(no subject)

I have to say that in many cases I do find this to be true.


You're a slightly tarnished metal key, and you unlock the wardrobe. At first glance, you seem to present only simple, everyday things, but anyone who looks deeper will find much more. Just don't expect everyone to believe in you, and those who don't may not grasp your worth.

What sort of key are you and what do you unlock?
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I want to buy this house...

What I don't get is that the house has either been on the market for well over a year, or it is on the market again. Granted it's in St Mary's, and that area can be a little bit rough... but the thing about these East Dayton neighborhoods is that the roughness is patchy. Generally associated with areas where landlords have rented their buildings out to sleazy junkies and so forth. The trouble surrounds the house or houses owned by these slum lords, and they are usually in small groups. In the East end it rarely spreads outside it's little area.

My next statement is going to sound racist at first, but it's not, it's just an observation of some differences in culture. See... poor white people often think themselves above walking from one place to the next even if it's only a couple blocks. Poor black people are just the opposite. They will walk where they want to go, even if it's miles and miles. So a troubled neighborhood in a predominantly white area will contain the trouble to a localized area... a house or houses, or apartment building... if they want to spread their trouble, they are not going to walk to the next place... they drive, which means the trouble only briefly passes through the other areas on it's way to the next area. White people do not cruise around at a low rate of speed watching for more trouble... (they do... however I'm speaking in generalizations... and white people who cruise usually go to a known hot spot to cruise, and not just around a neighborhood in general to see if there is someone on the streets that they want to play with or make trouble with. In black neighborhoods, of course trouble will also get in a car to change location, but it will also walk... The car is also more likely to cruise around a larger area locally to look for more trouble to play with. So the hot spot is spread out over a wider area. Evidence of this is in the fact that about 10 years ago city planners built a maze of iron gates and roadblocks in many of the troubled areas. These gates and roadblocks (and huge ass speed bumps... mustn't forget those since they will cause great damage to a car even at low speed if it doesn't fit over it properly. Sports cars and long low cruisers are especially vulnerable...) DID improve the neighborhoods in most areas, though they were a nuisance... however as my evidence regarding cruising, they were built 90% more often and over much larger areas in the areas of town that are predominantly black. Why? Black troublemakers cruise to find trouble if they can't make any where they are. White troublemakers tend to go directly from trouble A to trouble B.

Anyway, the point of that is: East Dayton is predominantly white, St. Mary's predominantly poor white, with some older middle class thrown in. As such, instead of trouble spots tend to be small pinpoints... hot spots, and then there are other areas that are completely cool. It all depends on the landlords and homeowners in a particular block. This house, in St Mary's is very nice looking from the outside. The price appears to be in line with other houses in the area... the front gardens have recently been refurbished even... I don't understand why it's still on the market. It doesn't make sense to me.

I didn't inquire about it the last time I looked because for one thing, I didn't figure I could sell my house in time to buy it anyway.. and now look it's still for sale... of course... I still do not have my house on the market... but this time I have made an inquiry. I am hoping that by making a few inquiries I can get a chance to shop around for a realtor who can move MY house pretty quick too. I'm just sick to death of the situation here, and having to work so many jobs and not having time to go back to school which I want to do very badly. I know I don't bitch about it much, but yah.. I really want to go back to school... and that means I have to lower my expenses, and have fewer jobs.

That said, this house won't lower my expenses any as it stands... as far as I know both units are unoccupied... however, as a two unit duplex, the idea is to live in one side and rent out the other. Rented for $400, or $450 would keep out the unemployed and trash... as well as requiring a credit check... the fact that the landlady lived right next door would also discourage trouble from settling there. Who wants to try to have trouble when your landlady lives next door? Especially when that landlady makes it clear she likes her quiet little house in the cul-de-sac? Well, once you take $400 or $450 away from the house payment, it comes out to substantially less of a monthly payment.

There are a number of more immediate options available to me though. First I have to sell my house. It's a nice house, it should sell pretty quickly I think. I just need to find a realtor.

Taxes

You know... I was very organized with my receipts and mileage and everything last year... except that one thing did not occur to me... Something really simple. If I write the mileage down on the gas receipt, and then staple the receipt to my manifest, I can no longer read the mileage I wrote down... Also, I could have been at least REMOTELY consistent with where I stapled my pages together each week... The last thing that I'm learning to do differently this year, is by GOLLY I need to take 2 minutes to total up my expenses at the end of the week and write them on the outside of the envelope, and at the end of the month total the weeks for the month. If I had done that, I would not be sitting here picking through the pages of each individual day and adding up receipts. it would already be done. I'm going to do my best not to do that to myself again this year.

So yah.. I'm doing my taxes... or actually.. preparing to do them... the doing isn't that difficult it's the preparation. Though I think I have to find the interest on the house... the form was in the car when the accident happened, and I think it's in that pile of papers over there *points* that I brought from the wreck of Torque Wing.

So anyway, I just finished November. Starting on December...