My parents are getting VERY serious about their property investment plans. As of yesterday, the goal seems to be to buy a 2-4 apartment building that would include a flat for me. The other apartment(s) would be rented out for profit (or rather, to pay off the mortgage). My parents don't actually want to live there - at least not as long as they are able to keep their current house, which they love. They just want to "secure a future" for me and my sister. The chief obstacle to this plan so far has been that someone needs to manage said building, find tenants, make sure they pay their rent etc. - and my parents know that I have no desire to be in that position. And neither does my sister. However, as it turns out, my brother-in-law is more than happy to step up to the challenge. ( Read more... )

Again, I'll be brief and random tonight. I've been doing a lot of typing in the past few days, since the vampire-themed discussions over on DreamWidth have livened up a bit - so I'm not really up to a longer post on here. But I don't want to completely disappear either.

I have received my Etsy jewellery, btw - the stuff that was shipped from Ukraine (scroll down the page if you don't know what I'm talking about; I posted pics a few entries back). It is absolutely gorgeous. Each piece came in its own cute little wooden or cardboard box, on a bed of wood shavings - so simple, and yet so lovely. And both rings fit me perfectly! I knew they were going to be adjustable - but still, I have very small fingers, and there have been very few rings so far that I've been comfortable wearing. Usually they just feel cumbersome, and I can't stand them for more than a few hours at a time. But these are very light, and don't seem to bother me at all.

Oh, and here's the link to the seller's page, in case you want to have a look around and perhaps support a small business.:)

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BeautySpot

No other news to report at the moment. "Real life" is very quiet - but there is quite a lot going on in the so-called digital realm that I may not want to elaborate on just yet...;)

Why yes, I do like being mysterious sometimes.:P

Well... guess what? I did clean my place yesterday. I got up relatively early, since the fireworks started before 8 a.m. (sic!!!), so there was no hope of a longer sleep-in anyway. So I got my ass in gear, took a bath, cleaned up, dusted, vacuumed, scrubbed the tub and sinks etc... then got dressed, made myself look decent and went to see the movie. I felt somehow energized by this unexpected bout of high productivity, LOL. I wasn't nearly as tired or drained as I expected to be. Plus, there was no stress involved in getting to the theater this time, since I knew VERY well where it was and how long the trip should take - so that part of the day was actually quite relaxing. I arrived in good time, and even treated myself to a bag of popcorn (which I hardly ever do). It was the smallest bag they had on offer, by the way - and yet, it seemed so huge that I was still munching on it on my way back home 3 hours later (despite having unintentionally spilled about a quarter of it on the floor... *sigh*). But the standard snack sizes in the US are a whole another (quite disturbing) topic, LOL.

I got back sometime around 10:30 p.m., and I thought I was going to just hit the pillows and sleep like a log - but, obviously, the fireworks were still in full swing, and I was too wound up after such an "active" day anyway... so I kept tossing and turning for quite a while. And this morning, unsurprisingly, I felt like death warmed over. I dragged myself to work (ridiculously late, btw, since I forgot my lunch and had to walk back all the way from the bus stop to get it) and went through the motions, but my head was on a trip far, far away.:) Fortunately, there wasn't much going on, so my "productivity index" didn't really matter.:P And the fireworks are over now (*knocks on wood*) - so hopefully I can get some decent sleep tonight...

As for the movie... I loved it, of course. ( mild spoilers for Byzantium under the cut )

I know I have said this several times already this year, but... the summer has arrived. For real this time. *knocks on wood* ;) I wore one of my most revealing dresses today: spaghetti straps, plunging neckline (with a cotton sports bra peeking out from underneath) and skirt that barely reaches the knee (that's as short as you'll ever see me wear outside; I hate exposing my flabby thighs, no matter how hot it is). I LOVE that dress. It was ridiculously cheap (I got it at Target, I think), but it has such a perfect cut for me: tight-fitting around the chest and flaring out from beneath. Sort of like those Empire-style gowns - except it's shorter, of course, and sleeveless, as well as dark (bluish) grey instead of white. But it does a perfect job of emphasizing the package (*ahem*) and masking some other less enticing curves (those around the waistline, LOL). Makes me look younger, I think. I usually feel very self-conscious whenever I put on something revealing - so a hot summer can be challenging, clothes-wise. But if I find something that fits just right, I am suddenly a flower-child all over again...;P

Going to see my parents tomorrow, since I couldn't go last Sunday. I have not scheduled Monday off this time, since I need to save my precious PTO days for when I REALLY need them - but I was sort of productive today, so I should manage just fine. It is too hot to cook anyway, so I made a simple salad - and will make another one Monday or Tuesday after work. I will not clean the place, obviously - but it should hold another week...

