seemed to have no problems with the group yesterday. That was good.

Got tired of eating in and had mexican food last night. My big reward to myself. $17 wooo.

Reached out to one of the movers yesterday because I was worried about his quote. Turns out my intuition was right. He missed an entire page of inventory. He came back with a quote almost $900 higher. Fuck me. But he's still the cheapest at $6700. So I guess he's the one we're going with at this point. Need to finalize that today.

Going to try and work around noise today and get all the slide audio tracks laid down. Wish me luck on that.

Y10 D150

Oh the fucking drama. So here's what happened:

The kid moved on Sunday. She was supposed to move the weekend before but they discovered a cat smell when they were finalizing the apartment and the complex asked her to wait a week while they had it cleaned again. No big deal it just pushed everything out a week. At the same time they had made plans to have some car repairs done this last weekend. So while it made things a little tight, they knew they could get everything done. That is until X1 decided to insert herself into the equation. First off, she shows up uninvited to 'help' them with the move and is already pissy that it won't happen around her schedule. She felt they should have rescheduled their car work. Mind you, the kid already had a schedule and knew how long things were going to take. X1 had to bitch and moan the whole time of how long it was taking. Kid BF was getting more and more pissed off as the day progressed because if he stayed the night, then he would have to be up and out by 5:30 to get to work on time. Long story short around 10:30 he'd had enough of X1 and basically told her to leave. She didn't like that. Not one bit. When she tried yelling and arguing with him, he wouldn't which just pissed her off more. She doesn't like it if you don't yell back. She then kept the poor kid in the parking lot for 40 minutes rambling on how he is being mentally abusive and she sees evil in his eyes. Yes, she went for the drama queen of the year award with 'evil in his eyes'. No fucking joke. She then had to rant on about her marriage and how she sees the same thing in KBF blah blah blah. All this caused the poor kid distraught and she ended up sleeping like shit. The only silver lining in all this is the kid saying to me "I'm glad I have you to talk with about these things". Suck it X1. You crazy narcissistic bitch. If ain't about you, then they must be evil. X1 never bothered to call me yesterday because they ended up having lunch and I think the kid told her she had already talked to me. I guess X1 assumed I would take her side. While I think KBF is a bit of an idiot, I certainly wouldn't call him abusive or evil. If something was going on, I feel confident the kid would tell me. I straight up asked her too. No, this is just a case of butthurt feelings from a crazy self centered bitch. Fun times.

In other news, we are nine days from closing. We have ONE last hurdle. They have to call in the next few days and verify I am still employed and that I haven't submitted a resignation or that the company plans to fire me. Sounds crazy right? But they recently had a guy who in the middle of the process decided to switch jobs and not tell anyone. They had to redo the whole process and ended up denying his loan. So as long as I still have a job in the next nine days, I will once more be a homeowner. Something I NEVER thought would happen again. Go back, read how I felt about this 6 or 7 years ago. It would have been a dream and nothing more. Now thanks to things, dreams are becoming real. I swear, when we get there I am going to bawl like a baby.

Had one more company come quote us for moving. They came back at $7700. This worries me a bit because the low ball has been $5900. Big difference. I want to give that guy one more chance to adjust his numbers because I don't want any issues when they drop stuff off. I don't want them holding my stuff hostage because the quote guy didn't do his job right.

Worked on recording stuff yesterday. Didn't get as much done as I wanted thanks to noise. I am going to work tonight to get more done. I have a 10-2 1/2 day class to get through today but that shouldn't be an issue. 15 students, quick and painless.

There it is. Life. The one you get. So have a ball.

Y10 D149

So I wake up to this from X1 at 2:23am:

Hey [my name], [the kid] settled in her new place tonight but her arrogant bf disrespected and blindsided me with some arrogant words. Staying in a motel .. tonight & driving home tmw. Need to talk with you about this situation. Need your imput [sic] and help bc it affects [the kid's] future. Please call as you can tmw. Thanks. She is safe but she is also hurt and I'm sick about the situation.

WTF? What did the little pimple do this time? Do I need to drive 10 hours and put a beating on someone? What the hell is going on? Yeah, this is going to be a long day.

I did very little yesterday but the one big thing I did took a weight off my back. I went to REI and looked at overhead things for the car. I have been stressing about how much will need to go in the car with us on this trip. Every time I turn around it feels like there is yet one more thing that is going to have to go with us and while the car has decent cargo space, it ain't that fucking big. So I went in and was trying to decide between a few but just couldn't visualize things. I asked them if they minded if I brought some boxes back. Which I did. I came back with a suitcase, a monitor box, and a computer box. Then I took two large backpacks off their shelves and proceeded to play tetris until I found the one I wanted. I ended up getting a Thule Force L. It was between the L and the XL but the difference in size wouldn't help me for $75. It was 2" wider on the outside and a couple of inches taller, but not in places where it would help us. We now can fit quite a bit over the car while we drive which is going to save us a lot in stress. Plus the one I got was a closeout as they are bringing out new models. I was able to get it for $438 down from $499. Any little bit helps. If everything goes right though, I am going to return it the minute we get to town. As long as it's not damaged, there's no reason they shouldn't take it back. I know that's messed up of me, but I really don't need it otherwise. I would rather have the money back.

