Hey there,
Mentioned last time we made an offer on a place in Seattle and things have progressed smoothly so far and we are positioned to close at the end of the month. We're not Rich Uncle Pennybags (the monocle guy from Monopoly) in our buying and selling of properties , but this is a weird experience in that we are unable to physically see and touch the most expensive purchase of our lives. Our apprehension has been lessening and we feel that this is the right move for us. As we learn more about the space, it seems this building is right for us as the tenants are all in our age group and there are no children, save visiting grandkids. Not happy in saying that this is our home before the retirement home, but effectively is just that. The location checked our boxes of being on the Lake Washington side of town, has a lake and Rainier view, great areas to walk with a nice beach across the street and some shopping. The building went through a top to bottom remodel in the last couple of years and all the common spaces/facades have been updated and look tasteful. The last owner of our unit was an old lady that of course just transitioned to a retirement home, and the interior is nearly perfect with the exception of the master bath. That is cool with us as we can remodel that to exactly what we want and look forward to designing a super shower.
View from the deck.
The rub on that building wide remodel is that they hired a contractor to do the work. Details are not many, but what we gather is that he was slow and doing a crappy job, so they fired him and now he is suing the building for the fees he wasn't paid, and of course the BS lost other jobs he wasn't able to pursue and probably emotional distress. Like a contractor has any human emotion that isn't evil. What we didn't know is that if a place is under a lawsuit, that lenders will not let you finance a mortgage, so we are having to pay cash in full. We have it as we sold our place in Seattle before we moved here and have been investing that money for 10 years so were in a good position to make an offer under asking as the seller didn't have a ton of buyers in our position. We hired an attorney to go through all the HOA's and lawsuit docs and she seemed happy with all of it. I was feeling really good about the whole deal and then at the end she said two words that had me question the entire thing. She said the unit was a "rare find". I know that is supposed to be a good thing, so why does this phrase make me nervous as all get out.
Here in Taiwan, things are quiet. Aussie Rules football started this week so that was on all weekend and it was a great bunch of matches, and baseball starts next week, so the boring 6 weeks after the NFL is over is over. It is baseball season at the school and I will have one day without coaching some team in a month. No complaints about that. I am more than ready to complain about the weather as it is starting to turn nasty. Hasn't descended into hell yet, but you can see it from here. It is the time of year when the wind shifts and all the pollution from China wafts over and we've had several days of AQI in the unhealthy range.
B-doll turned a milestone 18 today so can booze legally here. It is the quiet before the end of the school year crush that'll be even more bittersweet as this is the end of high school for her and us. Do feel fortunate that we will get to have in person graduation and hope that they will be able to have prom and such. When she was in elementary school, and even middle school, she was not a great student. Grades were fine, but what kid can't sleep through school and not get a B. It was a lack of self confidence and her enthusiasm about doing well in school that weren't good, and we would half jokingly say that she may go to beauty school after graduation. There was always one character trait about her that I saw from the earliest of times that gave hope that she would thrive, and that is her ability to concentrate on a task. She could sit with crayons or whatever book or toy and stay focused for far longer than any kid I knew. When she hit high school, some switch got flipped and she has been not only a diligent student, but her confidence has snowballed to it now being an avalanche. I wish I could pinpoint what it was that triggered her turnaround, but if I had to guess, would attribute her taking to dance as a big influence and also that she is at a school where competition to do well in class is real. Having peer pressure to get an A is better than getting pressure to get wasted. When the three of us eat dinner at home, we'll often turn on an episode of Jeopardy! and she gets almost as many correct answers as I do. I still kick butt just cause while my knowledge pool is shallow, it is mighty big, and I know a ton of stuff just from being alive 47 years longer, but she nails all the science questions and gets a surprising number of history and culture questions right. Of course I can believe she is 18 cause I understand the second law of thermodynamics, but it is hard to believe.
We went to a wine tasting last Saturday and the featured wines were all Taiwanese. I know. I was schooled by my wine mentor a long time ago that you can grow grapes for wine anywhere. There are wines from all 50 states for instance, but there is a reason why only a few places are able to grow grapes that make for a subtle wine. Gapes grown in the tropics have properties that are not conducive for that, which they explained and I cannot regurgitate. I will never pretend to say I have a refined palette or know jack about wine, but all of what we had tasted awful to me. Too sweet and battery acidic across the board. Some of the labels were cool and wine tasting parties are just perfect for getting people to loosen up and chat. We only knew a couple folks there but the crowd was lively and we gave the local kids that were earnest in their promotion of the lacking wines an appropriate amount of shit without being too disrespectful (although we did get more so as the night went on).
The whites
Here is a touching story about a couple of cops who came across an injured cat that was hit by a car and took it to the hospital. The cat ultimately passed. Not a big story nor do I have a gag for it, but felt it worth sharing.
And there have been lots of articles (here is one from The Guardian) about some promotion where you get free sushi if your name has the character for salmon in it, and there have been several (150) people that (tried to) changed their name to salmon to get the freebie. One guy says he did it and ate US$176 worth of free sushi. This article states that Taiwanese people are allowed to officially change their names three times, which seems like a lot, no? Will endeavor to find out more about this and am sure there are some other nutty reasons why people change their names. Also am drafting some possible changes for yours truly.
Finally for today...had a whole bit about German toilets ready to go, but have a thought or two about all the Asian hate to get off my mind. Mentioned this matter a couple times ago in relation to worrying about B-doll off to university this Fall. Betty commented that I didn't mention worrying about her, which I do of course, but also know from personal experience that she is capable of raining hellfire on anyone that messes with her. It is nice that we have a President that can speak compassionately about it, and have seen so many pieces about the need for people to get a grip after Atlanta, but before that, all the names speaking out about it were Asian. But as I watch these pleas, just feel that they are completely pointless and that not a single one of these monsters will be swayed by any of them, and the few that are would be outweighed exponentially by the ones that are emboldened by the snowflakes hearts bleeding. It is the Asians turn this month/year/history of the US, and it'll be some other groups turn in the spotlight soon enough. Sick fucks having babies and growing more sick fucks. What do you /I do about it? There was a lady at the wine party above and she seemed OK at first, but as the night wore on, she couldn't hide her crazy. First noticed the big cross earrings as she made some eyebrow raising comment, and then the gay dude confided (with accompanying eye roll) out at the smoking circle that she's "like that" cause she is born again. Her opinions started to slip as the wine flowed...'You heard about the 1000 babies in India that died during the vaccine trial"...shit like that. I only knew the hosts so held my tongue, and all the other guests who did know her changed the subject, but I've been pissed ever since that I didn't expose her in the moment. I know all the head shrinkers will say not to shame or admonish these types cause it will push them further into their hole, and that we should try to explore their feelings in hopes of finding something or other to change their mind. Seems like a colossal waste of time to me. I don't really care what you believe about climate/masks/vaccines/guns, believing and knowing are completely different things. Knowing takes some effort and believing in anything is just lazy. Think I am gonna add that word to proud and actually in my red flag list. And this goes for all genders and colors, friends and family, as there are plenty of crap people in all degrees. Have really had enough.
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