Btw, my parents are getting serious about buying an apartment building. ( Read more... )

Last but not least, I watched an absolutely chilling drama yesterday. We Need to Talk About Kevin. It was shown during the Chicago International Film Festival two years ago, but I didn't see it then - I just made a note to myself to check it out later, then forgot about it. But finally it did end up in my Netflix queue. ( Read more... )

So yeah... I didn't go to see my parents after all. I had emptied the bucket at around midnight - only to find it overflowing when I woke up at 4 a.m. So leaving the apartment for 10 hours was pretty much out of the question.:/ Ironically, once I had called them and explained what was going on, the leak sort of quieted down again, and I was left wondering if I SHOULD have gone after all, instead of disappointing everyone (including my sister, who was also there, and who had brought the promised homemade cherry cake that she had boasted of to me earlier). *sigh* It's so hard to coordinate my visits home with my sister's, since she and her husband are always so busy...

Not that I didn't have plenty of stuff to occupy myself at home instead. I always do. I just hate changing my plans at the last minute due to some external circumstance. I throws me off and leaves me with this vague sense of misplacement...

Anyway - I should be going to bed, since the plumber might show up early tomorrow morning (yeah, right - I wish!...). Btw, my toilet doesn't flush properly either as of yesterday - so if he does show up, he'll be a busy guy.:D And if he doesn't, my brother-in-law has volunteered to call the building management office himself and raise hell (my sister assures me he's good at that ;). So we'll see what happens...

Also, I just watched this really silly horror/comedy flick called Kaboom. ( Read more... )

Lord, I am such an idiot. I was so frustrated by all those hours of pointless waiting yesterday that I decided I just couldn't face another day of this, and that I'd much rather be at work. Besides, I was sort of hoping the plumber might come in anyway while I was gone - it has happened before on occasion. The rental company does have the keys, and they once asked me if it was OK for workers to come in and patch up a hole in the ceiling in my absence. So I figured maybe the plumber guy was too busy yesterday, but today he just might let himself in and fix the problem, without me needing to take another day off work. Also, last night, after I made the ranty post, the leak seemed to have slowed down again; I wrapped the pipe in a kitchen towel and some plastic bags, and the bucket was taking quite a while to fill up. So I was actually able to get some decent sleep (I did wake up briefly around 2 a.m., but then slept again until six). In the morning, the situation didn't seem too dire - the bucket wasn't even half-full - so I convinced myself everything was more or less fine, and went to work. I did exchange the bucket for the big garbage can, though, before I left - which turned out to be a brilliant move. As you may be guessing by now, nobody has come in while I was gone - and the massive garbage can was very nearly full when I came back.:/

Incidentally, I had scheduled next Monday off, because on Sunday I am going to visit my parents. So I thought, well, if the plumber doesn't come today or tomorrow while I'm at work, I'll call the rental office again on Monday. And that's what I told my boss. But right now I'm pretty sure it's NOT a good idea to leave this hanging until Monday. I had wrapped the pipe in more plastic bags, but that can only do so much. If it gets any worse - and in a few days it might - I will not be able to leave the house, or fall asleep, for more than 2-3 hours. If even that. So I HAVE to get it fixed tomorrow. Which means ANOTHER vacation day. And I've already used almost half of my PTO for this year... *sigh*

I can't even remember the last time I took a day off for something fun. It's always either a sickie, or an errand day, or an emergency repair day, or a cleaning/laundry day, because I can't seem to fit those momentous activities into a regular 2-day weekend.:/ And let's not even mention taking several days at a time. I think I haven't done that since... 2011, probably? And even then, it was just to attend a few shows at a local film festival. So when my LJ friends talk about going on 2-3 week vacations - either actual trips, or just "chilling out" at home - every year, I get very envious. To me, that's just not viable, even though "technically" I have over 20 days off per year. It seemed like so much when I was younger, too (and had even less). Now it's barely enough to cover my basic needs...