That was my big adventure out of the house. I did some cleaning too but nothing major. Made tacos for dinner which I paid for around midnight when my bowels decided to evacuate everything. Fun times.

So yeah, I've had a rough start to the week so far.

Y10 D148

I pretty much did nothing yesterday and it was nice. I went out in the morning to buy some groceries for the week at like 6am and was back and done before 6:30. In three weeks since B has been gone, I have spent a total of $150 on groceries. Not too shabby. I think back to when I was living alone before and the money I wasted going out. Not that I spent that all on food. We all know my previous folly. It was the booze that killed me. $100 bar tabs. $200 bar tabs. Wasted money. Such a stupid thing I did. But you can't change the past only learn from it. Hey think of that as a reminder for all of you - GO VOTE. Our ballots came in the mail on Friday. B and I went over them and I filled them out yesterday. Hopefully she will be home before the due date and I can get hers in too. Mine will be going in today. Drive over and drop that sucker off.

I did do some box packing yesterday. I was getting frustrated by some things still being out. I took care of some of the art work that was still unboxed. Made a big difference in the clutter that was out. We truly are at the point where 90% of everything that is still unpacked is needed. There's maybe 10% that could get put away if I put my mind to it. So not bad. We have about 2 days of hard core packing left to do. I might go over to REI today and see about one of those overhead things. We're going to need one I am afraid. Our new car has space, but not that much space. We need two suitcases, 2 cats, the bed, and all the computer stuff in the car. Without an overhead bin thingie, it will be tight, too tight. I need to do some quick measuring of a couple of things first though. I need to make sure stuff will fit.

Made a BBQ chicken salad for dinner last night. Used up more stuff in the fridge and pantry. I even drank a bottle of sparkling cherry soda we have had since our last move. Glug glug, finish things up. That's my job.

Not much on the docket for today either. I need to go get some more bubble wrap and REI as I just said. Otherwise, not much else to do.

Y10 D147

Finally a day without any drama or issues. Bloody miracle is what it is. We did get a moving quote back that while higher than we wanted, is acceptable. Allied came back with $5800. I can handle that. That also includes $40,000 in insurance with a zero deductible. I did some more research into how much it would cost to do this on our own and this is about $1000 more. Is it worth a grand? Yes. I can't physically move this stuff by myself down three flights of stairs. We don't have any friends to help us load all of this. Some of it is just too heavy and clunky for us to try and move. Which means if we were to do it ourselves we would need:

- truck, duh ($2800)
- labor (3 guys @ $80 an hour for 4 hours = $960)
- gas across the country ($600 - $700, remember, car + truck)
- labor on the other end (3 guys @ $50 an hour for 3 hours = $450)
Total = $4910

So yeah, $1000 is worth me not having to do any of this shit on my own and break something or drop something or pull something. I have one more company coming for a quote on Monday but unless he wows me, Allied it is.

Taught my class and finished WAY early. Was able to take a nice nap. Made a chicken casserole for dinner that will give me a good 3-4 days worth of food. Lunches and dinners are now covered. I need a few fresh things at the store today, but not much.

Oh, here's a good one; my check was $40 less than normal. Why? Turns out in July OR instituted a Transit Tax that they were supposed to be taking out of each check for about $5.50. They missed all of 3rd quarter so they took it out in one shot. I got hit for basically four months at once. Lovely. Fucking gub'ment.

Played lego games last night. DC Villains. Is fun. I like. That's the big plan for today. I have to do a little light cleaning but otherwise, video gaming it is. B is headed to the lake this morning and won't be back until Monday. No drama coming from there.

I need a good quiet weekend.

Y10 D146

Once more I have the B drama to report. But this time it's not anything horrible, just her readjusting to people of the midwest. She decided she wants to cut her hair. Short. GASP! Why would a woman want to have short hair at HER AGE? Goodness gracious no! She went to her grandmother and mother's salon and as expected that was the reaction from the 50+ year old women working there. They just couldn't wrap their heads around it. Dearie me. If that were the end of it, it wouldn't be a big deal, but no there's more. Then they all proceeded to ask her when she's having babies. She was ready for this and was like never since my husband had a vasectomy. BLASPHEMY! "Oh you'll change your mind dearie, you just wait". She's like and what, I am supposed to dump my husband just to have babies? Go fuck yourself. Stupid midwest women. All they define themselves on is being mommas and the like. Then she had to hear it from her 'friend' how this is just the way midwest women are and she should just nod and smile. Nope. Ain't gonna happen. She is off to the cabin this weekend and will have 2.5 days away from everyone. She needs it. Heck, I need it.

