the kid 

Crazy landlords

so we live in this great place. we love our neighbors, we love our apartment, we love how easy it is to get anywhere in LA from where we are. but we've been plagued with unbelievably horrific landlords. the first, let's call him mr. chu, at least was a colorful personality and reasonably friendly. he gave us korean cake during the holiday. about 50, a contractor, he had a pony tail, and rode a harley. once he showed up at our house wearing leather pants and jacket holding his motor cycle helmet. a very mod korean fella.

when mr. chu fixed things, it was never a good thing. he would never call a professional, but would patch up anything in the cheapest way possible. a true story. our neighbors have lived here longer than anyone else. once before mr. chu bought the building, the tree/bush which covers their balcony fell over the driveway. when chu took over they warned him that the tree/bush had grown back, and he might want to do something (i.e. trim it) to avoid a similar liability. so chu shows up with the biggest drill ever, drills through the cement balcony, loops a metal cable through the holes and wraps it around the tree/bush, bolting it to the balcony. kinda scary.

when we moved in, (into the unit chu had inhabited), we had RATS! or big ol' mice. not entirely sure which, but definitely the rodent family of the larger variety. my mom stayed with us for a week, and was met by one of these monsters in the bathroom in the middle of the night. i hear mom say, "oh great." (she's not one for drama) it ran from behind the john, under her feet and under the sink. two days later she was getting something out of her suitcase and one jumps OUT FROM UNDER HER CLOTHES. that time she did emit a small scream.

so while we're waiting for chu to take care of this problem, my heroic husband takes matters into his own hands. he starts boarding up every hole, crack, whatever in the place. i even researched traps. i found the sticky traps inhumane and yucky (who wants to bag a struggling mouse and throw it in the garbage still wiggling and kicking?) and the traps are nightmarish. then found this thing called the rat zapper: a box the varmints are lured into, and then they get snuffed with a huge volt of electricity. it can hold up to 5 large rodents! you can even get a whole system- 5 rat zappers that all communicate to a motherboard so you can tell when they are full. brilliant!

luckily, we never went that route either. called the city vector control who cited chu and he had to eradicate the problem.

there are so many more chu stories. but he sold the building without telling us. one day this slick guy shows up and says,
"hi. building changed owner yesterday. i'm new property manager. sign lease."
"huh?" we say
"talk to a lawyer" my mom squaks from the dinner table (lucky, mom is always visiting at these interesting times) yes, he shows up at 8 in the evening unannounced. there's a lot more, but i gotta run. more from the landlord chronicles later.

the kid in a hat store 

that was yesterday

so i was really ticked off at the men who seemingly run the place i work in. i wrote this long rant about it, and accidentally deleted it. no wind left, so i added the short blog of yesterday. probably better that way. today i'm cooled off a bit, realizing that i and the other women i work with really run the place. monkeys could do what they do. ok. so that's an overstatement. they are a talented bunch, really. just that they are all control freaks and expect the rest of us to read minds.

i am counting the days until i can leave this place. i'm realizing more and more that i need to find something i can pour my heart and soul into besides hubby, kid, work. my days are pretty much like this during the work week:

• wake up
• dread work
• listen to loud obnoxious guys on the radio to avoid getting out of bed
• hear cat meowing
• feed cat
• make coffee (or try to wake up husband to make coffee)
• hear birds squawking
• feed birds
• take shower
• wake kid (or shout at husband to wake kid)
• feed kid (or shout at husband to feed kid)
• dress kid (or shout at husband to dress kid)
• put on makeup
• dry hair
• get dressed
• fight with kid about going to school
• drop off kid at pre-school
• go to work
• work (surf internet or blog for mental breaks)
• eat lunch with co-workers and complain about crazy people at work
• work (surf internet or blog for mental breaks)
• pick up kid
• pick up husband (or husband picks me up)
• dinner (usually my wonderful husband does this. i do the eating part.)
• wash dishes (or nag husband to wash dishes)
• bathe kid
• read to kid
• fall asleep trying to watch some mind numbing show (unless i've gotten absorbed by some good book. need a new one.)

i do enjoy time with the kid. would love to have less stressed time, and more fun quality time. kid time is actually the hilight of the day. also hubby time when he's not working madly. in those times he tunes the rest of us out. i know he has to. that's the price of having his music studio smack dab in the middle of our living area.

it's a man's world....or is it?

little boys in suits and shiny shoes playing a game they pretend is important

Yee Haw! 

just for the record...

i never got clogging, and never had any desire to take it up.

where in the heck am i?

i'm a texas girl who somehow ended up living in los angeles. actually, i am pretty sure i know how i got here. i fell in love with this czechoslovakian magician (sorry. czech musician.) i miss my family terribly. well, mostly. i guess you take for granted what you have until you don't have access to it anymore. my family? well they are a strange bunch. but really colorful. at some point i'll get around to describing them. though i will change their names to protect the innocent. i miss my mom the most. i'm going back with my daughter for my mom's 75th b'day. only four days. leaving the husby behind to do his thang. he's on the computer 24-7 writing music. it drives me crazy while he's in the midst of a project, but the outcome is pretty much always amazing. his talent blows me away. sometimes i am a bit jealous. well, "a bit" is an understatement. i wish i had a real talent like music, or dance or clogging. ANYthing. I have done many things, but didn't stick with any one thing. spent three %&*$## years in graduate school studying theatre, and am doing nothing with it. actually, they were three great years. just that i'll be paying for them with my blood for the rest of my life.

so here i am, a lil ol' girl from texas. i know texas isn't everyone's favorite country, but it's in my heart and soul. mainly austin. i can do without the rest. and how 'bout them longhorns?

My First Blog Ever

i'm new to the world of blogging. will have to warm up to this. not much to say this first time other than i'm really tired of my job and need a place to just be me for a while. after i get this thing set up, i'll be back with something interesting to say....maybe.