10:30 a.m. - 2002-07-24
A Flock of Obnoxious Friends
I must be truly at my stress limit from this housebuying thing - yesterday at the library I checked out a "Flock of Seagulls" CD. A Flock of Seagulls! Or, as Bruce used to refer to them - a Flock of Haircuts.
Don't ask me what possessed me. Perhaps I wanted a return to the carefree days of the 80's when one could actually afford an apartment in Boston and MTV was not just for young folks with way too many hormones and way too few brain cells. In case anyone is really concerned about my mental state, I also checked out Syd Barrett's "Madcap Laughs", John Lee Hooker's "Best of Friends", and a Billie Holiday CD with "Strange Fruit" on it.
I love that song, "Strange Fruit". It has become even more haunting since I have been living in the South. Did you know there is actually a book out about how it was written? Someday when I'm not stuffing all my precious family heirlooms into cardboard boxes I've scrounged from the garbage I might actually get to read it.
Ahhh, so let's see, what has been happening the last few days? Probably what has been occupying my mind the most is that the snit out we've been having with Joey and Beth has escalated. Evidently Beth has been telling everyone that the house is ugly and all our neighbors are Republicans! Huh? How can you tell someone is a Republican from just driving by their house?! I wish I could develop this psychic ability! Can one tell about born again Christians and child molesters, too?!
Sigh - Beth can be so much fun to be around but part of the reason she is fun is that she is just out for a good time, and she doesn't ever get too deep with anything. Which is the main reason she and Joey can't see what we see in this house - the good parts of it aren't sitting on the surface waving a happy hello. They are hibernating under the need for some colourful paint, more interesting windows, and too much woodbine in the back yard.
In contrast, Beth and Joey's houses (they have two, one of which they rent to Beth's Mama) are really gorgeous...on the surface. But once you pry a bit you find that the roofs are leaking, the plumbing doesn't work, etc, etc. But that's just fine with Beth and Joey. As long as the surface is beautiful, the inner workings can be left to decay.
Anyway, I am trying not to let her disinformation campaign ruin our fun. David opened the house up for us yesterday and we got to run around, holding up paint chips and measuring windows and reveling in the ceramic tile bathrooms and deciding once and for all, on my studio room. I decided to actually take the office room upstairs instead of the "woodland" room downstairs. It gets great light and has a strange built in four foot wide shelf across it so I can lay out all my supplies, and it is just big enough. If I want to paint in oils I can use the detached garage in the summer (and I hardly ever use oils anyway).
Oh, by the way, if you want to check your own stress levels, I highly recommend the "Hello Kitty Stress Test" at: http://www.sanriotown.com/psycho/psycho6/psycho6_us.htm
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