Got the appraisal back yesterday. Came in lower than we expected but then we found out they did it to keep the taxes low. I am so used to house appraisals coming in much higher to compensate for bidding wars. So I am okay with it. In addition they called my boss to verify my employment and that I can work from MI. Done and done. We're not sure what's left to be honest. We want to close on the 2nd but the lender doesn't feel confident. Why not? What the hell is left for you to do? This is the part of the process I get annoyed with to be honest. We've jumped through all your hoops, let's be done with it. I don't expect to hear anything today from anyone. We should no more by Monday.

Taught my class. Almost killed my boss. I was supposed to only have two students but the first two who showed up weren't the two on my list. Turns out he forgot he spoke to two people directly and never entered them in the system. Not a big deal, I was just ready with servers for 2 not 4. Got it squared away and got through the day. Day two today and then I get to rest. I am not planning on doing shit the next two days. I need a break too.

Nothing else going on right now. I think that's enough for sure. It was fun looking through the pictures the appraiser took. Starting to imagine where things will go. And just how much shit we're going to have to buy. Oy.

Y10 D145

B almost killed her mother's boyfriend yesterday. He's lucky I wasn't there because I too would have probably gotten into with him. He is an idiot. I believe I mentioned how about a week ago they got a new kitten for the girls. Well, some households shouldn't be allowed to have animals, especially small ones that need more attention from the start. Apparently the cat got stuck behind the washing machine and instead of looking for him in the morning, they left and figured they'd find him when they got home. They did, but the poor thing had strained so hard to get out he dislocated his jaw, popped a blood vessel behind his eye, and dehydrated himself from screaming for help. And the fucker was like "he's fine". B lost her shit when she saw the kitten. She chewed her mom out so hard and made them take the cat to the vet. Poor cat needed stitches, antibiotics, and can only have soft food for like a month. Fucking idiots. Some people should not be allowed to have animals. Period. B told me last night that it's very likely we will end up with that cat when we move. I get it for sure.

Had two movers come to give me quotes yesterday. Just when I thought I couldn't get any more bad news. I was estimating $4500 - $5000 for this move and the quotes are coming in closer to $7000. Fuck me. I don't know where I am supposed to come up with that. We may end up having to u-haul this shit. Not desirable.

Worked on my presentation for next week and got it finished. That took the majority of my day. Made Joe's Special for dinner, played some video games, went to bed around 10.

I woke up this morning with the Full House theme in my head. What the fuck is that all about?

Y10 D144

Did yesterday's post leave some of you feeling uncomfortable? Ashamed? Embarrassed? Good. Then it did its job.

Taught my last minute class yesterday. It was an 8:30 - 4:30 one but luckily I finished earlier than that. Not much earlier. Close to 4. But since it was only two students it went smoothly enough and there were no real issues.

Also had the first moving person come over. They were extremely impressed by how organized we are and by our checklist. I sent over pictures of the checklist so they can provide an accurate estimate. Have two more coming today and will do the same thing.

Had leftover chicken for dinner. Was not as good reheated unfortunately due to the pineapple and some of the veggies got a little too soggy for me, but I ate it.

Had a rough time sleeping last night and am tired this morning as a result. I went to bed around 9:45 but lay there until almost 11. It was stupid hot and I couldn't get comfortable. It should be cold by now people. It was 83 at one point yesterday. Fuck that. This weekend should see a significant cool down with rain early next week. Good. Just what I want. Fuck heat.

B is struggling a little bit, but go figure. She is starting to realize that her 'friends' from back in the day are not necessarily people she needs in her life now as an adult. She has grown and some of them have not. She is recognizing bad behavior she would have in the past just ignored. But she is also taking a blow to her self esteem being out there. I think a lot of adults go through that when around too many older family members. You feel like a child instead of a peer and it causes stress because you start doubting everything. In that way I am fortunate. I don't have older other relatives to make me feel like I am not who I am. Plus when I get out there, I won't tolerate any bullshit which will help. Just counting down the days at this point. A couple of weeks to go. Haven't heard back on the appraisal yet and I think that's what everyone is waiting for right now. Hopefully today.

Today I have to finish up a webinar, start prepping for recordings, and I have two moving companies coming. Busy but not.

Y10 D143

Before we get into the mundane stuff, I want you all to read something. My sister publicly posted this yesterday and I am sharing it here with you as is unedited:

I am a victim of sexual assault!

I was RAPED and molested from the age of 5 until I was 12.

