The Hobbit's Habits

Okay, so last week more stuff happened with the Hobbit when he came home in the middle of the night. This time, I'm not really ticked off about it so much as amused by it. One morning last week, Jake and I woke up and found that he left a couple of empty beer bottles in the middle of the floor. He had to have purposefully gone out of his way to place them right where everyone walks. They weren't sitting next to the futon or anywhere logical. Jake moved the bottles to the side of the futon so that they weren't in the middle of the floor. Jake left for work and I went to the fitness center to exercise. I came back, only to find that while we were gone, Justin took the bottles and put them right back in the middle of the floor! What a freak! When Jake came back from work, he put the bottles on top of the coffee table, where they remained for the rest of the week.

Then, on Friday night, Jake and I heated up a pizza, drank some beer, and watched a movie. I didn't throw away my beer bottles or put my plate in the dishwasher before we went to bed. I left them behind on the coffee table. When Jake and I got up the next morning, Justin had thrown my plate on the floor, had taken my beer bottles and placed them in the middle of the floor, and had added more of his own beer bottles and put them out in the floor. Yeah, I'm pretty sure he is waaaaay messed up in the head.

I ended up throwing out all of the recycling (including the empty bottle of rum and Pepsi can Justin had left in the kitchen). I don't know whether or not I should have or not. I don't know if Justin thinks he's yielding some great power over me by getting me to take care of his shit (it took me all of 15 seconds to actually clean up...). All I know is that I think he's acting in an infantile manner and it just makes me laugh. I feel sorry for anyone that might end up in a relationship or something with him. He really doesn't communicate what the hell his deal is...

I've thought about writing him a note telling him that it would be okay if he talked to me or Jake when he's in the apartment with us. I actually drafted something up that I thought was amusing, but Jake seems to think that it's completely hopeless and that I shouldn't bother. I am sort of curious to find out exactly how much of a paranoid weirdo this guy is... And did I exacerbate some sort of underlying personality disorder in this guy simply by showing up in Virginia?

What should I do? Just write him off? I don't really know him and I don't really know how he operates. For now, I've just been locking the bedroom door at night because I really don't know how pissed off he is and what he's really pissed over. I'm not scared, but I don't want to risk anything by giving him access to my room while I'm sleeping. So, do I write him a note? Bake some cookies and put up a sign that says, "You can eat one...they're not poisoned or anything..."?

We move in less than two weeks. Yay!

Remotive

So, I found out from my dad that Al has a new band. He talked to Al's mom at Piggly Wiggly in Princeton and she gave him the website for the band and Al's email to pass along to me. Check it out here. I sent Al an email to check in on what he's been up to, so I kind of hope he gets back to me.

There's No Place Like Home

I still don't feel like I'm at "home" yet in here in Arlington. I'm looking forward to moving because I really want a place to feel settled into. I've known all along that this living situation would be temporary, so I haven't been able to think of it as home. It's more like a long stay in a hotel...just with all my worldly possessions as well.

Maybe if I start at a job, it'll help me feel more at home. I have no sense of purpose at the moment. I try to pretend like I have this important daily routine and schedule, but I really don't. The biggest thing that I have to a purpose these days is making sure that I plan and cook dinner for Jake and myself in the evening.

Am I a bitch for slamming the Hobbit online in my last post? I feel a bit guilty for doing it. Oh well...it's not like I have people here to call up and rant to about it.

I heard recently that the Health and Human Services's "recommended" amount of daily exercise for adults to maintain their weight is 60 minutes a day! They recommend 90 minutes a day for people trying to lose weight. Holy shit...maybe this is why I've been working out for 30 minutes a day for the last month and a half and haven't seen any change in anything. Nope, haven't lost an ounce of weight. I also checked my blood pressure yesterday at the pharmacy and it's gone up since the last time I was at the doctor. I made the blood pressure cuff-thingy squeeze my arm three separate times, and every time the reading came out right around 150/100. Shit. I think the last time I was at the doctor it was around 139/90 and they told me I needed to watch it then. Of course, Jake hopped on and checked his blood pressure right after me and he came out at like 120/70 or something.

I have a job interview on Friday. It's for a real job this time. Scary. This job would involve a decent amount of driving and being on-call 24/7. Huh. I don't know how I feel about that, but I do know that a real job would be nice. It would also be nice to hear back from more of the jobs I've applied to. Crap, I hate rejection.

I talked to a guy in the elevator of our building yesterday. Well, more accurately, he talked to me. I found out that he had just moved here this summer, that he had grown up in a small town in Illinois, and that he went to school at UW-Platteville. I of course told him that I am from Wisconsin. I should have at least found out what his name was or what apartment he lives in here. He held the elevator door open for a while to talk to me as I was getting off of it. Then he just said, "Well, see you around..." when he let the elevator door close. I doubt I'll see him again, though...the liklihood of me running into him in the next two and a half weeks before I move out it is pretty slim.

You can't talk to a psycho like a normal human being

So, before I moved here, I thought that Justin's assholish personality was just some sort of joke. I thought he was joking about being a spiteful, angry, bitter person. Not so. I'm pretty sure that he seriously *is* an asshole. It never clicked until I moved out here with him...this is why a lot of the guys at Triangle, etc. don't like him.

