Sunday

I'm going to meet my realtor today. She will probably be disappointed in me for not cleaning the house enough. Well, I still have time to actually clean the house, if I want to ruin my morning. But I haven't de-cluttered enough. I don't have time to correct that. It's a work in progress.

To augment the festivities, the universe has arranged to have my street "slurry sealed" today. They tried last week but had an equipment breakdown. So, today. Everyone who intends to use their cars will have to park said cars on a side street. I must remember to do that, as I do indeed intend to need my car.

Someone finally came over yesterday and took the free printer. The reason he wanted it was because he found the proper ink cartridges in unopened boxes on the floor in the back seat of his car. I'm sure there is a story there but I don't know what it might be except that it intersects nicely with that of my printer.

Got a nibble on the antique bed/dresser combo for sale. Someone wants to buy just the dresser. It's always something. I'm the kind of person who orders food at restaurants using the "path of least resistance decision tree." Like, I'll order a Number Five, as long as two or three of the seven things on it are what I want. This, to me, is preferable to ordering a "Number Five, but can I have chicken instead of ground beef, and no tomato but extra onion, and . . . do you have tater tots?" That's OK. I don't mind selling the dresser. I just wanted to rant about ordering at restaurants.

I read Don's review of the hotel he stayed at in San Francisco and when he mentioned his review didn't sound like the others, I thought, of course not. Don is literate and writes well. Then I thought of me filling out the seller's disclosure form the realtor needs for the sale of my house. It's a checklist that is supposed to help the seller disclose any pertinent information regarding the condition of the house. "Are there any problems with plumbing, wiring, or Karmic emanations radiating from the sheetrock?  Yes___ No___  If yes, please explain in lurid detail on the two inches of space provided below:
_______________


It's like they are encouraging you to lie. However, there was a question about water damage, foundation repair, settling, cracks, and so on, and I had to write an explanation that became so lengthy it required a separate sheet of paper, to be attached. Yes, I did have problems with the foundation, and I did take corrective action, but it was a multi-stage process that took place over a few years. No problem, I thought to myself. I'm a good writer and I can do this thing.

Not that easy. I can say it stressed my writing abilities to the very edge of that envelope of comprehension that we all try to stay inside of.  That's because I was compelled not to lie, I realized. If you can't lie, then you have to pick your words with great care. If you want to not lie, and also try to create a positive impression none-the-less, (or, let's say, not create a scary, negative tone,)  it becomes very difficult indeed.

And inevitably, when engaging in anything that approaches technical writing, you must defer to literal accuracy and throw syntax and rhythm and pace and the beautiful flow of language out the window. Although I have to say I was proud of this passage:

The Norton & Schmidt engineering report stated that the structure (house) was mechanically sound, and said that the wall and floor movement in the SE corner of the basement was likely due to the flow of rain water beneath the basement floor and foundation, which when combined with the severe drought in the area in 2011 caused the soil to settle more than normal.

I mean, c'mon. You could dance to that! 

I also found out I may be able to rent a two-bedroom apartment in a building in a very desirable part of town for an amount inside my budget. I'll find out more about that later today. Having somewhere to go, a goal, sort of, makes all this annoying, frazzling work around here at least somewhat bearable.

So that was yesterday.