Perhaps some backstory is in order

In looking over the first few posts, the cart is very much in front of the horse and I have some explaining to do for coherence's sake.

MOVING: I'm moving out of my cute duplex back to my parents' house. I was fed up with the weasely landlord's attempts to wring more money out of his tenants while we (mostly me, justice-seeking rabble-rouser that I am) had to fight to get plumbing and electrical code violations repaired.

Want horror stories? I got a million of 'em. My favorite tale of spectacular neglect: a backdoor awning that came tumbling down one month after I showed Matthew it was pulling away from the roof. His crackerjack Persian homeboys built the awning around a utility line, so it didn't fall all the way down but dangled two feet off the ground from the strained line and blocked the back door. I took pictures. I started calling him at 5:30 am and it was gone by the time I got back from a lunch date on the west side.

Anyway, my parents were willing to have me move in and house sit while they're re-roofing their retirement home this spring. I am happy to keep my hard-won earnings in my own pocket; it will go a long way toward paying for the wedding. I probably owe Matthew a thank you; I'm coming out way ahead.

WEDDING: I'm getting married this summer. I have not been envisioning the wedding since age 7, so I'm starting from scratch and it's a lot of work! The tentative/likely date is July 22, but I haven't done much else because of the move. (That's not true: I pinched a copy of Town & Country's wedding edition from the restroom at work; since I'm not speding the equivalent of a developing country's GNP, it wasn't worth the trouble). I'm wearing my mother's wedding dress and we have a venue. Trying to pick colors and bridesmaids' dresses that aren't hideous. Trying NOT to get sucked into the wedding industry's idea of what I must have. Foo.

ANNIVERSARY: My parents' 50th wedding anniversary is in March and I'm planning a fete with close family and friends. Not sure how much or if my brother will help. I can look at it as a trial run for the wedding planning--what works, what doesn't work.

HIGH SCHOOL REUNION: The 10-year reunion was expensive, blah and a long drive from where we actually went to high school. And there were a lot of people who weren't invited to the 10th even though they/their parents lived at the same address. I'd like to cast a wider net and include as much of our class as we can track down--not just the 15 popular/athletic/beautiful people who peaked in high school and have stayed in touch with each other.

I've heard from a few clasmates who want to make a reunion happen. Thankfully, we won't have to work hard to make the 20 year reunion better than the 10th. Still, most interested parties are out-of-state, and by the time fall 2006 rolls around, I will have moved out of the area, too. Maybe we'll just hire a reunion-planning company and let them do the heavy lifting.

Hasta la vista, Parkwood.

Had my pre-move-out inspection this morning with the weasely landlord. Today, I'm grateful for his inattention to detail; it totally works in my favor. He strolled through the apartment with a copy of (admittedly anal) inventory of damages I'd written up when I first moved in. Instead of checking my list against the current state of the apartment, he wandered around taking a few pics with an ancient digital camera.

Once finished, he asked me to write down my new mailing address and had me make a copy of his form indicating he did not foresee making any deductions from my security deposit. When I asked about returning the key, suddenly he was the one wanting to schedule a fixed appointment now (what I typically ask for and don't get), not wait for me to call him when I was closer to being moved out.

Matthew has been my worst landlord. He lies outright--claiming he's not the property owner. He invents far-fetched explanations for household disrepair-- "pipes touching each other in the wall" gives me hot water in my toilet (I'm supposed to believe this?). He routinely violates his tenants' privacy and fails to give proper written notice before entering his properties. The last time he showed up unannouced--strolled into my gated backyard--I bitched him out big time. Bully that he is, he backed down.

He scheduled major plumbing repair work and gave us 2 days' notice. He didn't notify the other outgoing tenants that or they could ask for a move-out inspection to prevent surprise looting of their security deposits. The things I've learned about California civil code and renters' rights while living in this guy's property... I can't tell whether he's salivating over the opportunity to raise the rent again or if he's out of sorts that all 3 rentals on the property have turned over in the past 6 weeks.

What will I miss about Parkwood? The shorter commute. Nice, quiet neighbors. My back patio. The mint patch by the back door. Labor Day Weekend BBQs where the cops show up at 7:30 pm and ask us to turn the music down. Being walking distance from an Out of the Closet Thrift store and a bunch of great restaurants and close to Trader Joe's.

P.S. When I met Matthew to return the keys on the 31st, he gave me a cashier's check for my security deposit johnny on the spot. I guess he was as glad to have me leave as I was glad to go!

Four things meme

DC Rush Hour tagged me with this:

Four Jobs I've had

1. Contract administrator at a federally funded research and development center. Specialize in contract closeout and finding/documenting deliverables older than God.
2. Substitute teacher. Inexplicably, I liked jr. high age kids the best.
3. Journalist & writing tutor.
4. Mall cookie shop barista.

Four Movies I Can Watch Over and Over

1. Legally Blonde
2. Shawshank Redemption
3. Sense and Sensibility
4. A Room with a View

Four Places I've Lived

1. Altadena, CA
2. Pasadena, CA
3. Petach Tikva, Israel
4. Columbus, OH

Four TV Shows I Love To Watch

1. Lost
2. Law & Order (all permutations thereof)
3. ER
4. My So-Called Life

Four Places I've Been on Vacation

1. Scotland
2. England
3. Wales
4. Sedona, AZ

Four Blogs I Visit Daily

1. What I made for dinner
2. DC Rush Hour
3. Go Fug Yourself
4. Doryn's Dish

Four of My Favorite Foods

1. Chocolate
2. bleu cheese
3. salmon
4. breakfast

Four Places I'd Rather Be

1. Home in bed
2. Road tripping in the desert
3. Old Town Pasadena
4. San Francisco

Four Albums I Can't Live Without

1. Sympathique Hang on Little Tomato by Pink Martini
2. Anything U2
3. INXS --Greatest Hits
4. Pasadena 2 Ward Choir albums, Go Out With Joy and Tis Love That's Born Tonight

Four Vehicles I've Owned

1. 1980 orange Dodge Colt (1986-1992)
2. 1993 Nissan Pathfinder (1992 to present)
3. Trek mountain bike
4. roller skates

Four Taggees

1. All the Scary Feminists who haven't already been tagged.

Some have bloghood thrust upon them...

Good Lord, I had to set up a whole blog to be able to reply to a friend's blog.

I was going to set up a blog anyway/someday/in my own good time; everybody's doing it. But I kinda resent having it forced on me before I feel ready to create content.

In the next few weeks, I'm moving. I'm also planning my wedding, planning my parents' 50th wedding anniversary party, and helping plan my 20 year high school reunion. If that's not enough for a sane person to do, now I'm blogging? Harrump!