Caring about small things. And real estate.

Sometimes I hate posting about things when I'm in the middle of them -- not wanting to waste people's time writing up a moment that won't last, or add more importance to it with words. And other times, I hate this tendency of mine because other small things get lost in my silence. With that:

• The big thing I've been quiet about is a new rental condo that I'm (maybe) buying. It's less than 10 minute walk from my house and ticks all my important boxes. There is diciness to the situation since I'll be the first buyer of a 3-unit house that someone else is flipping, but there's also security in a full renovation (with 1-year builder's warranty!) and in, you know, me already knowing how to deal with condos and tenants. The seller and I aren't on any of the same pages AFAICT, and yesterday I thought I was going to walk away from the deal and wait for the next thing to pop up -- but the moment they understood I wanted my deposit back, they caved and gave me what I wanted. The housing market is softening and we can assume I paid a little high for the unit, but it's just what I wanted in terms of being flexibly rentable (good for roommates, not just for a couple or single person), great location, low maintenance, walking distance. It's also by far the smallest unit in the building, so condo fees will be low, heh heh. I just hope the seller succeeds in selling those other units at SOME price because I don't wanna be running a house with him for very long.


• I've been taking fanatical care of my tiny plants since the Great Encrispening of late June, and on July 7 I noted the very first new green leaves on one of them. Well, as of this week they are all showing signs of regrowth, even the one I really thought might be dead and had begun to sing encouraging little songs to. My dreams of them spreading out and being groundcover are deferred, but at least I didn't kill them?


• Perfectly on topic for caring too much about small living things: the other thing is that I got really sad and knocked off my center over the weekend by a dead baby bird. Said bird was killed right outside a window I was just inside of, by my boyfriend's puppy who is only partially trained, and I heard it happen -- although a lot of what I really heard was mother bird freaking out in the dog's face -- and then, just to make matters worse, nobody else seemed upset about it. So that was a hard dose of depression and alienation and (resultant) sleeplessness. It got better the next day when I finally affirmed that there hadn't been a nest there, and this unfortunate fledgling being there in the lawn was a surprise and an unhappy accident for all. So, no human negligence. I still thought a lot of thoughts about how some get only the tiniest little scrap of life while others get... what I've gotten so far. Sigh... somehow it's never super smooth when boyfriends get puppies.


• No wait, let's stay on topic! I heard that there's controversy about Superman saving a squirrel in the latest movie. Yeah well, learning about that scene is going to make me go see it, and so there. Superman can't save every lower creature but he'll save the ones he sees and can reasonably help. I like this Reddit comment: Gunn’s interpretation made me believe that this Clark would do everything in his power, as a normal civilian, to help all life. Like he’d be in all sorts of humanitarian aid programs and voluntary work just cause he loves life that much. Neat detail, never thought about the character that way. And really, shouldn't humans and squirrels be equally negligible (or cute) to a superior Krypton being?

So, my actual week was literally spent getting myself re-centered after spiraling on Sunday. Most of my coping mechanisms involve knocking as many things off my to-do list as I can, which may explain a few things. However, some things:

• Ice cream party at Gracie's in which we got educated about ice cream and then the host (birthday boy) got to have a custom flavor made in their ice cream machine! That was fun and I really learned things, like that "overrun" is the amount of air incorporated into ice cream during freezing. Also, ube ice cream is really good (and purple) -- I had just a bite, of course, because dairy.


• Whole lot of work on organizing a volunteer weeding effort around my part of town. I volunteered to organize in order to figure out my burnout level with respect to organization, and so far I'm doing okay with it but it's a pain. Probably going to disappoint a few people whose weeds don't get pulled.


• Got my phone kitted out with a new battery and a new screen.


• Got stuck in Harvard Square for silly reasons, ended up speed-reading two books of Frieren manga that go out past the current end of the anime. It's good, but I concur that the anime is better.

I doubt that's really all, but my friend is showing up in 20 minutes to pick me up on a motorcycle and take me to brunch somewhere. Adventure brunch!! I should probably not still be in my glasses and underwear. Thus, I am off to make myself decent.