Monday, March 19

Flat Hunting Adventures Continue . . .

So after my rather nice experience last Thursday, I was very optimistic about Saturday's viewings, here are the three stories:

Flat One:
I met up with MissyLou at the bus stop & we proceeded over to the first flat of the day. WOW, this place was fantastic! The rooms were bright & large, the place was clean. This place is a house, not just a flat. The house has a private entrance at ground level, but the house itself is on the first and second floor (with a one-bed flat below). It has cream walls and carpets and is fully double-glazed. On the ground floor entrance there is a second toilet and area for shoes, on the first floor there is a large, fully fitted kitchen with dishwasher and washer/dryer, a dining room, a lounge room and a spare room for when guests come to stay. On the top floor there are 4 double bedrooms, a 3-piece bathroom (with shower over the bath) and a separate shower room. There are 3 girls and a couple who live there now, with one of the girls moving out.

The room up for offer is large (you could fit about 3 double beds in it I guess), has cream walls and a light carpet. It is fully furnished with a fitted wardrobe, chest of drawers, double bed (which is less than a year old) and a desk/table. The room has 2 double-glazed windows on different walls, which means it gets lots of light, and has a double radiator.

Only problem here was that the girls who were going to be living there were not in, so I would have to come back on Sunday to meet them. NOT a problem as I really liked the place!!!

Flat Two:
Had we not just called to say we were lost, we would have just kept on walking, based on what we saw on the exterior of the building, but we sucked it up & walked up to the 3rd floor, wading our way through piles of smelly garbage & flies. The boy as I will call him, answered the door in jeans that looked like they had been painted on (not attractive at all!!). He was a bit shorter than I am & his eyes were about at my chest level, which normally would not be a big deal expect for the fact that instead of looking up to speak to me, he decided to just look straight at my chest the entire time MissyLou & I were there!!!! The inside of the flat was not horrific, but the boy looked like he was strung out on some drug & told us he worked as a music journalist, he tried to say he went to a few gigs a month, but the girl tenant corrected him with a few a week. The living room was really rather small for 3 people. I could not get over the stench of the stairwell!!

Flat Three:
A rather homely looking woman answered the door, showed us up to the flat & one at a time we entered. One at a time b/c when the door opened there was only room for 1 person to walk in, step around the door & let the next person in. I was not really thrown off by this, at first. Carefully we made our way down the hall to see the bathroom, again step in next to sink, close door before being able to reach shower or toilet. From there we went to the room that was being offered & she explained that everything but the bed was staying, so I would have to buy a bed?!?!?! Then on to the kitchen, which was typical, no problems there. Then down 3 steps to the living room/dinning room. Where we met the tenant who was moving out. The girl who will be staying said, "okay, ask away" and the guy started to fire questions at me. I thought it was funny that he was asking questions since he was the one moving out - shouldn't she be asking them?!?!?! Whenever she spoke (which wasn't often) especially when answering a question I asked, she would defer to him - I found that a big strange.

So after a long interesting day, MissyLou & I parted ways to go home. I had made plans to meet with the girls from the first flat at 1pm on Sunday. Saturday night was uneventful, Jim & I just watched movies & went to bed around midnight.

Sunday I woke up, showered, had breakfast & headed back down to meet the girls. They were super sweet & I really enjoyed them both. They announced it was between me & one other girl & that they will email me on Monday, so I've got my fingers crossed!! Will let you know asap.

Last night, Jim made pizza while I was talking to my mom -

I had called to wish her a Happy UK Mother's Day. I also had to tell the funny story of someone who shall remain nameless (recalling that Rob is away for 4 weeks) fell asleep on the couch Friday night with a FULL glass of pineapple juice in their hand. I woke up Saturday morning, stepped into the living room & the couch cushions were missing all of their covers & there was a faint smell of pineapple in the air. I looked in the washing machine & there were the covers, Arsenal shirt & jeans which nameless person had been wearing the night before. Apparently said person woke up when said person spilled the juice all over themselves, the couch, and all three remotes (TV, cable, and surround sound stereo). Feel free to laugh as hard as you want, I sure did & so did said nameless person.

I also wanted to wish my mum a Happy 26th Anniversary today - YEAH MOM, you rock!!!! Isn't that amazing?!?!?

BTW, it's hailing outside right now & yesterday I got stuck in a major hail storm, where it came at an angle & ruddy hurt when it hit your face :(

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Tuesday, February 27

Tom Hanks & Intro to Disease

did anyone see the Oscar's where Tom Hanks started reciting the steps of AA? See Zee & I are brilliant from our other post! I missed it but mom told me about it :)

Also please check out this great blog as well called, AdkPathCourse, by my previous boss in New York. It's funny because in the 4 years we worked together I always thought how he was such a great teacher & what a loss that the education system didn't have him working for them and here he is teaching :) I think it's fantastic!!

Okay nap time for real now!!

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Thursday, February 22

Zee & I could save the world

So when chatting with my good friend Zee tonight we decided there are a few things that everyone should know/do. These 12 little steps come from AA, but as we were discussing how everyone could benefit from using them in their lives. Every time you read "alcohol" think of "life" and when you read "God/Him" think "higher power", so here goes:

  1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
  2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
  3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
  4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
  5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
  6. We're entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
  7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
  8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
  9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
  10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
  11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
  12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

so what do you think so far? Good right?!?!!? Well we further agreed that if we combine these 12 steps with some of the 10 commandments,

  • Honor your parents
  • You shall not murder
  • You shall not commit adultery
  • You shall not steal
  • You shall not bear false witness
  • You shall not covet your neighbor's wife
  • You shall not covet your neighbor's house

the world would be a much better place. Now I'm not expecting all of you to memorize & live by all of these immediately, but just think about them & maybe consider a few . . . well that's my 2 cents for the evening, catch ya laters

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