Owning a House – Thoughts from July 23 to 25, 2003

July 23, 2003

After much drama and change, I am working at the Assessor’s office now. I should learn a great deal about owning property, etc., which will help in my NEW HOME! Yes, last last Saturday, we closed our loan. It should have been earlier, but there were several delays. It’s a good feeling, but scary to have our names on the house. On the one side, we have many cool plans for the house, and, on the other side, we have many plans for the house that will take a lot of time (and money).

My mom is settled into an assisted living place. She’s not exactly having an easy time with it, but she’s dealing with it. She’s learning their ways and they are learning hers.

I’m trying to keep up with my old chums where I used to work through email. I’ve told some of them about Kirwanland.com (I’m going to buy the domain name as soon as I settle in and get my computer working so I can actually use it).

July 24, 2003

Speaking of work (which I wasn’t), there is a lady here who regularly forces herself to cough. When I first got here, I thought she was coughing because she was just getting over a cold. It’s been a week or two and she is still going. It’s a clean cough with not a great deal of phlegm. I’m going to hate to find out she has some condition that forces her to cough (like Tourette’s Syndrome or something), but it sounds forced. Of course, I’m the guy who says sneezing, hiccupping, and yawning can all be controlled. (Involuntary? I don’t think so.)

Right now, I’m tired at work all the time. I’m working on entering numbers and, somehow, that is not the most exciting thing in the world for my body. Now, I’m just going to talk off the top of my head to keep myself awake. A guy at lunch asked if I had any change. There’s only one spot in the parking lot where I park in the shade and eat lunch that I like. I’ve only gotten it one time. No one hassled me in that spot. I was also out of the way of the walking traffic. It’s hard for me to relate to someone begging for money. I’ve worked since I was in High School and have had very few times in my life when I didn’t have a job. I will admit, my parents were well off (although, they didn’t save it that well – more on that later) so I didn’t have to do desperate things. (Future note: I’m glad to say, I have widened my view of the world since this time. For me to use my limited experience in life to judge others is to ignore other people’s experiences in life. We conveniently forget our own privilege when judging others. Luckily, I had more growth as a person in my future.)

There were two girls in the parking lot on my break this morning who were picking up leaves and trash. From what one of them was saying, they were not paid for doing the work. A judge was forcing them to work for what they had done at some point. The girl who was talking swore like a sailor and watched the other one work. She was complaining about how stupid what they were doing was. In my mind, I agreed, but the stupidity happened when they did whatever it was in the first place. The real stupidity was complaining about it. The idiodyssey continues. (Future note: Yes, I am aware idiodyssey is not a dictionary word, but it’s in the urban dictionary. Take that, grammar checker!)

July 25, 2003

Tomorrow, we are going to get our stuff out of storage. Let the world rejoice (or, at least, Patti and I)! There are things in storage I’ve been missing for months. I just hope nothing was ruined being in storage all this time. “The boys” are going to help us. In case I haven’t mentioned “the boys” before, they are Patti’s nephews. They are twins. They are actually 15 years old, but Patti still sees them as 12. Matt and Dan are their names. We also might get Jon. He’s 18 and “the boys” older brother. We all enjoy cartoons and sitcoms, so we entertain each other with talk of how Futurama is better than The Family Guy and The Simpsons is the greatest show known to man. Patti and I are their favorite aunt and uncle, but we understand when they don’t say it in front of the other aunts and uncles. We’re hoping to get everything moved in two U-Haul trips.

There’s a woman here that walks like a wind-up toy. Her head leads the way, and her feet move like a wind-up duck that was wound too tight. She also looks down when she walks, so I’m just waiting for her to hit her head on a cubicle wall. She’s an older woman and I’m sure I’m going to feel bad when I find out what’s wrong with her just like I’m going to feel bad when I find out what’s wrong with Forced-Cough Girl. I think I’ll call this one Wind-up Duck Woman (until I find out what a horrible human I am her calling her that).

In an update of Forced-Cough Girl, I found out what her deal is. According to my boss, she’s faking it. Just as I thought! Apparently, about 10 years ago, some people came and tested her work area and found nothing making her cough. She even admits it openly. I still think it’s some kind of Tourette’s Syndrome. Even if she is faking it, I still feel sorry for whatever is really wrong with her. (Future note: To make myself feel worse about calling her Forced-Cough Girl, I found out there is a psychological disorder called a psychogenic cough. I was close when I mentioned Tourette’s syndrome. Some people with Tourette’s have a coughing tic. Either way, I get to make fun of my younger and stupider self. Take that, youngster!)