I finally came to my senses and told my bosses I have to end this freakin' contract. It was supposed to end May 31st, and now they're talking about October. I know that might seem like a good thing for a contractor, but I have to get my freakin' house done so I can finally move in for real. When my upstairs tenant moves out that's going to be a full-time job in itself. Anyway, I told them I could come back if they still need me after mid-September. So that's the plan, along with some time scheduled for "knowledge transfer" between now and August 18. I really cannot wait to not have to work every day. Although after a month of living in a soon-to-be construction zone, I'll probably be begging to go back, haha.

My upstairs tenant (the one who's actually living there) left me a note saying she lost the check for $500 I gave her with the 30-days notice back in April. She says she's on a student visa and has to stay in film school otherwise she'll be deported, and she doesn't want to borrow money to stay in school. True, she has not cashed the check yet. He cashed his on July 17. I'm supposed to give them each another $500 after they move out, plus the settlement money - which I'm not required by law to give them, but it's one way to make sure they really do move out, otherwise they get nothing more and we have to do it the hard way.

Anyway, it'll cost me $25 to stop payment on the first check, and the stop payment is "only good" for 6 months. What the hell is up with that? Obviously, I'm not going to tell her that part. But I did tell her I could write her another check (as soon as I get back from my LATEST dog-sitting gig, don't ask), but if she "happened" to find the first check, please use that for the second payment, otherwise I would have to deduct the $25 stop payment fee from the next check.

Mostly I'm doing that in case she's trying to pull a fast one. She'll think she won't be able to cash the first check after all, plus she'll be out $25. I think she probably really did lose the thing (you would have to see this apartment to believe it), BUT why the hell should I have to pay for it, and am I willing to bet $500 on it?

I hope the first check does show up. I should probably ask my lawyer whether I should give her a replacement check at this point, but I'm sure she would say "no" and I would end up paying my lawyer $300/hour for that bit of advice which I would probably ignore anyway.

Jesus, who died and made me the Bank of America? I'm no good at this.