I am going public with my story because it’s time things changed, according national studies, one in nine girls and one in 53 boys under the age of 18 experience sexual abuse by the hands of an adult. That’s just the children!! That is unacceptable. My monster, was my great grandfather, He was 84 years old when prosecuted, the state of Washington, and CPS charged him with ONE count of indecent liberties towards a minor, though in the docs, it clearly states I told them it had been happening for years. He received community service, and a small fine. So in other words, I received no JUSTICE. I have stood silent for too long, we the victims, deserve some justice, we deserve to be heard! NO MORE LIES!! Stop listening to the people that say “this will tear our family apart” or the ones that say that “it doesn’t matter it’s in the past”. It’s not in the past, I and my family deal with the aftermath every single day! By staying silent, it perpetuates the crime, how many children have to go through what I did, before this stops? I’m begging each one of you, forward my story, share it with the world, WE have got to stop this kind of behavior.

Yeah. So the next time you think fucktard's making fun of sexual assault victims is funny, the next time you think it's okay to put rapists on the supreme court, the next time you want to 'make a joke', or tell someone to lighten up, remember my 5 year old sister being molested. Think of that five year old little girl  enduring the shame and the fear for SEVEN FUCKING YEARS of her life. Good job people. Good job at putting shit in control. Do me a favor and make things a little better by voting this November. Get the monsters out. And if you choose not to vote or you think this administration is doing good, then you can fuck right off.

Made calls to movers yesterday. Sent in six requests for quote, got four responses. The first one will be here at 8am this morning. Which sucks because late last night I was told I needed to take over an 8:30 - 4:30 class today. I am going to rush this poor guy like crazy. I am really hoping he calls first to verify and we can reschedule.

Spent the day working on presentation for next week, calling movers, etc. Made thai chicken for dinner. Not bad. Have too many leftovers unfortunately.

On the house front all is moving. I got the POA documents notarized and sent off. As of right now, B is 100% my legal proxy for this whole deal. She gets to see this from start to finish. We are targeting an 11/2 close date. That means she can fly home 11/3. Then we will leave again on like 11/12 and be there by the 15th. Cross your fingers there are no hidden surprises.

Y10 D142

I was feeling snarky last night and had this whole spiel in my head of what I was going to write today. But in reflection, meh, it's not worth it. Just going to live my life and keep on truckin'. Although lately it occurs to me, what a long, strange trip it's been.

Didn't do a whole lot of anything yesterday. My big project was cleaning out the little fish tank. It was developing some weird algae and I did a full tank refresh. The difference is amazing. I replaced all the plants, added new substrate, washed the existing substrate, replaced the filter, the whole shebang. It looks much better. Now I haven't looked this morning, but here's hoping everyone survived the shock of clean water. Yep. All still moving. Good.

Did laundry and packed a couple of boxes. As we get closer I am packing more and more little stuff I have left out. Desk drawers, clothes as I wear them, that sort of thing. I think this week I was call movers and start getting quotes. I am going to call the big three - Mayflower, Bekins, and United Van Lines. Get three competing quotes from them on this, make a decision by end of week.

Made skirt steak with chimichurri, sweet potatoes, and zucchini. I was pleased with how everything turned out.

Watched some tv and then went to bed around 10.

The next three days I was supposed to have a class, but no one signed up for it. So now I have time to record a new CBT. Fun times. Appraisal is today. Wish us luck on that one.

Y10 D141

Finally! Got the addendum back from the seller approving all of our concession requests. When all is said and done we will be paying $210k for this house. Bidding war my ass. Remember, it went out at 225. Boom baby. Now, we just have to get the loan finalized, the POA handled, and we should be good to go to close on 11/2. Hopefully B can make it that long.

She had a really bad day yesterday. People there are just flat out meaner than they are here. She was making a right hand turn and some bitch turning left decided she wanted to be in the same lane and started yelling at B calling her a fat bitch and this and that which of course set poor B off. She had to pull over on to a side street and have a breakdown. I think it was just a final straw situation. She is staying at her grandparents and right now there are eleventy billion people there. To go from our little quiet two cats and us to so many people in what is a small space for that, is overwhelming. Plus all the other visiting and talking and everything is wearing her down. She needs to hide for a day or two which is the plan. Let's see how that goes.

On my end, I went out in the morning and did some grocery shopping. Little things, nothing major. Just needed some fresh stuff for things. Going to do the same thing this morning. Pick up a few fresh items to supplement what I have here. I then sat from 10 until 4. Was still waiting for someone to come and do the apartment inspections. I called them at 4 and they had literally forgotten about our unit. Here's where it pays to have friends in the office. They said to me on the phone, go push your fire alarm button. Okay, I heard it, you passed. Why? Because they know we're not violating any of the other rules. Most people around us are getting ripped up for having too much shit in their garages, leaving stuff in front of their doors, etc. We don't do shit like that and this is why. We were able to pass inspection by a phone call because we play by the rules in this case. Sometimes the rules are worth following. The biggest offense I have seen from my neighbors is the whole garage issue. These people don't put their cars in their garages and instead jam pack them full of stuff. This is a direct violation of the lease. Sorry, but if skirting the rules is going to make me homeless, fuck that. I am going to be a good citizen in this case. Plus I don't like leaving my vehicle out. There's a reason why I was able to turn in a 3 year old vehicle and get more that it was worth.

