Last Saturday (I know, I meant to post this earlier, but my last week was cRaZy), Mr. W and I went to dim sum with my maternal grandmother and my parents. While eating, my grandmother mentioned a grove of 150 cherry trees donated by a Japanese benefactor to a fairly local city park. The cherry blossoms should be blooming, she said. Off we all went after brunch to see the cherry blossoms.
Turned out the blossoms weren’t in full bloom yet; the trees were rather twiggy, but the early blooms were beautiful and incredibly fragrant. Thankfully, this was like the one day in 2 weeks when it didn’t rain.
3 generations of women:
my immediate family:
On our walk thru the park, my dad saw a low leaning tree and tried to hop on with his butt to sit on it. He missed and landed back on his feet. My mom laughed at him and I told him it’s too high to do that. So he turned to me and challenged me to walk onto the tree trunk from the base without using my hands. Which I did.
After I triumphantly turned around, I saw that they’d deliberately left me behind.
Envious at all my tree-climbing fun, Mr. W found one of his own.
And that was our day with blossoms. The end.
(as always, rest mouse pointer on photos for captions)
I think I’ve been up since like 2am. Laying there. Listening to an incredibly detailed (I can distinguish each instrument and hear the exact voices in the lyrics) reproduction of the theme song from the prime time cartoon “Family Guy” playing over and over in my head. “Where are those old-fashioned values, on which we used to rely?” I’ve already manipulated several instrument parts in my head to bring out the horn, add a trumpet for a bit part, created a dramatic pause in percussion at one point just to see what it would “sound” like, added a marching band beat on the drums for the end where the people sing, “It’s…the…family…guuuuuy!” (that one didn’t end up sounding very good, but kinda goofy). I liked the version in my head that ends with the horns doing “shave and a haircut, six bits”. I’d always been able to “hear” in extraordinary detail in my mind’s ear; I imagine it’s a bit of what Mozart did when he wrote full symphonies with all the complete instrument parts in a first-and-final draft. Less interestingly in my head while this music was going on are the foreground thoughts — consumed by Mr. W’s ex situation. (She called him tonight and left a message demanding child support money despite the fact that Mr. W’s daughter has moved back in with him full-time for weeks now and made it clear she is there to stay.) So 2.5 hours go by of this, and I think I’m losing my mind cuz altho I can control the music, I can’t get it or the thoughts to simply stop.
Okay, so I’ll blog.
I’m very excited about being a new member of the Bare Escentuals mineral makeup consumer community. A friend bought me a special edition color kit for Christmas (2 eyeshadows, 1 blush, 1 powder eyeliner, 1 gold dust accent powder, 1 loose powder, 3 different application brushes), and I liked the way it worked, and was interested in trying the all-natural mineral foundation cuz hey, it’s supposed to be good for your skin and improve skin over time. “Makeup so pure you can sleep in it.” So yesterday I went to Sephora and paid $60 for this Starter Kit.
I was skeptical as to how long it would last and how well it would cover. With my oily skin, the only decent foundation I’ve been able to find (and stuck to like glue for over 10 years now) is the Revlon ColorStay brand which boasts the motto, “It really won’t rub off!” Well, it does transfer, but only after a couple of hours, and I’m sure with normal skin it’d stay put pretty much all day. I get shine breakthrough in an hour and have to blot. However, I’ll say that I don’t have to reapply even if I go to the gym.
I applied my new Bare Escentials mineral foundation without washing my face beforehand (altho I was wearing no makeup, I had been up for quite a few hours), and although I wasn’t happy with the immediate coverage and kept dumping out more foundation powder to brush/buff onto my face, the end result after a first layer of Mineral Veil as oil-absorbing base, spot-concealing specific areas with the foundation powder using the included concealing brush, quite a bit of foundation powder all over, and finally ending with another layer of Mineral Veil as setting powder, well, the end result was really decent. Mr. W liked it better than my original liquid foundation because he said it looked less “masky” to him and more natural. So then I popped in the DVD and watched the tutorial tell me all the things I did wrong. Apparently you’re supposed to apply as many layers of foundation as you need coverage for, not dump a bunch on the brush to apply cuz you don’t see immediate full coverage. And for fuller coverage, you’re supposed to use a special included “Kabuki brush,” not the “full face brush” I’d been using. Oops. BUT, this foundation, even tho I did it “wrong” and didn’t optimize what it can do, lasted longer than the “high-tech,” chemically created ColorStay brand! Not only did I not get shine break-through (altho I looked slightly dewy, not shiny, without reapplying, repowdering or blotting after 6 hours), but at 10pm, I pressed my face lightly against Mr. W’s white T-shirt and the makeup did not transfer! (He didn’t appreciate my little test after I told him why I’d just leaned my cheek into his shirt-sleeve, stared at the sleeve, leaned again, checked again.)
And that is…the most exciting thing happening in my life right now. It even beat out the fact that I couldn’t stop peeing today as I debloated and it turned out I didn’t gain any weight after my 2-week gym hiatus. Well, I did do a half-hour cardio session once each week, a few days ago I ran 3 miles at lunchtime. Hmm. Looks like I should’ve stopped this post a few sentences ago. Sorry.
