I promise: no pages and pages of pointless online test results. I just needed an excuse to get started with a new entry.
It's been a while.
I'm still thinking about writing a murder mystery. In the write-what-you-know vein, I figured it might be fun to set it
in an anime convention. Not that I've been to many, mind... Still, this seems even more appropriate now, as I just went
to one last weekend, and parts of it did, indeed, make me want to kill somebody. So that project's off to a promising
start.
Should I do an elaborate Anime North 2002 con report? Nah, I'd rather not. I met up with
some people. And that was great. I saw a couple things that were cool, but probably not enough to justify the admission
price. I got frustrated with dumbness. Then I went home.
As an update, yes, my sister is living with me now. No comment on how that's going (okay: not bad, but not
tremendously good, either). Oh! Tink! Yes, car is handy. Part of it does mean, admittedly, that I get to pick up my
sister some evenings. This wasn't part of the original plan. But whatever. I'm not getting up at 6 to drive her into
work. That would be wrong.
Having a car is nice. I haven't done much exploring lately, though. It lets me drive laundry home occasionally where I
can wash it for free. And it lets me sleep in past 9 and still get into work around 10. I really have to stop that. I
get to chauffeur deprived university student friends, which I don't mind. It makes me feel needed.
I've been feeling rather... I don't know... insecure lately. I don't think there's really a reason for this. Maybe my
unexpectedly shrunken sanctuary. Maybe anime club stuff. Maybe... I don't know. Weird dreams, a general sense of unease,
a kind of latent, low-level stress... all of which makes me less up to deal with the regular, everyday stuff that goes
on in my life. Worse, it makes me feel less up to finding less regular, everyday stuff to do to make life more
interesting. Blah.
No progress at all in the house-finding department. I'm sleeping better and not as sick, so it doesn't seem as urgent.
It's still in the back of the mind somewhere, though.
Well, this was a pretty pointless entry. I knew it would be. But hey, this is a blog. (he finally admits to himself).
Pointless entries are the whole point!
Okay, I've made no movement on the housing thing either way. Except that I've moved out of my bedroom and back to the
futon on the living room. My throat thanks me. I think I'm going to rearrange things to put a cot or something in the
computer room and move the servers out to the hall closet to cut down on noise. Could work.
This rearranging might be prescient on my part. It turns out my sister has decided she'd really like to stay at my place
for the summer, since she's got a lead on a job in town. This is sweet and everything, but I'm not entirely convinced
it's a good idea. It didn't help that she flipped out at me when I suggested she might consider paying rent. My parents
think this is a great idea, but I remain unconvinced. We'll see how it goes.
It's very warm outside. Which only goes to prove that the weather's still stupid. Maybe by repeatedly calling it stupid,
I think I'll manage to somehow shame it into being less stupid. I don't think my plan is working.
Well, I spent most of last year whining about how I had to get a car. This year's been pretty slow so far, so what
better way to get me motivated than to start whining about buying a house?!
Well, not necessarily a house, per se. Probably a townhouse or a condo. I'm not sure yet.
My reasoning for diving into real estate is fairly sound, I think. Paying rent is like tossing money into some dark
place where it can't be recovered. Like a black hole. Except I don't think anybody's actually thrown money into one of
those before, so I can't really say if the comparison holds. It's kind of dumb. I'm going to be spending some 25-30
years of my life paying off a mortgage anyway. I have money; I might as well get started now. I think I can afford it.
I'll be kind of poor for a while, while my income (hopefully) picks up. But I'll have a house (or townhouse or condo)
that's mine and all the warm, fuzzy feelings that flow from that.
On top of that, my apartment makes me sick. Headaches... sore throats... I mostly sleep in the living room now, because
it's not as bad as in the bedroom (whatever it is). It's very unpleasant. I should probably move.
Sounds good. Of course, there are problems with this idea. First off, I'll have to deal with agents. *sigh*. Second,
the housing market is pretty psychotic around here. Not
as bad as Toronto or Ottawa, maybe... But if even if I find something I like, I'm more likely than not to find myself in
a bidding war. Everybody goes around thinking "Ooh, interest rates are low! What a great time to buy!" Um, no. This is
such a seller's market. A half-percent to a percent change in the interest rate won't hurt my ability to make mortgage
payments nearly as much as buying a condo that gets bid up $20,000 after the dust clears. I'm worried that this is a
bubble market, and prices might not be sustainable. I'm looking at this as an investment, as well as accomadation. You
know... buy low, sell high. A low interest rate might cushion the blow a bit, but any way I'm looking at it, I'm going
to end up paying nearly twice for housing what I currently pay for rent. And that's not nice.
So I'm mulling all this stuff over. I still think I'm going to stop by open houses soon and get a feel for these
creepy "agent" people. So we'll see. I'm much keener on houses than I am on cars, so I don't think I'll whine quite as
much. But I'll keep you posted.