Watched some tv, made fish tacos for dinner. Went to bed around 9 to see if I could get a full night's sleep. Pretty close. Only woke up twice. No real plans for today. Need to take some stuff to the post office, but that's about it.

So close. So, so close.

Y10 D140

Good news, our loan was 'conditionally' approved. Conditional because they still need proof of home policy, some misc documents, inspection approval, and the appraisal. I sent over as many documents as I could last night, the appraisal is happening Monday, and still waiting to hear back on the inspection negotiations. This whole thing could still fall apart. If it does at this point, I am out $1000 unfortunately. Cross your fingers.

Finished my one day with my one student. We spent a couple of hours working on some specific problems he is having which I think he appreciated. We finished up around 1:30. I have been waiting for the apartment inspectors to come but they didn't bother to show up which means I have to sit here today between 10 and 6 waiting. Lovely. But it's not like I had any huge weekend plans. Just wanted to pack a couple of boxes that I have decided can get packed.

Honestly nothing else going on right now. Life in limbo. Fun times.

Y10 D139

I did not have a good night. I got my ass handed to me because of some negative feedback from the Disney groups. According to them, having a personality and not being boring is considered 'unprofessional'. Plus of course they all thought I was mean because I was grumpy about people being late. I am NEVER going to back down on that one. It's just fucking rude that these people can't show up on time. We're talking half the class late. Not one or two, but in their case it was more than half. So yeah, I was cranky about that because you're wasting my time. The other issue though is that these were mid 20 somethings who have swallowed the kool-aid about being good little corporate soldiers and here comes someone like me who doesn't play nice. Someone who says, sorry all this stuff you care about is bullshit. That degree you're still paying off? Means nothing. Specifically these were mid 20s, early 30s, marketing analysts who see their jobs as the most important thing ever and I told them they were ridiculous shits. Oops. There were other issues too that i think led to some of it being taken out on me such as they didn't want to be there in most cases. They weren't given enough prep time for the classes, the material was beneath many of them, and since they can't bitch to their corporate overlords about that, they took it out on me. This isn't the first time I have had trouble with east coast stuck up marketing corporate people and it probably won't be the last, but it still bugs me. Makes me feel awful. Have the decency to say this shit to my face not in some anonymous message. Yet in the same reviews? People who said I was patient, knowledgable, and awesome. Go figure. Fuck Floridians in the ass. Fucking hate them.

I was also pissed at my boss about this because he sends an email at 3:45pm saying we need to talk but I am heading out the door, I will call you tomorrow. No. No fucking way are you going to leave me with 24 hours of anxiety and hit me with this on a Friday. I sent him an email and a voicemail to that effect. He ended up calling me back at 5:30. Ruined my dinner, but at least it's done.

Speaking of dinner, I made baked chicken with butternut squash. Came out pretty good even if it was cold as shit.

As for my current class, one dude. He's okay. We got through stuff with no issues. One more day with him and then I get a break. Turns out I have no students in the first part of next week. Cool. I need some downtime.

No news on the home front. Still waiting to hear back on the negotiations. It could still all fall through. Lovely.

Y10 D138

We had the inspection meeting yesterday around 3. Us and the realtors went over all of the issues in the document. With the exception of the basement issue and one other thing, everything we all agreed is cosmetic and can be checked off. The other thing besides the basement is a problem with the sliding glass door. It doesn't open smoothly and the concern is that the frame is warped or there's buckling around the sill. We are going back to them to see if the door can be adjusted or if it's a bigger problem. The bigger issue though is the basement and the external grading around the basement. Worse case scenario we would have to rip out the drywall and brace the wall. That's about a $4000 job. Therefore, we are going back to the seller today and asking for additional concessions or price reductions. We shall see what happens.

We also started the process of executing a power of attorney to allow B to do all the signing and handle the entire process in my absence. We are waiting to hear back from the loan underwriters if this is acceptable. We should know more later today or tomorrow.

Big stuff happening. If all goes according to plan (ha!) then B will take care of signing on 11/2, come home, I leave on 11/5 for a work trip, back on 11/9, we have the movers come 11/12, we leave 11/13 and arrive 11/16. The movers can arrive 11/17 or 11/18. We then have the next week to unpack and get situated. One thing I am worried about is internet being on and available. It looks like we will have to go with AT&T there. Not happy about that situation, let me tell you. But if I look at the positive, it will be fiber and I will have a 1gb connection. Only silver lining.

Got through day two of my class. Same one person was a problem. It got so bad I sent the sponsors a message about her. Mostly because she was talking about going to an Expert class. Um no. You are asking questions that clearly show me you aren't using the product and practicing so no way in hell am I letting you into an Expert class. They promised to look into the issue.

