So after returning home and IMing with Scott and Brian for a bit, I decided to head out and get a late lunch/early dinner.
I went to the nearby Fridays, as I’ve been wanting to try those fried green beans (they were pretty good), and there was some small, retarded part of me that was thinking that maybe – just maybe – I would get a cute waitress who would flirt with me and take pity on me because I was alone on my birthday.
I knew better, of course, because I never get a cute waitress, or even an uncute waitress. I always get a guy.
Still, hope springs etc., so I went inside and tried to make a funny comment to the very cute (and very underage) hostess, but it was a misfire.
(She said, “Smoking preference?” I said, “Non-smoking.” I then added, “Of course, my actual preference would be to still smoke, but since I did quit I might as well stick with it.” Blank look and then, “So…non-smoking?” I sighed and said, “Yes, non-smoking.”)
After that she brought me to the most hidden and out of the way booth so that the other customers wouldn’t have to see the lonely pathetic guy (Birthday Bonus: There was a couple with a screaming toddler in the booth next to me.).
I sat down and waited for the inevitable greasy teenage dork waiter that I knew I would get, but was surprised instead by a balding hipster.
See? This time it was different.
Oh, wait, it was still a guy, so it really wasn’t all that different.
He kept calling me “man,” but had some sort of speech issues, so it almost sounded like he was saying “ma’am.”
In any case, I ordered the green beans, which, as mentioned, were pretty good, and a chicken Caesar salad that wasn’t so good (it was grilled chicken and the chicken was a little too charred).
I thought about ordering some kind of desert, but the couple had set their toddler to toddling, and he had toddled right over by me and proceeded to let out random brain-piercingly loud animalistic bleats of some kind, so that killed that idea.
I mean it literally killed it. The sound stabbing into my brain skewered the idea right through the hear and it bled out right there in my brain pan. And with a wife and three kids at home. Poor idea, never hurt anyone in its life.
So that was fun. In fact, it was so much fun that I rushed home, locked the door and decided that I’m never ever dining out alone again.
(Until the next time.)
Oh yeah, the moving thing.
So sometime shortly after I bought my condo, because that’s how the Universe works, the developer stopped all work on converting the apartments over to condos, began extending renters’ leases, and eventually stopped even trying to sell any more units and went back to strictly renting and tried to sell the whole shooting match to some other developer – as an apartment complex, not as condos.
Obviously this was not a good thing, particularly considering that out of 318 units they only managed to sell 58.
So we owners decided to do something about it and selected a representative to talk to the developer. The result, as I found out today, is that they’ve offered to buy all 58 units back at the original purchase price.
It would be nice if we could get them to pay more, but to do so would most likely mean involving a lawyer and suing and who knows how long that would take.
So far it seems that everyone realizes this, and we will most likely accept the offer.
That means moving (unless I wanted to stay here and rent my place, which I don’t).
I don’t want to go back to renting – though conceivably I could actually get my old apartment back because they did the whole apartments to condos and back to apartments thing as well, and given that eventually my job is moving from Reston to Dulles (and hopefully not to India), that would put me much closer to work – so I’m going to have to go house-hunting again.
Fortunately this time around I’ll be armed with much better credit, a higher income, and money in the bank, so I should be able to find something bigger and better.
I’d like to get a small townhome – the higher cost would be offset by the lower cost of HOA fees compared to condo fees – but at the very least if I go into another condo I’ll be sure to go into an established development.
The other thing I’ll be doing? Hiring movers, because I am never carrying that goddamn couch up any stairs ever again.
Anyway, a bit ago my sister Kim called to wish me a happy birthday, and we chatted for a while.
I didn’t get – or expect – any cards in the mail, though I did get some back issue comics that I’d ordered from Mile High Comics. Still waiting on my bags and boards to get shipped.
And that’s been my Big! Exciting! 35th Birthday Extravaganza Extraordinaire!
Join us next year for the rebroadcast.
No comments:
Post a Comment