Things I overheard while talking to myself

So yeah… this is what I walked into when I got home today. The chair is not light either, so I’m nonplussed as to how she managed to knock it over. I think her face is the textbook definition of "I didn't do it!"

(The green thing is my bathrobe sash, which she loves to fight with since I think she thinks it’s like a snake, that I’d draped over the back so she could bat it. I didn’t expect her to knock the chair clean over, though!)

Wow. In my job I sometimes run across stories that make me shake my head, but this one was special.

I called the town to ask what had happened to a project since the developer has gone AWOL on us, and the town clerk explained to me that they didn't wind up going forward with it. Fairly standard story.

Then she says "Yeah, it was pretty much dead in the water as soon as the whole business with that ethics violation came up."

At that point I stopped her and asked, naturally, what ethics violation, since we hadn't heard anything about this. She then explained that the son of this developer used to be the director of the town's Housing Authority, and at the same time they were trying to get this project off the ground it came out that the son had been fined $5000 since he circumvented housing waitlists for his friends, who evicted themselves from their home, which was owned by a real estate trust they controlled, so they got to the top of the list due to an "emergency." He then had his dad buy the property and resell it at a profit to the tune of a hundred thousand dollars, which he pocketed. There was also the matter of some forgery of documents that gave veteran's housing to someone who was not actually a veteran, but a friend of the family.

At that point it became obvious why this project never went forward. Mainly that in the town's opinion they couldn't trust this guy or his dad as far as they could throw him, so this guy made the wise decision to bail on this new project.

That's not quite the craziest story we've had, but that's up there on the WTF meter. Is it any wonder our program gets a bad rep when our developers try to pull shit like this, and worse, are dumb enough to get caught?

So a few days ago at work I had to call a developer who we'd lost track of to ask what had happened with his project, if it had ever gone forward, etc., and he called me back and left me a voicemail. He explained that they'd started the process a couple of years ago but they couldn't reach agreements with the town boards, the economy tanked, and pretty much a fairly standard story for that type of project that doesn't go forward.

Then he paused for a second and said "I should also probably mention that the site got hit with a tornado a few months back."

Now if he'd told me that three months ago I would have thought he was pulling my leg, but he was dead serious. It was really the delivery that sealed the deal since he said it totally deadpan, and I just burst out laughing. He then added "Though that did take care of the problem of what we were going to do with the trees on that site..."

Truth is stranger than fiction, folks.

So it was probably a good thing I stayed in last night, since 13 people were shot or stabbed during a period of five hours last night. To be fair none of those took place near me (maybe due to the fact that Downtown was staffed by the better part of a brigade's worth of police), but still...

So we seem to be cursed with stuff breaking lately. Today it was the hot water heater in the apartment that decided to shit the bed. D apparently heard Thomas meowing at about 7 in the morning, but didn't think much of it since he tends to do that anyway if he feels he's not getting enough attention (read: always) but she heard a different tone to it, got up and proceeded to step into about a foot* an inch of water. Yup, the hot water heater, which was probably the same age as me, bit the dust. Our poor downstairs neighbors also came up and told us their apartment was leaking as a result.

All this was happening when I was semi-asleep, since D woke me up to tell me what was happening and I went back to bed since I didn't have to get up for another two hours. D called the maintenance guy, so over the next two hours I heard the guys come in, take the old one out and install a new one while speaking a language I'm still not quite sure of (I'm pretty sure it wasn't a Slavic one since I'd have recognized at least some bits of it) including one point when I sat up and thought "Is that a welding torch I'm hearing?" It was. They were in and out in about an hour. Impressive.

And the good news is that this one is more energy efficient, so it'll hopefully cut down on the utility bills. And luckily I have to pay for none of it since it's the landlord's responsibility.

I did manage to get the air conditioner installed yesterday without either dropping it on my foot or dropping it into the courtyard, so at least that went without incident.

* That was how I originally typed that before I reread it. Now that would be a problem!

So I ran over to the CVS to get some stuff a few minutes ago, and a lady in there was, to put it mildly, going absolutely apeshit. Screaming into her cell phone, screaming at the employees, and throwing around more curses than me while playing Mass Effect last night.

I didn't want to get anywhere close because I wasn't certain this lady wouldn't turn around and attack me, but from what I could tell it was over a battery. At one point what I assume were her relatives showed up, and so we went from one screaming cursing person to five. Apparently police were called, but I got out of there before things got too nuts.

Jesus Christ, I know people in the North End have a reputation for being... boisterous, as one might put it, but that was just grade A out of control.