Made more cookies last night to use stuff up. Worked out pretty well. I now have like 3 dozen more cookies, but I used up a few things in the pantry. For dinner I had a burger out as I needed to hit the pet store and didn't feel like cooking food.

B is finally a bit relaxed since she sees an end in sight. I am being a bit more cautious. We shall see how the next few days go.

Y10 D137

The inspection came back with a couple of issues that I don't know if they're bad or not. Let's be honest, an inspector's job, especially when the agent and client are both present, is to point out every little thing that potentially could be wrong with a property. They're full liable if something goes wrong in the future and they didn't point it out. Most of the stuff they pointed out is fine. It's like the sink is loose in the bathroom or the water heater may need replacing soon. I'm good with stuff like that. But the issues that concern me are water damage in the basement. I have never owned or heck even lived in, a house with a basement. So I don't know if these things are bad or not. There was flooding in the whole neighborhood in 2014 and that was in the disclosures. We are having a meeting tonight with the agents to determine how to proceed. We shall see.

Depending on the result of the meeting, we made a decision last night that B may just stay there. We will do a power of attorney document that will allow her to sign all the papers in my absence. This will save us at least $1000 of her flying home and me flying back. We just need approval from the lender that this will be acceptable. Waiting to hear about that today. It does suck on one hand because it means she will be gone another month, but on the other, it means we save money and I don't have to go to MI twice.

My class went well for once yesterday. 13 students and only one issue. I am upset this one student is in the class as I recommended before that she not be allowed in any more advanced classes until she has had more experience. No one listened of course. But overall, things went well. No major complaints.

Ate leftovers last night and will probably do the same tonight. Need to get through stuff before I move on to new food. Don't want anything going to waste dammit.

Watched a something different last night. There's only so much Handmaid you can take. It's not a good binging show as it is way too intense. I did a complete 180 and watched canadian comedy instead. If you haven't watched Leterrkenny, whoo boy, you need to. It's pretty damn good. There's reason it's been the number one comedy show up there for years.

Went to bed early and slept pretty hard. I needed the sleep for sure. Cross your fingers all goes well this afternoon on the meeting.

Y10 D136

Waiting for inspection results. This is where I knew B would be an issue. Not like she is the cause of any problem, but her anxiety and paranoia would be a problem. After the inspection was over she called me crying. "He says this and this and this". Slow down. Did he say there was anything seriously wrong with the home that made it unlivable or needed immediate repair or anything that could stop the sale? "No, but he said we might need a water heater soon, and a sump pump, and this and that and this" Yeah okay. That's his job. Point out every little thing wrong with everything. I am waiting to receive the documents myself this morning and can make my own assessment. A couple of things did sound like we might want to see about having them done, but I can't be sure.

That was the highlight of my day.

Otherwise I spent 7.5 hours re-doing one of our classes because it was a fucking mess. Took longer than I anticipated, but it's done and it made for a full day's work.

Had a bbq chicken salad for dinner. Not bad.

Went to bed around 9:30 since I have to be up early the rest of the week.

Today is 6-2 with Pru. Hey that rhymes. Neat.

Y10 D135

I'm still angry at the people in this country. At what point do we have an adjustment day? At what point do we say enough? I have never wanted a generation of old white people to die off more than this current one. They are a disgrace to humankind. This era will not be remembered fondly in the history books.

I spent the entire day inside yesterday and did nothing. Laundry, that was my big task. I did go to the store for 5 minutes at around 7am for sliced cheese. Lookout wild ones, here I come. I wish I had more to write about, but I am not joking. I did nothing yesterday. Talked to no one. Except for B briefly in the evening but that was mostly to discuss today.

The inspection is today at 9. Hopefully it all goes well.

Y10 D134

I have watched a lot of disturbing things over the years but man, the intensity that is The Handmaid's Tale is off the charts. I watched S2E1 with dinner last night and wow. Just wow. The last 10 minutes of that episode were incredible. I see why it has received the awards and praise it has gotten. If you haven't watched it, you should. Especially now that:

YOU FUCKING HAPPY YOU TWATS?? KAVANAUGH GOT CONFIRMED. GOOD FUCKING JOB ASSHATS.

I can't believe it. I truly can't believe that Collins flipped like she did. I can't believe you all let this walking jizz stain on to the highest court.

What ever happened to good old fashion assassinations?

Fuck this country. Fuck old white people. Fuck all of you.

Y10 D133

In the last 24 hours I have received at least six emails telling me someone has been running my credit. In other words, the loan process is in process. No other updates on that. It's hurry up and wait time.

B is stressing out. I don't know what to tell her. It's not like there's ever a good time to buy a house financially you know? If you wait until you have 'enough' in savings, then you'll be chasing a market that has increased. Today's 10k is tomorrow's 20k. At some point if you want it to happen, you have to pull the trigger and hope for the best. It will make the next couple of years rough, but no rougher than anything I haven't deal with in the past. You make it work. You just do.

