bironic

Since last we spoke—warnings at the link for discussion of mental health, death fixation, weight, babies—I upped my meds dose again, got a promotion in honor of the crap-ton of work I did last summer while high on serotonin, and… bought a condo.

!

Given that the housing market here was obscene even before the pandemic hit, and based on friends' and coworkers' recent experiences and agents' advice, I'd expected to spend a long time browsing and making occasional offers that would be rejected in favor of cash offers way above asking price with every contingency waived before securing anything. So it was a surprise to have my first offer accepted, at asking price, just two months after taking a state-sponsored online home buying course.

I'd also expected, or even hoped, to land on one floor of the triple-deckers that define middle-income housing in the greater Boston area, or a small single-family home further out if I was extra lucky, yet here I am in a condo complex. It's got tall windows and trees outside and CENTRAL HEATING/COOLING and a POOL, it shouldn't involve too bad of a commute once we go back to the office in the fall, and it's two bedrooms instead of one, so for the first time in more than 10 years, visitors can enjoy a door when they stay over, along with not sweating or freezing their butts off.

On the one hand, my bank account now provides none of the safety net I'd taken comfort in for years. On the other hand, I can stop worrying about being kicked out at lease renewal time (*cough* last apartment) or not having control over things that should be fixed (*cough* current apartment). If you can believe it, the monthly mortgage payment will be less than what rent cost. Now to convince my brain to stop yelling THIS IS ALL A TERRIBLE MISTAKE at intervals and ease the occasional pit of dread in my stomach.

Move date is in less than a month.

I put together a registry and then dithered about sharing it online. Brain: It's tacky to ask people for stuff! It's extra tone deaf in a pandemic! Yet why should registries be the province only of people getting married or having kids? So here is the link. The intro contains some of my Thoughts and Feelings. I hope you will forgive me if you find the whole thing untoward.

Things to do today:
- Add to Remix (current word count: 400)
- See Only Lovers Left Alive
- Do rainy day chores
- Tell you about SUMMER VACATION

a.k.a. There is going to be one. At laaaast. I haven't taken a vacation beyond long weekends visiting friends/family since 2008: the summer I quit my job and went to grad school; the week I met

roga and

kassrachel abroad and

deelaundry when I got back.

Fittingly, Dee and I are taking this trip together. Well, the first half, anyway. We are going to London for about six days in mid-July, and then I am going on to Munich for another six days to visit my friend A., who moved there from D.C. with her husband and new baby the same week I moved to Boston.

First question: Do any of you live in or near these places, for possible meeting-up purposes? Other than the usual suspects (*cough*

catilinarian & M.).

LONDON

I've lived a bit in London and have gone back several times, although that was a while ago now. Dee has never visited. So our itinerary is going to be interesting. :) So far our loose list includes things like the London Eye and tickets to Richard III (set to star Martin Freeman), for Dee's Sherlock BBC fan purposes; a couple of markets and museums; and a sprinkling of off-the-beaten-path stuff I haven't seen before, like perhaps the UCL zoology collection (Jar of Moles!). Plus, of course, a lot of walking through various neighborhoods and passing-by of landmarks. And keeping an eye out for what festivals and performances might be going on that week. Further suggestions welcome.

Second question: Do any of you have favorite places to eat in the city?

MUNICH

I've never been to Germany. Researching Munich seemed intimidating, but the Wikipedia article actually helped a lot to start; now I've got a Google Map plotting lots of museums and famous buildings to check out. Third question: Opinions on what's over- or under-hyped there? Priorities for me are Dachau memorial, Viktualienmarkt, Deutsches Museum, Egyptian Museum, Pinakothek der Moderne, and the loop of sights around Marienplatz. Probably Olympiapark. My friend A. thinks we might be able to take a day trip to the Alps or Salzburg, too, but I'm not sure how much to bank on with the one-year-old and everything.