Anyway, there have been two incidents in the past week that have pissed me off. As usual, he still can't condescend to say hello to me or Jake any time he comes into the apartment. Luckily, we still don't see him too often. I don't know what he does with his time. However, on Wednesday night at about 1:30am, he decided that he wanted his presence known. I woke up to hear doors repeatedly slamming out in the hallway. First his bedroom door, then his bathroom door, then the front door, then his bedroom door again, then his bathroom door again...SLAM!SLAM!SLAM!SLAM!SLAM!SLAM! Then I heard him in his bathroom throwing up...because he's a drunk ass. I think he honestly thought of the slamming the doors in the hallway as some sort of "retribution" for Jake trying to enter his room at night a few weeks back (the little bit that I do know about Justin is that he really believes in revenge...like the time he purposefully left Jake's umbrella in a bar because Jake accidentally broke one of his glasses in the dishwasher. Ass.). Our apology note from a few weeks ago, which he had left hanging on his bedroom door, was taken down the next morning. What a fucker.

The second incident happened last night. Jake and I were asleep when Justin came in at 12:30am and turned on a movie in the living room. He cranked up the volume on Jake's speakers and we could hear the bass thumping in our bedroom. I lay in bed saying "What The Fuck." I decided that I did not want to put up with his crap, so I walked out into the living room, still groggy from being awakened and said, "Can you turn that down some?" He replied, "Perhaps that can be arranged," and picked up the stereo remote to turn down the volume. I said, "Thanks." He responded by saying, "Tell Jake he's welcome." WTF? I guess I don't count as a person or something...it was ME asking him to turn down his shit. ME. He can say "You're welcome" to ME. Anyway, he didn't really turn down the volume, so I had to hear his stupid movie for the next two hours. ASSHOLE.

I had a good laugh this morning when I opened the refrigerator and found that Justin had placed a bunch of bananas in there. HAHAHA. That's like rule #1 with bananas...they like the tropical equator, so you don't put them in the refrigerator. You know, like the Chiquita bananas song.

In conclusion, not only is he an asshole, but he's a stupid asshole.

If he thinks we're going to actually share the expenses to rent a U-haul with him when we move out...he's got another thing coming. He'll have to actually *gasp* have an actual conversation with us in order for that to happen. He can't just keep sending Jake emails demanding whatever he wants...

The Early Birds Get the Worm

Jake and I signed the lease on an apartment on Sunday. We're still waiting to see if our credit is going to be approved and if we have it for sure, but I'm certain that won't be a problem. We're supposed to know tomorrow.

Anyway, I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to get this apartment. We are trying to save money for the wedding and other expenses (e.g., my student loans and random trips and stuff we want to do), so looking for an apartment in the area we're currently in was pretty much ruled out. The rents keep increasing, and now that Justin will not be contributing to the rent, we are in the market for something cheaper. Jake and I looked at seven or eight larger apartment complexes a bit further out over the weekend. None were too close to where Jake works or to the Metro, really. All of them did offer shuttles to the Metro and were on buslines, so I'm sure it would have worked out fine. However, I like being able to walk and get on the Metro and it's much more convenient for Jake to be closer to work. We also would most likely not have been able to afford a place with a washer and dryer in it (only one of the apartments we considered had a washer and dryer).

Anyway, after spending all sorts of time looking at big complexes, Jake and I were trying to make a decision on Sunday afternoon. We narrowed down what we wanted to about four complexes, but none of them stood out as the best one to choose. We figured we should try to have something reserved somewhere because there weren't very many apartments coming open when we want to move (in fact, we got turned away looking at some places because they don't have any apartments available during our time frame). We were discussing which place to try to reserve when I randomly decided to take a peek on Craigslist to see if anything had been posted during the day. I came across a listing about an apartment in Old Town Alexandria not far from Jake's work. I told Jake he should get on the phone and call about it. Jake called and was able to set up an appointment to see the place an hour later. The man sounded a bit surprised because he said that he had just put the ad up on Craigslist. We showed up and were met by the landlord, Clifford. He was an older guy, maybe in his late 50s or early 60s (?) (I'm bad with people's ages sometimes...). He said that he could not believe how many phone calls he had been getting since placing the ad online. Indeed, his phone kept ringing as he showed us the place (he said, "Well, jeez, if it's my wife it's one thing, but..."). The apartment was small, but kind of cool. The building was put up in the 1930s and has hardwood floors. Clifford told us that he was planning to install central air and a washer/dryer into the apartment before people move in. Sweet! Even though the place is a little bit small and doesn't have a dishwasher, Jake and I agreed that the rent and location were too good to pass up. The neighborhood is full of little townhouses and smaller buildings, has free parking, and seems really quiet (at last, I won't have to hear the damn fire sirens all the time...right now we're down the street from the fire station). After Jake and I told Clifford that we were interested in signing a lease, we headed downstairs so he could get some papers from his truck. When we got outside, there was another couple our age waiting, wanting to see the apartment as well. Clifford had to explain to them that we had already taken it. While we went through the whole process of filling out forms, etc., we talked to Clifford and found out that it was his kids' idea to start listing apartments on Craigslist (his kids are in their twenties, and his daughter also lives in one of the apartments in the neighborhood of the apartment Jake and I got). He told us that typically he rents out his apartments through word-of-mouth. Clifford seems like an awesome guy and I think he'll be a great landlord. He owns all the apartments in the few blocks surrounding our apartment, and it seems that he knows everybody in the neighborhood. He told us about who our neighbors are (one is a woman who is a commercial airline pilot, another is a football player who is recovering from cancer). People were driving by and honking and waving at him and stuff while we were outside filling out the lease. Clifford encouraged us to get to know our neighbors and told us that sometimes the residents on the street put together a block party in August or September so that all the neighbors can meet. Man, from everything that I've read about "authentic happiness", it really seemed that this Clifford guy has the formula down pat. He told us that he feels that he's never worked a day in his life. He used to have a job with the Pentagon working on fighter jets, and he said that he would never look at the clock and the days would just fly by. Yay for a cool landlord and not having to deal with stupid management companies that just try to rip you off wherever they can!

