Shrub-a-dub-dub is droning away on the television (I love my mute button), and he’s looking stupefied as always. Not like the blog provides much more intelligence, but it’s real fucking hard to provide less.
I was talking to my neighbor Dwan (I typed it right — Dawn (moi) and Dwan have the two one-bedroom units on our floor) yesterday about the weird arbitrary rent hikes being imposed by the new management company. She got her notice already — $155 more per month for her. I am guessing, then, that this is what my rent hike will look like.
I’d decided NOT to tell her that my next-door neighbor in the 2BR unit only got a $75/month hike. But once I get my notice (and if it exceeds $75), I plan on raising holy hell. In any event, Dwan is moving in a few months — another good neighbor going away under the new regime. Fabulous.
In other semantics, we’ve been informed that the new company doesn’t want us sporting our old parking stickers anymore, and that if we don’t scrape those bitches off our windows and bring their tattered carcasses to the rental office post-haste, then we get a $100 fine slapped on us if we want our new tags. (And, of course, we DO want the privilege of parking in our lot!)
In other news, I’m getting older. Like, I am going to be 29+2 really soon. And I think I mentioned that we have a work soiree on my birthday, which is fine. It’s actually a good thing. My past two birthdays were spent with my best friend, eating and laughing and shopping and just having a ball. Both times, I’d been eyeballing things that I’d always wanted but never wanted to buy full-price. And both times, I got my dream item … and on a discount.
On my 29th birthday, I bought my emerald ring. And sure, it’s a tiny stone, but it’s the first genuine emerald I’ve ever owned (it’s my birthstone, not to mention that I love green on me). And it was set in white gold — ideal for this silver fanatic. It was too perfect to pass up.
And on my 30th, I found the most fabulous party dress — one I’d been watching for weeks — with a sale sign above it. But when the cashier rung it up, she said it wasn’t on sale. I was ready to leave it, but Shan dragged a manager over and raised holy hell until I got the the dress for the price on the sign. Yay!
But this year, Shan’s on the West Coast with her family, and I’m missing her every day. I know I’m going to be suicidal without her on my birthday, although her husband’s friend (who lives here!) is getting married on Memorial Day, so it’s possible they might come back East to attend. Believe me, that would be close enough to the ol’ birthday to make it seem just like old times. Hmm, maybe I need to go pick out my birthday gift while it’s at retail price so that she, my good luck charm, will bring me happiness and DISCOUNTS. LOL.
In any event, I think I came off the wrong way to someone when I was joking about the work event on my birthday. I really don’t mind being with my colleagues on my special day. I genuinely like them. Really, I do. I don’t go through the motions with them, like I’ve had to do pretty much everywhere else. I look forward to possibly getting to know them better. I tend to keep to myself during the workday — I’m busy, of course, and I always find that the less people know about me, the easier my life is. But maybe I don’t need to take that attitude anymore — I honestly do feel safe. And it gets lonely, keeping yourself on the outside looking in. And, besides, maybe I need to get a lil more chummy because, if my rent goes up $155/month, I might just be moving my clothes and the cats into my office for the time being. 😉
What I want to say now that what I didn’t let on earlier is that I am glad to have someone — plenty of someones — with whom to spend my special day, even if nobody knows about it but me. Because without Shan, it was just going to be another day of nothing special — and I’ve had enough of ordinary days.
On iTunes: Big Wreck, “Blown Wide Open”