I met with the 2nd roofer yesterday. He was nice and professional and had the same proposals as the first roofer. I’ll get an estimate in a day or two. Meanwhile, I find out this is what’s been happening with my retarded association…
I’ve been keeping the 3 officers of the association updated about estimates and appointments and such. The secretary, a chick new-ish to the neighborhood, wrote back that she doesn’t think the other homeowners would want to pay for my roof repairs since it’s not their problem, and that the roofs are pretty new. I wrote back to her, CCing the other officers who have lived there longer than even I have, explaining that
1. it is the Association’s responsibility to maintain and repair the external structure of the houses, i.e. the roof;
2. when the Association doesn’t have enough money in its reserves to pay for necessary repairs, the homeowners must and have always contribute equally to beef up the reserves, which is then used for whatever repairs are needed;
3. that in ’05 and ’06, when several leaks were found in the 11 attached units which shared one long roof, EVERY HOMEOWNER, including myself, contributed $1300 to beef up the reserve in order to replace those roofs, but MY roof wasn’t touched because it didn’t leak at the time;
4. NOW that my roof is leaking, and again there are no reserves in the Association, all homeowners need to again contribute to beef up the funds so the Association can do its job and repair my roof. It would come out to about $300 per homeowner, much nicer than the former $1300.
She seemed to understand, and I requested that when she writes the letter to request money from the homeowners, that she explain this so people don’t get mad at me and think I’m making them pay for an unnecessary new roof; that my roof was never changed when theirs was. The treasurer and president wrote back to the emails, CCing her and me, agreeing with my statement of the facts and history.
So days go by and I see another email from the treasurer urging the secretary chick to write the request letter ASAP. More days go by. I never receive a letter. And then YESTERDAY, in my mailbox, I see a short letter the secretary (i.e. moron) wrote to everyone that she also gave me a copy of, which said that she’s writing the letter at the treasurer’s request, and that she called the homeowners last week to discuss the roofing problem of my unit, and then she typed in bold that according to the treasurer, the $300 must be paid by each homeowner as soon as possible or I (yes, ME, Cindy) may “suit the association.”
WTF?! I’d written her 2 emails requesting her to nicely explain the situation so that people wouldn’t be upset about having to pay their contribution, practically wrote the letter for her in an email, and she writes them a THREAT?! That I was going to sue my neighbors?! Since she claimed that this was according to the treasurer, I called him.
I hate calling the treasurer, btw, as his wife always picks up the phone and is a major bitch. Anyway, I finally get thru her ridiculous screening process and speak to the treasurer about the letter I received, saying that I’m sure everyone is actually MAD at me now, and he said that he can’t believe how ridiculous this secretary is and tells me what happened was that instead of writing a letter to everyone, she CALLED them so there’s no documentation, we don’t even know what she told people, and then told the treasurer in an email that people don’t want to pay. The treasurer’s response to her email was that she should’ve sent them letters, not called them, and that they have to pay because it’s the responsibility of the Association to take care of it, of which everyone is part, and that if the Association doesn’t take care of the roofing, I have a right to sue. So she took what he said and wrote THAT letter to everyone. I couldn’t believe it.
The treasurer comforted me on the phone and said that he’d already written another letter that he will mail to everyone to explain things correctly, and not to worry. He then forwarded their email exchange to me to keep me in the loop. Prepare for a jaw drop…
The secretary:
Rather than sending or delivering any letters regarding the roof repairs for Unit [#], I called the residents/tenants in our building. So far 4 residents/tenants have stated they will not give the $300.00 you asked me to request. I’m waiting to hear from the other 4 units (voice messages were left Thurs. 1/24/08 for each of those residents/tenants). The following comments were made: “I am not going to pay for someone else’s repairs.” “Have [Cindy] take up her situation with the original contractor.” “She waited too long to take care of the problem.” “If [Cindy] gave $1300.00 to the association & her roof was not repaired, then it is up to the association to give her that money back.” My understanding from the last statement is that the person who was in charge of collecting the money back in 05-06 should not have used [Cindy]’s money if no service was being provided. According to the resident/tenant who stated this, [Cindy]’s money should have been put aside until she needed the service provided.
Treasurer’s response:
Making phone calls is no documentary proof of anything we do. Members should be informed by letter only. We all agree that unit [#] is part of our association and she had been paying all her association dues in time.
When we put new roof for our 11 units, it was not necessary to change for unit [#] as it had no problem at that time. But as she was member of association we had to collect from her and she did pay her share. Now if she has problem with her roof, it is responsibility of association, all members, to get her roof fixed. I fear, if we do not fix her roof and she is entitle to file law suit against association (all members) and we all have to get her roof fixed. Not only that, she could claim other damages also to get her ceiling repaired if we do not get her roof fixed.”
I wrote back to the treasurer after reading this:
Thank you for forwarding this, [Treasurer]. It is clear from what [Secretary] stated the other homeowners’ responses are, that they do not understand the situation properly. Their opinions that I waited too long (which I strongly disagree with; the leaks were reported the DAY that I discovered them, and estimates were obtained as quickly as the contractors were able to provide the appointments) or that my money should not have been used for the other 11 units’ roofing work are irrelevant to the situation at hand. Of course there’s no way of knowing what was explained to them or not in [Secretary]’s phone calls.
I think what you suggested in our phone call yesterday may be necessary with responses like these; we should turn over our association to an outside management company and have everyone pay higher dues because they are unwilling to allow for a self-managed association.
I still thank you for writing a separate letter to the homeowners to properly explain the situation, and look forward to receiving it.
I’m fucking tactful! Can I die now?
I didn’t sleep except for a few faded minutes here and there this entire night. I feel absolutely sick; head pounding, febrile, nausea, cold chills, heart palpitations, you name it.
How many sleepless nights is this in a row now? How long can I keep this up? Are these the symptoms leading to stroke? Am I gonna mentally snap soon? Is this gonna make me lose weight?