Fourth question: Any tips for picking up some traveler's German? Albeit with the understanding that (a) Bavaria is its own entity and (b) it sounds like most people there have good English. I can puzzle out written German about as well as any native English speaker with an affinity for languages, but listening comprehension and speaking are another matter.

IN CONCLUSION

Taking more than two days off work, having the opportunity to go to Europe for the first time in six years (when after college by living with my dad I used to be able to save up enough to go almost every summer for cons and whatnot), the combination of nostalgia for London and excitement about visiting somewhere new, and sharing the time with friends are all lighting up my life right now. As time passes since booking the flights and hotel, those things are more successfully outweighing the cost of traveling in peak tourist season, eek. I am also watching out for the usual "we must pack all our days as fully as possible!" instinct and working instead to just be chill about the whole endeavor.

\vacation/

1. The melody, harmony, vocal quality and especially the chord progression in Hero by Family of the Year bring me right back to growing up listening to the radio in the '80s. Probably reminds me of Phil Collins' and David Crosby's* own Hero. Maybe even the simple, earnest song that ended the second Care Bears movie, Forever Young by Carol Parks (not the same as Rod Stewart's).

2. Finished S6 of True Blood. Because of... stuff... I went back and rewatched The Scene with Godric (YouTube; spoilers) from S2's "I Will Rise Up." It's still excellent. I still love it in a way that's hard to articulate. The blood tears, the raw emotion, the ancient relationship, the slipping between languages. The unremarked-upon homosexual overtones. The crack in a favorite character's persona. Eric has never been so beautiful, kneeling there with his voice breaking. And enriching it all is the echo of Marius/Armand.

3. Mostly, though, lately I am too full of things. Emotions all over the place. It took longer than it should have to realize that the inability to write so much as an email or concentrate at work or sit still long enough to add clips to a vid, and the general irritability toward anyone asking me for something, arose from my trying to stuff too much into the week. Concentrating on nutrition and exercising, planning travel (more on that soon, it is going to be super), doing chores, consuming media, trying to make fannish things, balancing work and social events, worrying about budgets, worrying about health things, fighting poor sleep... Wish that habit of keeping too busy to brood were easier to fix. :/

4. Happy Easter, Easter-celebrating friends. Happy two-days-left-of-matza, Passover-celebrating friends. Happy Patriot's Day/Marathon Day tomorrow, running friends. My officemate is running. The heart of the city has been on its sleeve the past week, marking the anniversary of what happened last year.

*Trying to identify a young, long-haired singer in the background of a sessions shot with David Crosby on YouTube led to the startling discovery that Neil Young was good-looking back in the day! In the latter shot especially, he's got a lovely Hugo Weaving brow going on. Thumbs up. Most of the time, though, it seems he looked like the lovechild of Hugh Laurie and Joel McHale. Y/Y?

Dude. Framing stuff is expensive. I mean, I knew it was expensive, I just didn't know that a 60% discount amounts to around what I thought it would cost full-price.

Dear self: This is why you've been doing extracurricular jobs. Stop freaking out.

I also just signed up for an Irish dance class. It's been three years since I last did it (other than last night, when I put the shoes back on and tried to remember, like, the basic steps of a hornpipe) and I have forgotten most of what I ever knew, but the instructor still recommended intermediate level. I really hope it's not embarrassing. I hate not being great at things, hate being lost and confused and behind. But I'm looking forward to learning again, and getting off my computer-addicted butt, and maybe meeting some new people.

It'll mean having to watch House on Tuesdays, but even I know that's a bad reason not to sign up for something.

And tomorrow I am on mandatory telework, so I do not have to get dressed! At least until it's time for Yom Kippur services. Or time to walk down the hall to do laundry.

Hm. It may be tough tomorrow to refrain from adding to one of the three WsIP on my list while working from home. Speaking of which: Here are some stories I have enjoyed lately.

I wish House were the kind of fandom that embraced a kink meme.

In conclusion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtVh8kVZ_XM (Zooey & Joseph's bank robbery dance)

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