2001-11-18 - 6:33 p.m.

On the internal soundtrack: Theme From "Chariots of Fire". Where the hell did that come from?

You know what makes me nuts? People around here don't know what a garage is for.

On the one hand, you've got people who use their garage as a storage room and don't actually put cars in it. They've got boxes and boxes of crap in there, but no cars. Meanwhile they're taking up parking spaces out on the street, so that your guests can't find a place to park when they visit. I hate these people because garages are so rare in areas I like to live, and they jack up the value of a house (rental or purchase) out of our price range quite often, and I need a garage so that my car won't turn into a rust heap, and these people are just WASTING a perfectly good garage.

The one exception to the garage-as-storage that I don't mind quite so much is the guy who keeps his show motorcycles mounted on mirrored plates, and another guy who has a couple of boats in his garage. If they fit, why not, right? I think he moved them somewhere else, though, because, it is rumored, some fussy person in the neighborhood complained. Want to bet that fussy person is taking up half their garage with storage and can only fit one car in there?

Then there are the people who treat their garage as though it is for ONLY a car, and nothing else. This baffles me. The people across the street have two cars, but they only keep one in their two-car garage -- almost always parked facing out -- and nothing else. They put the car in the center of the garage, and there's nothing lining the walls, anywhere. They have six feet of space on either side of the car. What the hell.

Then there are people who treat the garage like it's an extra room in the house. Several people have done that special paint job to the floor, as well as painting the walls. One house on the next block has painted their garage a delicate blue, and they have pictures on the walls. My god. They've also got a mint classic 1960s car that they keep in the garage, and I've never seen them drive it. I guess they just keep it locked in the garage with the pretty pictures so it has something to look at.

In my not-so-humble opinion, a garage is supposed to be a little dirty. You are supposed to keep stuff in it that you cannot keep in the house. Our garage contains:

An old VW
A pickup
Two Honda XR dirt bikes
Two bicycles with flat tires
One gas grill
Some spare VW wheels with tires
Three sets of shelves, containing various gardening tools, pots, oil, spare VW parts, etc.
Garbage can and recycle bin
Hose
Box of books the used bookstore won't take we need to get rid of

Mostly this whole garage thing irritates me because I have a different priority list. I will not waste time making my fucking garage look pretty. For godsakes! How 'bout spending some time with your family? It's bad enough how much time I spend keeping the kitchen clean and tending to clutter.

Yet, I am disgusted to realize -- and this is the true reason why I am so mad at my neighbors for their anal-retentiveness regarding their garages -- I am jealous of the pretty, painted, empty garages. I feel like mine is an eyesore. Although it looks a HELL of a lot nicer since Poindexter organized it as one of his home projects awhile back. Perfect husband.

Goddammit. Maybe I'll just hire someone to paint the walls, at least. Poindexter says occasionally some of the construction workers come by and offer to do it for cash. We'll see. Probably too cold to do it now and I'll have to wait 'til spring.

This is part of the reason why I have a soft spot for people who have sofas on their front porch.

On Tuesday I took the Metro up to Dupont to have dinner and tea at Teaism with Renee. It was a lot of fun. We gossiped about folks on LiveJournal and filled in some details from our own journals, which was cool.

As far as internet-vs-real-life goes, I felt as though she was someone completely separate from her journal, even though she was sitting there talking about stuff from journal entries. Maybe it takes me a couple visits to reconcile someone with their journal after I've met them in real life. I didn't go in with any preconceived notions, so that's not it. I guess I have to sort of start over from the beginning when I meet someone in person?

After Teaism we went to another coffeehouse, where I had hoped to see some weirdos. She saw a guy in a red tutu once! Unfortunately it seemed mostly to be a bunch of crunchy college kids, who would probably make me insane if I tried to have a conversation with them, and I was so absorbed in talking to Renee I forgot to look around anyway. I did have some incredible white hot chocolate with whipped cream, though. Wow. I'd go back just for that.

Renee asked about the pumpkin spice cappuccino. Did I actually forget to write about that?! Too busy drinking it, I guess.

It arrived one day last week -- Poindexter was hiding it in the cabinet so he could present it to me with a flourish when I got home. I've had a cup of it every day since then. It's wonderful. It's everything I had hoped for. I am very happy.

Hey, btw, this stuff doesn't taste like pumpkins. It tastes like the spices you put in pumpkin pie. Nutmeg, cinnamon, stuff like that. Mmm mmm.

Hm, I need to make some homemade whipped cream to put in it. I've got whipped cream on the brain these days. I wonder why.

The rest of the week, in brief:

We closed on our new mortgage on Thursday. We refinanced from a piggyback mortgage at 7.625%/8.5% to a regular mortgage (we've got more than 20% equity now due to appreciation) at 6.125%. Good deal. We'll be saving almost $300/mo, which is nice given that we're living on the one salary right now.

Also on Thursday, I spent the day downtown with Jay for a meeting. I wore my "suit" (from the junior's section) with my fun chunky-heeled pumps -- it was a gorgeous warm day -- and was all excited to be downtown. I really, really need to move to the city. We had chicken schnitzel and spaetzle at Cafe Amadeus. Ate about half, and had the other half for lunch on Friday. Yummy.

I tried making scones today from a recipe off the 'net, and they were dreadful. I shall have to try another recipe. My tea was good, though. I can make tea.

Last night we ordered cheeseless pizza (Poindexter) and an Italian sub (me) from Jerry's. Y'know, I like lots and lots of lettuce on my subs. We call people up to place an order and say "extra extra extra lettuce, like, LOTS of lettuce", and they give me maybe one extra handful for a 12" sub. It's beyond people's comprehension what "extra lettuce" means to me. I've given up. Now when I get a sub, when I pick it up, I ask for a small drink cup filled with shredded lettuce. That about does it.

Poindexter's been mildly sick, with aches and a general feeling of malaise. Today I seem to have it. Nothing's really wrong, I just don't feel quite right. Argh. Dizzy and tired. Beats having a full-blown cold, though.

Plans for Christmas in Florida are basically set. Mom and Dad are going down from the 18th-28th, the rest of us from the 20th-27th. I found my brother a ticket for $240 -- cheaper than mine! -- nonstops from Newark to Fort Lauderdale, on Continental. Delta flights were upwards of $600!

I'm very excited. My whole family in Florida together over Christmas. It was great having my brother down there with us last February. Swimming in the ocean on Christmas Day. South Beach in the winter when the Beautiful People are around to gawk at. Woo! How much better does it get?!

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