It is warming up slowly. I actually have the window open at the moment, since it's gotten a bit stuffy in here. But there is more rain coming and the air is quite humid, so "airing out" the place isn't helping much. I keep forgetting that the only way to "feel a breeze" inside my apartment is to turn on an electric fan...

Today I dragged my Nook Simple Touch out of the cabinet where it had languished unused for the past year or so. I still have a stack of unread books in paper form on my shelf, so I felt no urge to buy more - but then I was sort of tricked into it, LOL. See, we have this little "library" at my workplace where people bring used books and magazines, and a few weeks ago someone brought The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. I had seen the movie, which absolutely floored me (there is a post about it somewhere in this journal, can't be bothered to look for it now), so naturally I was curious about the book - and so I started reading it during my lunch breaks. Unsurprisingly, I found it absolutely captivating. It became the highlight of my day at the office... LOL. And then, one seemingly unremarkable afternoon, I walked up to the shelf in the break room and - to my utter dismay - found the book GONE. ( Read more... )

So, I was feeling sort of blah today, but then I popped over on Tumblr and found this. ( The best summary of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles ever. )

Today was another failure of a day. Again, it took me several hours to decide what I needed from the grocery store - and when I finally put myself together and went there, I got drenched in buckets of torrential rain on my way back. Of course, minutes after I got home - looking like a wet rat, I might add - the rain stopped. But when I changed all my clothes and went out again, to the other grocery store, the skies opened for the second time. Now I had an umbrella, though, so I only got soaked from the knees down.:| Anyway... I had been planning to cook tonight, but somehow lost the will to do it after this little adventure, so I decided to spend the evening making a long LJ post instead. Except the long post never materialized either, as you can see. It was the usual "OMG I have so much to say I don't know where to start", and then "OMG why is my brain a blank now???" syndrome.:/

And now it's late and I just want to sleep. Gahhh. This is so pathetic I can't even. How do people manage to actually DO STUFF on weekends, like go to clubs or the movies or see friends or whatever?... I barely seem able to cope with the basics. Is it just me, or is this what "middle age" feels like? If so, then I don't want. I need extra 12 hours added to each day - otherwise it just doesn't make sense anymore. I might just as well die now, because I will never do anything worthwhile again. Unless I hire someone to take care of all my daily chores for me - but then I would need to work two jobs so I could afford it, which would defeat the purpose. Anyway, I'll stop babbling and go to bed. No need to make this overwhelming feeling of futility worse by wallowing in it.:/

Did I mention summer in my previous post? Well, it's gone. Lasted about three days this time. Right now we're back to murky cold weather reminiscent of either early March or November. For the past three nights or so, the temperature has been dropping below 10C/50F. In light of this, you might want to ask whether my heating is back on. Um, no. It is the end of May, so of course not. And I have already put the fan in my kitchen window, right? Which means I can't even close it properly - unless I take the fan back out. Aaaarrrrrghhhhh. Btw, it's supposed to be hot again by next Tuesday. So I decided not to bother removing the fan and just quietly freeze to death instead.:/ Oh, I did take out my little electric heater, of course. I need it to warm up the bathroom before I can persuade myself to take any clothes off, LOL. I sleep in my thickest flannels & socks, with an extra blanket on top of my duvet. Today I cleaned the apartment, which was the perfect thing to do, since it kept me moving around for a few hours, and therefore I stayed warm. But now the chill is seeping right through the fleece jacket I'm wearing over my sweater.:/ Oh, the irony. With all those fans standing around. I usually postpone setting up all the fans until it gets REALLY hot - at which point it is VERY unlikely to get cold again. But the thing is, it WAS really hot. This sudden, massive temperature drop was nothing short of astounding. If I still had any doubts that there are no rules anymore when it comes to the weather, they're all gone now. "Seasons" are a mythical concept in this brave new world of climate change...:|

But that's not what I wanted to talk about tonight. My latest Netflix movie turned out to be absolutely stunning. It's called Cracks, and the story takes place at a girls' boarding school in England in 1934. I know - sounds like a cliche. But it is quite surprising, in a number of ways. ( Read more... )