Worked on a few things for clients yesterday, had a couple of meetings. Did a webinar. Lots of odds and ends. Finished season 1 of handmaid's tale. Man what an intense show. Going to start season 2 today as I don't have anything else on the plate.

I cleaned the house last night including vacuuming. Wiped everything down, organized boxes, etc. We have annual inspections next week and I didn't want to deal with them coming in and thinking we were some kind of crazy hoarders. It at least is an organized chaos now. I packed on more kitchen box to get some leftover stuff off the counters.

Went grocery shopping in the morning. Got enough food to give me at least two weeks of meals including leftovers. Made hamburger helper last night because I was craving something bad for me. A little comfort food if you will.

No real plans for this weekend. Laundry tomorrow. But that's about it. I don't really have anywhere to go or anything scheduled. I am planning a steak tonight and I am going to the store to get a potato. Yes, one potato please.

Slept well. The weather has finally turned and it's rainy and cold just the way I like it.

Y10 D132

Only a dozen emails yesterday. Most of these were around insurance quotes. Still annoying but not as bad as Wednesday.

It's Friday and it's payday. I took care of bills and funneled more money into the savings account. For the next month as many people as possible are getting minimum payments. I need to put as much as I can into savings to make sure we have the money we need. Still about $1500 lighter than I would like right now. I am hoping that since I have at least 2 more pay periods before the expected close I can wiggle that number down to more like $800. If I somehow manage to sell the bike between now and the first, that will be the buffer I need. It's going on Craig's List this weekend. Need to take some pictures.

Got through my class. Booked a trip in November. The week before we're scheduled to close. That will be fun.

Made fish and chips for dinner. Still trying to eat through everything in the house. But I am going to get groceries this morning so I have proteins. I will eat pretty boring this next week but I will eat.

Going to clean the house today. They are doing their annual inspections next week and I have to make it look less like a psycho ward in here. Move boxes, pick stuff up, etc.

Made cookies last night at like 9pm because of the stress. I depress cook. Go figure. Cinnamon glazed pumpkin oatmeal cookies. Yeah. They're pretty good. Plus massive poop helpers.

Went to bed around 10:30 after dealing with a stressed out B. The enormity of what we're doing hit her last night. I've been waiting for this. I knew it would at some point. It's huge, it's scary, and it's going to change a lot of things. But survive we shall because that's what you do.

It's all you can do.

Y10 D131

And like that, the dream was stolen away from me. After 32 emails yesterday, it looks like we may not be able to get this, or frankly any, house. Why you ask? Republicans. I know that sounds crazy, but let me tell you why this administration sucks and has potentially ruined my life. Back in July when we first started this process, we were told the area we were looking at didn't have any income requirements. We were told that as a result we could qualify for a 3% down conventional loan. Based on that, we knew how much house we could look at and afford. Skip ahead to yesterday when my mortgage person tells me the bad news. It seems that in late August, early September, the Republicans in MI decided to REDRAW DISTRICT LINES TO BETTER THEIR ODDS IN THE MIDTERM ELECTIONS. That's right. In order to gerrymander their way, they screwed around with who can vote where. This put our potential new home right in a new district. This new district now has income requirements for loan qualifications. What we were looking at was considered a 'low income' loan. The problem? I make MORE THAN DOUBLE what they consider the income level. What does all that mean? It means that for that area now, if I want to do a conventional loan in that district, at my income level, I have to come up with 5% down. OR I can do an FHA at 3.5% down. I told my mortgage person, okay, let's do an FHA. She called the seller's agent and they said, no, we won't accept the offer if they do an FHA because it will be harder to approve. They have to do a conventional or we pull our acceptance. Well fuck me in the ear. This means we have about 1 week to come up with another 2000-3000 if we want to keep this house. Or any house in that area. Fuck. Me. I don't know what we're going to do. One day I am crying for joy, the next I am crying because life fucking sucks. Every time I crawl to the edge of the pit, I get my fingers stomped on and I fall back to hell. The one time I wish my father wasn't a piece of useless shit and could help me like a normal person. I was so close. So fucking close.

On top of dealing with 32 emails, I had to teach my class. Boy was that fucking fun. Managed to get through that. Was too depressed to do much of anything else after class. Had ice cream for dinner because I just couldn't be bothered with eating.

People wonder why I get depressed. Here it is. I work and try to live my best life, then get bitch slapped for stepping out of line apparently.

Find me a short pier and take a long walk.

Y10 D130

Big news first - OUR OFFER WAS ACCEPTED! Some of you already know this because you got the email yesterday but as of 3pm PST yesterday we were in contract for a house. Pic below. Some details: 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath, 1275 sq ft upstairs, another 1275 down in the basement. Lot size is a third of an acre. The same amount they would put three houses on here. And we paid 215. FIFTEEN UNDER asking. Overbid my ass. Third house I have bought in my life and it's the third house I have underbid and won. Since this will hopefully be the last, I will never be in a bidding war.

