Random thoughts....

I've been filled with musics this week, but lacking time to write them down, so half are gone andhalf are no longer relevent and the few that are left, well.... here goes....



I know politics get me riled up a bit and that's normal, especially with the upcoming election and the current state of affairs in the nation. So I think I posted this run-down of the subprime lending crisis already... but oh well. See, here's the thing... everytime someone talks about the housing crisis and all the foreclosures - yeah, it sucks. BUT whenever someone talks about bailing out the people being foreclosed, I just nearly have a conniption! Yes, I realize that there are people being affected who lost their job and can't pay... or maybe they're elderly and their health care bills are going through the roof and they can't pay (don't EVEN get me started on health care!) Shit happens. I understand this. but I also understand that we've been living in a culture for the past 15 to 20 years that thrives upon living above our means. Everyone wants the best and gets the best unless they can't get credit for it.... Then I've been listening to the Presidential debates on my iPod at work and it was everything I could do to keep from screaming and throwing things during that second town-hall style debate. McCain was talking about his plan to save the eceonomy and homeowners - foreclosure bailouts! McCain's plan, as presented in that debate was for the Gov to buy up all the foreclosure mortgages and renegotiate the mortgage based on the value of the house right now. BULLSHIT! YOU ARE NOT USING MY MONEY FOR THAT!!!!!! When we bought our house about a year and a half ago, the bank told us "we approve you for $522K." I just about fell out of my chair laughing at them. There was and still is NO way anyone should be approving us for that kind of loan. J & I took our current rent, figured out what we could afford to pay per month above that and still live extremely comfortablely... then figured out how much we had to put down and said "we can buy something for $_x_ or less." Then.... guess what... we looked for something in that range..... and we bought something in that range.... it also, coincidentally, was in a range that we could still pay if one of us lost our jobs. We'd be eating Ramen, but we could still pay. If we both lost our jobs.... well, I could always get a temp position and then we'd have to make soup out of shoe leather, but we'd make it work. That's what our grandparents did. Coincidentally, when they talk about how the housing prices have dropped, We've already "lost" our downpayment if we had to sell right now. So I really, really, REALLY don't want to hear about people who bought the barbie dream house getting to renegotiate and only pay what the house is worth right now because they were dumb-asses and believed the bank when they were approved for the max amount. I know you people are out there!!! I mean, if I had known this all was going to happen.... I'd have bought a 1920s bungalow in Clarendon with the $522 and then get off paying a lot less....



OK, enough ranting... I'm moving to New Zealand as soon as they pass a bill equivalent to rewarding dumb-asses.



On a lighter note, I was surprised to learn that I need to learn how to take a bath. I got some free time Monday night & decided to try out the new tub. LOVE IT! It gives me about 9-10 extra inches deep of water compared to my old tub. My plan: read the Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, make hot chocolate with Bailey's, light a pumpkin candle, dim the lights, fill the tub, relax. The plan was good. My thoughts: the tub will take longer to fill & it always cools off as it fills, so I need to run the water warmer than usual & I'll shut the bathroom door so that the heat stays in. The thoughts were not as good as the plan. : ( Who would have thought that I'd have to re-learn how to take a bath?? Apparently it's like getting used to a new stove or oven. The reality: The tub did take longer to fill, but there was also more buffer above the warm water down below so it retained its heat rather well. When the water reached a suitable level, I turned it off & relaxed into reading, took a sip of hot chocolate and learned that the side of the tub is not level, but slightly inward slanted. I learned this as my mug started to tumble into the tub and I lost about 25% of the drink in the water... Chocolate bath - cool or ew? so then I decided the soap shelf was a better mug-placement. No more mishaps, but after a while, I noticed that sweat was rolling down my face and my heart was racing pretty good. Not cool. I tried to stick it out until the water cooled down a bit. Maybe 15 mins? Maybe it did cool down, but neither the air nor the water was cool enough to offer relief and by this point my eyes were starting to sting from the sweat and my book was getting damp because of the water that splashed up as I tried to wipe the sweat away. Finally, I gave up, let the water out and then laid in the bottom of the tub cooling off in the steamy room. I was probably there for a good 1/2 hour and thought that J would probably think I had had a tragic accident if he walked in on me because both feet were up against the wall at odd angles and my neck was in a totally kinked position. It shouldn't have been comfortable.... ah well.

Wel, that's about it. I guess I need to re-learn how to take a bath, I just picked up more paint samples and think I figured out which one I lost 3 weeks ago... and it's Halloween!!!!

Happy Halloween all!