Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Hot Water

Yesterday, I woke up with a plan.  I would get straight in the shower and wash my hair, then fuck around in the morning like I always do so that my hair would be dry when I went to work.  I jumped out of bed, since I'm generally cheerful and energetic in the morning, and went to turn on the shower.

Tepid water.  This building has always had unreliable hot water, but I was a bit surprised since the heat was on in the building yesterday which usually means the water gets so hot a body can't hardly stand it.
I had a choice:  Take a tepid shower at 6:00am or go back to bed and read for a little while.  I opted to read.  When I went back to the shower about a half hour later, the hot water was so hot that I barely needed to turn on its tap.  I had a long, lovely hot shower - which is exactly what my shoulder likes to comfortably face the day - and my hair was dry by the time I went to work anyway.  More importantly, I wanted to do that reading, and if I'd have started fucking around like I usually do in the moorings, I may very well have neglected the reading all together.

It all goes to show that sometimes when things don't go according to plan, it works out better.

Once the building turns off the heat for the season, the water won't get hot no matter how long you wait although it's comfortable enough for the summer.  The summer is irrelevant, however, since I'm not planning on living here a minute longer than necessary regardless of how things go with the Riverside apartment and the dumb ass lawyer from Shanghai.

Naturally the entire episode reminded me of Mr. Wisdom and the way this relationship has not gone according to plan.  The thing is that because I heard the steam coming up in the building's pipes, I could choose to entertain myself for a little while with confidence. If the steam pipes had been stone cold, I would have gone ahead and taken the tepid shower, cursed the building, and wrapped myself in my fleecy robe.

Most likely, I'd have done the reading - but I doubt I'd have washed my hair since I could have fluffed it up with some product or pulled it back with a clip.  The thing is that I wanted to look decent yesterday because I wanted to go sign the contract for the new apartment and then have a glass of champagne with Velvet and Gigi at Cafe Lux.  That didn't happen either.  Naturally the delays and difficulties with this contract are also reminding me of Mr. Wisdom because I figure that he's not going to call me until his separation agreement is successfully re-negotiated and signed.

No matter what the legal situation is with Mr. Wisdom, I have enough experience to be fully confident that there was steam in his pipes, but relationships are not as predictable and reliable as physical science.  At least I think it's physical science.  I absolutely recall taking a class in junior high school that involved balls and inertia and stuff like that.  Not there was inertia in Mr. Wisdom's balls, although I must confess I fear that when there's nothing happening to keep a ball rolling, it will stop rolling.  I'm pretty sure that's physical science because the ball has stopped - or the water is hot - regardless of the state of the observer so it can't be quantum stuff.  Or at least it can't be any more quantum than anything else since some people will look at a dead ball and swear it's moving - or they will argue that there are molecules spinning around atoms in there so it's moving even though we can't see it.  When it comes to things like balls, I don't think we should have to get a subatomic microscope to discern the movement.   If I can't see the ball rolling with my own two unaided eyes, then it's not going anywhere in this universe and quantum theory can go suck balls.

As I've been going through all this stuff with finding an apartment, I have noticed that the process is similar to creating a relationship.  First you have to find a place that meets criteria, then you have to go through a bunch of negotiations.  Sometimes those negotiations make sense, and sometimes they don't - but either way you have to reach an accord with the other party, and before you even start negotiating you have to have to take a leap of faith that you're going to be happy in that place and that the other party isn't keeping any essential yet damaging information hidden.  Once you jump through all the negotiation hoops, you make a huge commitment that may or may not involve every penny you're going to have for the foreseeable future - and you're still taking a leap of faith that you're going to be happy in the place when you're committing your resources and your energy.

It's easier with real estate than people, however, because with a house, you really can fix certain problems.  You can simply knock down a wall with a sledge hammer for example.  People and their walls are more complicated.  Some walls never come down.   In a house, there are load bearing walls that can't ever come down - but at least you can paint the wall a color that you like, or you can turn it into a pillar or hang art on it or something.  And one thing is sure, you want a good foundation that can manage the load whether you're talking about a person or a house, too.

Either way, it's much easier when you're talking about a house because concrete is concrete and once you get certain information, decisions are clear.  You learn to accept the neighbors whether you love them or not - I guess you could stretch the relationship analogy here and compare neighbors to in-laws or the kids that may be part of the package.

I really did want to sign the papers Friday - but when I woke up Friday morning and realized that there was nobody around to celebrate with on Friday, I was kind of bummed.  It's nice that Gigi and Velvet are on standby so that we can have champagne at Cafe Lux today or tomorrow.  If the contract isn't signed after tomorrow, though, I may decide to walk away from this whole deal on account of general stupidity in the other party.  That's not so different from a relationship either.

I like the Riverside apartment a lot, but there are plenty of other apartments in New York City.  It met one set of criteria, but it's a bit of a stretch for me financially at the moment.  In the long run, I'm absolutely sure it's a good investment because I did the research so I'm willing to gamble. That kind of reminds me of Mr. Wisdom, too, because even though he's certainly not the only man in New York City, I've done enough research to know a good bet when I see one.  It's too bad he turned out to be unavailable, but like Scarlett says, "Tomorrow is another day."

4 Comments:

Blogger VV said...

Love the analogy. Good luck with both the apt and the man.

April 3, 2012 at 1:10 PM  
Blogger Cali said...

You know it may well be that the owner and/or the lawyer-in-residence-in-bum-fuck-egypt are just waiting for the retrograde to end. There are LOTS of people who avoid signing important contracts during a retrograde. Believe it or not, I've actually seen that come out as the eventual sales hang-up on HGTV's "House Hunters." I vote for giving them an extra day or two. Two days isn't going to hurt your own house hunt. In the end you will get the home you are meant to have-- and the man, too.

April 3, 2012 at 11:15 PM  
Blogger PENolan said...

Well Thank Heavens Mercury returns to normal TODAY. Who knows? Maybe I'll sign the contract this afternoon. As for the man, though, Astrodienst horoscopes suggest that it's going to more like the 16th or 17th before there is any kind of shift toward romance.
It's hard for Geminis to be patient - and I worry that once he's available again, I won't like him anymore. That would be typical . . .

April 4, 2012 at 7:31 AM  
Blogger Susan Tiner said...

I've more posts to catch up on so I'm hoping things go well with the apartment and with Mr. Wisdom.

As I was reading how you find the legal process analogous to creating a relationship I found myself nodding my head in agreement. So true.

April 26, 2012 at 1:54 PM  

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