I really wasn't sure how to take it when I came home and found this sign added to my house:



Oh sure, maybe it's true. But if you have to announce it to the world, that just reeks of desperation. I'm so sorry my little house has to suffer this indignity.

In my realtor-to-plain-English dictionary that translates to "so don't go by this hideous exterior!" Of course, we all know what a cynic I am. My poor house isn't that bad! And it certainly isn't it's fault, just because I inadvertently killed the passion vine framing the front porch in that unfortunate pruning mishap of '04, and other than a few hardy souls most of my garden did not survive 2 weeks without water when I went on that sailing trip. It's not like we even get any measurable rainfall here between June and October, so I guess I should have seen that coming.

I'm sorry house! I'm sure in the right hands you could once again be beautiful outside as well as inside. Please, somebody take it off my hands. I need the gritty city life.

"May I speak to a male head of household?"

"Nope. Good bye."

What is this, the freakin' 50s?

All those county fair [inlink]matthew,603[/inlink] pics inspired me to change my userpic. That's all for now.

Oh crap, of course that's not all! I can't stop thinking about [inlink]twisted,253[/inlink] it! I'm sorry but I've gotta go through the winning equation one more time for my own sanity. Hey, if I hadn't scrounged up the $7,200 down payment for my first [inlink]twisted,217[/inlink] house, I'd still be living in Boston spending $1400/month in rent. That's $1400 x 12=$16,800/year x however many years since I took that leap would = a bunch of money down the toilet. Instead here I am. Just something to remember.

So...

The TIC-expert friend of my neighbor really called it. I told him about Steve's and my plan and he said our competition would be groups of 3 partners, each willing and able to pay $600k. Damn, he was right. That's exactly what the winning bid works out to. Exhorbitant as that price might sound, it's still the best deal going for a 3BR Edwardian flat in a great neighborhood, not to mention the rounded bays, two fireplaces, wood floors, Victorian detailing...

Ok, despite my apparent success impersonating a real estate mogul (I still can't freakin' believe Denise pre-approved us for that much $$$ even without my house sold), $600k is too rich for my blood. Although, my little 2+BR bungalow is expected to bring close to that. (I know - that's even crazier. But "entry-level" single-family residences are rare in the Bay area and Alameda's one of the few places that's got 'em.) So, you could rationalize it would be an almost-equal exchange. But it doesn't work like that, because of the stepped-up property taxes. (I really don't want to explain it and I KNOW you don't want to hear it. Speaking of which, any of you who haven't already turned on the California filter, be forwarned my posts for the next month or so are going to be a lot like this one. I'm sorry, but it is my journal after all. You might want to skip me until I get this move thing sorted out, then I should be back to normal. Whatever that means.)

In other news, and getting back to my title, have you ever gone through a period in your life where it seems every new significant person has the same name? It's freaking me out, man! Ok, I really don't know if this guy's going to be significant or not yet, but clearly the cosmos is trying to insert a Steve into my life.

The "precipitating event" leading to this development - besides the obvious need for a distraction from all this real estate drama - was getting a glimpse into the online dating scene in order to give a friend some feedback. One look into that world drove me right back to craigslist m4w. Sure, a LTR would be great, and if I could combine all my Steves into one SuperSteve that would be oh so convenient. But in the meantime, all I can really deal with is adding one more regular Steve to the mix. (To take up the slack I'm sensing from "E" if you must know. Which may or may not mean anything, but in the NSA world I don't get to ask that now do I.) On the bright side, if one of the Steves ever jumps the ladder I'm less likely to get his name wrong at a crucial moment. ;-)

This post is already too long to go into details, so here's a timeline instead:

8/18 6:31pm
SWM Music Lover - 39 (USF / panhandle) -
Yada yada. "I go to a lot of live shows. Do you like live music?" Yada yada.

8/18 7:50pm
My response-
Yada yada. "Yep." Yada yada.

8/18 11:01pm
His reply-
Here are some of the bands I'm thinking about seeing in the near future:

08/23/05 – Name removed – Hemlock Tavern
08/25/05 – Knock Out Pills – The Parkside
08/26/05 – Flying Luttenbachers, TITS – Hemlock
08/26/05 – Particle, Gabby La La – GAMH
09/08/05 – The Planet The – Hemlock
09/12/05 – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – GAMH
09/14/05 – Spider Compass Good Crime Band – Hemlock
09/23/05 – Experimental Dental School – Make-Out Room
09/24/05 – Dengue Fever – Hemlock
09/24/05 – Xiu Xiu, Yellow Swans, Okay – BOTH
10/08/05 – English Beat – Red Devil Lounge

8/19 10:16am
My response-
(Bingo!)

So we're going to see Name removed at the Hemlock Tuesday. Easiest damn personals transaction since "E" belatedly responded to my Mission of Burma [inlink]twisted,169[/inlink] ad way back when. That reminds me, I'll just have to see how big this guy's entourage is. I really don't feel like fighting my way up to first string again.

Later.

Please pass the wine.

Hi Denise. I don't know how quickly the word is getting around, but the
property at 23rd Street received a whopping 41 offers, with the winning
bid in the $1.8M range. So if Steve and I each shacked up with a partner
and ransomed our firstborns do you think we can swing it? (Just kidding!)

$1.8M. Yeah right! That's roughly twice the asking price. Even I'm not that delusional!

Back to the real estate listings.

p.s. - Did I mention that the latest strategy had been for me & Steve to move into the top floor flat together and find another partner to buy the middle flat (thereby dividing the cost by 3) while we collected $2000/mo rent from the bottom flat to go toward our share? I thought that was a brilliant plan, if I do say so myself. Not quite enough in the end, though.