So that has to be one of the weirder dream experiences of late. Essentially, a recursive dream and a nightmare about a nightmare.

Last night I started to get terrible indigestion around two in the morning, and though it eventually lessened it was pretty uncomfortable. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what it was that I ate that did that. I woke up sometime around 9 with my alarm, but then somehow fell back asleep.

And the dream I had was about... being in a dream. Or more specifically, having sleep paralysis, aka the body still being asleep but the mind being awake, which happens to be one of my phobias since you can't move or communicate. It was fairly freaky, since I wanted to move but couldn't, and I was thoroughly convinced that it was real until I woke up for real and was able to get up in real life without problems. It was still pretty weird, and it was only later that I made the Inception connection.

GET OUT OF MY HEAD, DOM COBB!

Angelo's comment on this was "we need to get you a top."

Loathe as I am to quote Spring Awakening, a musical I hate, the title of that song pretty much describes my situation.

My laptop is likely kaput. As I was heading back on the T from D&D last night the water bottle I have in my backpack exploded, and I didn't notice at first because it was on my back and I couldn't feel it. It got the right side of my laptop, where the "on" button is, wet. So it won't turn on. I discovered this at about midnight last night. The light indicating that it is plugged in will come on when the power cord is in it, but the computer itself will not boot up. I took out the battery, put it back in, plugged it in, unplugged it, etc., nothing. I knew I was fucked.

Because I couldn't sleep well I got up around 6 this morning, and got to the Staples in Government Center as soon as I could. I basically hung around until they opened at 8 and went straight in. They told me that they're going to have their tech come in later today and give me a call about what he can do, but so far they think that saving the hard drive will be all they can do. But then again I told them about 5 times that saving the hard drive is the main priority, and even if I have to get a new computer as long as I have my files I'll be okay. I really don't want to have to start from scratch on my writing projects again. I also had to plunk down $70 on the spot just to have them look at it. They'll probably have a final word on it by Sunday. I'm prepared to use my credit card, which I hardly ever use, if I need to buy a new one, which will probably put me out about $300, but I don't have much choice and it's a lot better than the alternative. Such is what the modern life of a college student is -- you really do need a working computer these days.

The worst part? The other day I had the feeling that I should back it up, but didn't. Fuck. I should have listened to my gut. Oh, and the manufacturer's warranty expired last month, but they probably wouldn't cover this anyway. Water and electronics apparently HATE me.

I am so gonna need a beer, perhaps several, by the time today is over.

That was one of the most miserable experiences of my entire life.

I planned today to go down to Hyde Park and drop off the RCN stuff, then turn around and go to the North End and put up my moving permits and drop off some stuff. So I go down to Ruggles, get a ticket with some help and jump on a Commuter Rail train.

Here's the thing, it was the wrong train. And they give you NO FUCKING WAY to tell, no sign on the front, no conductor over the loudspeaker, nothing, they use the same tracks and it arrived at the time the one I wanted was supposed to be there. So once I'm onboard I realize I have to turn around and jump off at the next station, a place called Readville. I have no idea where the fuck that is except it's the wrong place. This was at 1.

I should add at this point that it looks like a fucking hurricane outside because it basically is. I brought my umbrella, but it didn't do much good considering that the wind was driving the rain sideways, so either way I ended up soaked to the bone since there's basically no shelter at this place.

After a while I decide, what the hell, I'll use my cab voucher book, call a cab and just get dropped off at the RCN office since it'll be faster than wait for a train and turn around. So I call them, and a young guy says that it'll take around 25 minutes to half an hour for one to show up. I say it's fine because the next train is at 3.

AN HOUR LATER I call them back because nothing has shown up, and I get a girl instead and explain that I already called and give my location. She then says in the most condescending, if-I-could-punch-her-through-the-phone voice ever, "You'll have to call a local cab company" and hangs up. HANGS UP.

So I finally accepted that I'll just have to wait, and at this point there's hardly an inch of me that's not soaked and I'm thinking that I'm starting to get hypothermic since I'm losing feeling in my hands. Eventually the train shows up, I hop back on and get home as fast as I can, since returning the RCN stuff today is a lost cause. Basically, I was stuck in the middle of nowhere for TWO HOURS in a fucking hurricane and the cab company basically gave me the finger.

And you know what the worst part is? I'M STILL NOT FUCKING DONE WITH TODAY! I still have to go up and put the permits up since they have to be up 48 hours ahead of time, so I need to dry off, get dressed and drag my ass back to the train.

FUCK. THAT. And I still need to return the fucking cable equipment! That whole experience was a total waste!