On Illness and Housing

Our two great national nightmares are finally over: I have gotten over the dreaded cold that left me incapacitated last week AND we have found a new place to live come May 1st.

I know you were all so worried.

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The illness was pretty unbearable, but at least now I can look back on it and laugh without hacking up a lung. It's one of those weird quirks I have, but almost like clockwork each Spring I get wildly sick for about 7 days and then slowly bounce back. The first time this happened was back in college when I first learned the joys of the SMU health center and how fun medicine induced blackout hallucinations can be. Since then it's happened with regularity each year, usually in March, but sometimes a little later. This year was particularly bad because I was still getting over the allergy attacks from a couple of weeks ago, I had a metric ton of work on my desk and couldn't take any time off, and we had some freak cold weather hit Dallas right as I was already experiencing wild chills from the illness.

So basically, I've been an irritable, over-medicated zombie for the last 9 days, without interruption. I'm getting back on my feet, but it is super slow going, to be sure.

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But in more exciting news, Frnak and I totally found a new place to live. I know my specifications were pretty strict, but somehow we managed to find a place that fit a majority of them, without too much horror and/or panic attacks from yours-truly.

It's a 2 bedroom/2 bath condo with: all wood flooring, a fireplace, balcony, more square-footage than currently, and a closet so big it could qualify as a third bedroom. All that for less than we're paying now with an even shorter commute to work (For me, at least. Which is what truly matters, right? Egocentricity has to pay off at some point, I figure.).

There are a few drawbacks - the exterior is pretty low rent, the neighborhood is highlighted by a liquor store/beauty supply shop, the ceilings are lower than I like, and the foundation of the building could collapse at any minute. But overall I am so incredibly psyched that I'm having trouble getting to sleep at night, what with all the visions of redecorating in my head.

We sign off on the lease and pick out the paint color for our living room tomorrow. It feels so adult that I can barely wrap my head around it.

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As a side note, have you ever tried to pick out a paint color for a room? It has got to be the most maddening thing in the entire world.

Even with this incredibly helpful Sherwin-Williams Color Visualizer program (Which not only lets you pick out wall colors, but lets you try to approximate the color of your furniture. Whoever created this program is a genius) , Frnak and I were still up arguing over colors at 10:30 last night.

Frnak: "What color are the couches? Tan?"
Jason: "Tan? I would not own couches that were that mundane. When I bought them, the saleslady called them 'champagne'" (Clicks on the Champagne option)
Frnak: "Oh, our couches are so not that color. Try the other one...sequin?"
Jason: "Okay, conversely, I am not gay enough to own something that is 'sequin' colored...oh yeah, okay maybe they are that color. Damn."

(45 minutes later)

Jason: "I refuse to live with walls the color of a fratboy's pink polo!"
Frnak: "We are not painting the living room Orange! What is this crazy Orange obsession you have? Enough!"
Jason: "Hey, it fits my complexion!"

Eventually we agreed to go with the color that the landlord already had on hand from when he painted his own house, to save us from coming to blows (read: ineffectual slap fight).

So our living room color will be 'Bagel,' which is sadly one of the few words in the English language that I hate (along with: "impetus", "tofu", and "caveat"), but is pretty good as colors go and should match the furniture pretty well.

Our condo-warming party is soon to follow.

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Now comes the horrifying prospect of actually moving, a concept so loathsome that I hate to even consider it. I've pretty much decided though, that I will be hiring movers to do all the hard work for us, despite the exorbitant costs. There are few things in the world I will absolutely not do, but lifting a washer/dryer combo up three unique sets of stairs and installing them into a closet is almost certainly on that list.