Wrong Home To Go Home To

Sheralee and I went to sign the contract for my apartment yesterday.

We met the landlady downstairs at the apartment community office, and from there she walked us up to see the finished apartment that I had been waiting oh so patiently for. However, I noticed that she wasn't leading us toward the apartment.

The landlady attempted to dismiss our concerns and added that she had made the same mistake several times. She insisted that we follow her, and we did.

In an unfamiliar building, we went up an elevator to the 16th floor. She unlocked the door, and tadaa! We saw a finished apartment. The good news was, she did a great job getting the place ready. The bad news was, it was the first time that either of us had ever been in this apartment. How could this be?

The community staff had shown us a single 3 bedroom apartment three times, but had called a different apartment owner of the same floor, but of a different building altogether. Huge mistake.

The community staff tried to deny having made the error, and insisted that we were mistaken.

I spent some time considering taking the surprise apartment. She did do a great job on the floors and bathroom. The kitchen counter was a caulked jigsaw puzzle though, but that's normal for kitchen counters here. The biggest issue for me was the lack of view from the windows. It wasn't impressive at all, and that was key in my decision on getting the first apartment we saw. After considering that I was spending twice as much on this next apartment than before, this apartment simply would not do.

Later, the community staff managed to contact the owner of the actual apartment I wanted in the first place. It turns out, he doesn't want to rent it out ...

It's apartment hunting time again!

Photo: Silly scallions!

Web Grooves

My new apartment is ready!

I'm listening to music, and making some modifications to the layout of my blog. Blood Money is a track title from the Hitman movie soundtrack (don't confuse it with any song from the video game). I always play it when I’m online, making blog posts, or when I'm deep in thought while pacing around. You could say I’ve adopted it as my personal theme song.

I've been feeling great lately. Short trips, new places, meeting strange new people. A great summer is coming!

Con ... Artistry?

With my new apartment nearing completion, and my need for personal space growing, I am dying from anticipation.

This next apartment will restore my senses.

Originally, the landlord of my previous apartment was going to refund our final (changed to March) month’s rent, and we had given him notice many months in advance. Without warning, he changed his mind and left me without an apartment for March altogether, and refused to refund the money. I’ve returned to my original apartment where my friend Chris W. Still resides.

Someone knew it was going to happen. Others I knew had regular contact with him for months, and everyone knew what was expected to happen.

Nobody said anything.

My circle of trust shrank a little, and after careful consideration, I forced it to shrink even more.

Spring Spring Spring

I haven't been able to post in a while due to limited hot-seat internet, and usually blogspot access was, I thought, denied in this world location. It was yesterday that Helen asked for my blog address. I gave it to her, and explained that it wouldn’t work. On a whim, I checked it.

So, I’ve moved ... again! I'm back at my original apartment where my friend Chris still lives. This time, I'm trying to find an apartment with a great view.

Sheralee and I visited some nice apartments yesterday. One landlord wanted to rent an 80 square meter apartment for 700RMB/month. Another apartment of identical size in the same area, owned by a greedy witch expected 3000RMB/month.

After refusing the offer, she voluntarily dropped it to 1500RMB...
The event was comical, the landlord's daughter had difficulty containing herself. We couldn't hear what she jolt-whispered, but I'm sure it was something like, "3000!!! Are you insane?"

My needs are simple.
- Finished floors
- Painted walls
- Kitchen and bathroom sinks
- Shower, toilet, water heater
- View of the city
- Unfurnished

You smell funny.

File size: 5.95mb Format: .avi

I had planned on attending a meeting at a school in Zhengzhou called English Model this morning, but I had to change my plans to meet with another school near my apartment. The meeting at English Model was voluntary, and not at all requested by them, but I had expressed that I would attend, and neglected to contact them to let them know of the change. Bad Mike!

This afternoon, I taped the 15 meter line for my internet to the corners of the floor in the next room, along the floor of the room the wall-jack is in, and around the doorway of my room. Now sweeping and mopping will be a little easier, and there is less risk of merciless cat destruction of my interweb cable (although they rarily bother with it anyway).

After that, Paul and I went shopping. I picked up two soft cushions for Sugar and Pepper since winter is coming and I wake up with them curled around me. Other items I picked up were a 2nd litterbox, some eggs, and fresh litter for both litterboxes.

Paul picked up some tuna in one of those huge cans, and I added it to the rice he made in our new fangled rice-cooker (plus 4 hardboiled eggs). Sugar and Pepper went wild for the tuna. I think it is their second time having it. It's been a few hours since they explored the new litterbox, kneeded the cushions, and consumed the tuna. Now they're unusually quiet.

Is this all I have to talk about? What an uneventful day ...

Photo: NO PHOTO FOR YOU!
Video: Chris laughing as I rolled down a hill strapped to the interior of a big ball. What wasn't captured in the video was my "Oh ... oh SHIIIIIiiiiiiiii ... ". Video was taken in early summer of 2007.