So yeah. Now reality is going to hit and I am going to stress until we are actually moved in, but damn. Something I never thought would happen again has come true. I know a million things can go wrong, but let me enjoy this, okay? Inspection is being arranged for next Tuesday or Wednesday. Current owners will be out come this weekend. Which means that if we do things right we can close escrow pretty quick. Plus we have a friend back there who works for a title company and can waive some of the fees for us. That will save us a couple of thousand overall. Tentative close is 11/15 but if we can do it sooner, great.

While all this was going on, taught day 1 of 3 for one of the worst groups ever. One person is way over their head, one refused to stay muted and consistently talked over me all day, Then a third thought the material was too slow and bitched about it all day. Fun times. We finished at 2:20 and then I had to deal with all the house stuff. I don't know if I can handle two more days of this group. They suck. Irony? They are with MSU and one of the students will live 5 miles from me. In the future, this will be a 'local' group if they want follow up. Joy.

Was watching Handmaid's Tale on Hulu and Mad Men on Netflix (one for the day, one for the night) and man, Elisabeth Moss is getting screwed right and left from men. No pun intended. Whether it's the future or the past, she can't catch a break. HT is a really emotional show to watch. Very intense and deep. You want to fast forward but you don't want to miss anything either. Some serious shit. I don't remember the movie being so heavy and it's been 30 years since I read the book. Damn fine show, just real hard to watch. Especially in today's climate of male rage and idiocy.

Speaking of that, when is tantrum bitch going to go away? He shouldn't be a judge at all let alone a SCJ. Fucking white men. We need an Adjustment Day.

Y10 D129

Well we were outbid on the first house. Oh well. We already had a backup in line and we put the offer on that one at about 8pm last night. This is where realtors piss me off. The concept that the only way you can get a house is to overbid is bullshit. It's a game created by realtors to artificially over inflate the value of a home. I refuse to play that game. Didn't like my bid? Oh well. There's another house down the street that will. I won't do it. Hopefully we will hear back today on number 2 and we shall see what happens.

I didn't do shit yesterday. My boss had nothing for me and I sat all day. Not a big deal but annoying. I made leftovers for dinner. Watched some TV. That was about it.

Y10 D128

So much random stuff to discuss today. Start with the big one; we submitted an offer! It's just an offer so nothing definite yet. We should hear back today or tomorrow on their counter or acceptance. I came in low and expect a counter which I am ready to counter their counter. It might take a few days of back and forth, but let's see what happens.

After submitting the offer last night it gave me a weird perspective moment. The offer was for 215k. Which means we will have a mortgage of about 208k. To B that seems like a HUGE number. For me it's not causing too much anxiety to be honest. My first mortgage 15 years ago was for 510k. More than double this one may be. My second? 800k. Four times as much. I had an almost 5000 a month payment on that one. This should be about 1700 a month. For pretty much the same size house too. Then there's the whole closing process. We put in a closing date of 11/15 on the offer. That's six weeks from now. Here and in the Bay Area, people rush to close like NOW. Heck when I bought X1 her house, it was a 9 day close. Mostly because it was a cash deal and it took that long to do inspection and schedule the title appointment. But man, 45 days seems like FOREVER in comparison. Just funny how things can be.

Spent the day packing some more stuff up and going on virtual tours with B. She skyped me in for walkthroughs of the two houses we were planning on submitting. ("Skyped". Is that even a verb? It is these days kids.) We were between two properties that were very similar. Both have about 1300 sq ft of upstairs, another 1000 of basement, one is .27 acres, the other .3. By the way, do you know how big that is? For me the city/suburb boy, that's like a farm. That's double the size of the lots of the houses across the street from me. The biggest lot I had was my first house with 6500 sq ft. This is over 10,000. Fucking huge. But it came down to some little things like the layout of the rooms, the usable backyard area (one had trees and other stuff in the back that would require a lot of work), and how far into the neighborhood they were situated. Either place is good, one was just better. After a while everything starts looking the same though. She kept showing me stuff I didn't care about. Not her fault. It's her first and hopefully only, time doing this.

Finished watching Lodge 49 last night. EXCELLENT show. I highly recommend it. The last two episodes are definitely WTF material. Loved it. Can't wait for season 2 to arrive.

Made chili and went on a bit of a hunt for a bread bowl. Found one finally. That was nice. I now have chili for lunch the rest of the week and probably for tonight's dinner. Waste not. Also got cat food while I was out.

Have three days of classes this week. 6:30 - 2:30 Tues, Weds, Thurs. Otherwise, not much else going on except sitting and waiting.

Happy Halloween 1st!