Another cool thing about where we are going to live is that Jake's friend Brian A. lives two blocks away. Brian has a nice backyard area where he grows tomatoes and peppers and he has a grill and lawnchairs set up out there. When Jake and I found out that we were going to be Brian's neighbors, we went over and told Brian and Brian sat with us in his backyard and gave us a couple of beers to celebrate. Brian is a homebrewer, so Jake and I were teasing him and telling him that we are always going to come over and bug him to sample his beer when we move in. Hooray for beer!

Yo quiero enchiladas de pollo. Y una Corona, por favor.

Well, nothing has been happening on the job front. I don't know what to do. Blargh.

I want to throw a party tomorrow. Jake and I have been over to dinner at other people's houses about four times since I've moved out. I figure that it's time that we host. It should work out well because it seems that the Hobbit has now actually left until the 14th. We haven't seen him since the one weird night when we thought someone else was sleeping in the apartment. I don't know if this party is going to take off or not, though...I've been bugging Jake to send invitations to the people he works with and he didn't send them anything until today. I'm going to be sad if no one is able to come because I really want to make enchiladas and play board games.

Jake and I flew to Chicago last Friday. The main reason we came back was for Mitch and Danielle's wedding, which was on Sunday. We stayed with Jake's family on Friday and Saturday night, though, so we did a few things in Wisconsin before checking into the hotel for the wedding. On Friday night, I met Joe, who has been Jake's friend since middle school. I guess Jake's mom has always said Joe was "a bad influence". Anyway, we went with Joe, Melissa (Joe's wife), their one-and-a-half-year-old son, Kirk (Joe's brother), and Amy (Kirk's wife) out to dinner in downtown Janesville. Then, we went back to Joe's place and played poker. I, surprisingly, came out as the winner. I think that was my best night of poker ever, probably because we weren't playing for money. But, maybe I'll take my poker playing skills along with me to Atlantic City later this week (ha...not really...I think I'm going to be scared to put down money on anything). On Saturday, Jake and I went and got haircuts in Janesville. The lady who cut our hair told us that she used to work for the FBI and then after that worked at Bell Laboratories in New York, where she met and married John Wiley (current UW-Madison chancellor), who she later divorced. I don't know what made her end up cutting hair in Janesville... Saturday night, we got together with Jake's parents and my parents for dinner at Great Dane in Madison. This was the first time we've had all of our parents together at once. My mom and Jake's mom met when we did wedding tasting, but this is the first time our dads have been included in an outing. I think it wound up going fairly well and wasn't too awkward, which is good.

Mitch and Danielle's wedding was a good time. The whole thing was held at the Sofitel Hotel not far from O'Hare. The hotel had a free shuttle to and from O'Hare, which was nice for Jake and me. The ceremony was very nice and there was a lot of emphasis placed on family in what the rabbi talked about. I didn't realize that Danielle has two cousins who are rabbis. Both did readings during the ceremony. Between the ceremony and the reception, everyone spent time eating hors d'oeuvres (yup, had look up how to spell that...) and drinking. They had an open bar at the wedding, which did me in. Yeah...I need to learn moderation so as not to get any more hangovers. The hors d'oeuvres were really good, too. They had sushi and skewered beef and chicken...yum. After our dinner (stuffed chicken with rice), they also had a table full of different sweets, which was awesome. You can't go wrong with chocolate covered strawberries or chocolate covered anything, for that matter. The dance floor stayed fairly packed during the reception. Man, I think the way to go has to be to have a band playing "Hava Nagila" and everyone dancing in a circle. I'll have to copy that idea for my own wedding. ;) Jake and I managed to catch Mitch and Danielle for a picture together at one point during the night, so here it is...

On Monday, Jake and I took the train into Chicago and hung out around town before our flight left. We went to the original Billy Goat Tavern for lunch, walked around Navy Pier, peeked in some shops, and strolled through part of Milennium Park. Our flight landed back at Reagan National at the time it was supposed to, but then we sat on the ground for half an hour waiting for another plane to be moved away from the gate we were supposed to enter into. That was annoying.