Eilene and I went out to Colleyville to buy a television from someone who posted it on Craigslist. When we arrived at the lady’s house, we saw a large pen holding a big bunch of turkeys. They gobbled as we drove by. When we rounded the fence into the driveway, there was another pen containing not one, but TWO LLAMAS.

I freaked, and as soon as the lady answered the door we asked to play with them.

It turns out they were both a llama/alpaca mix, which kept them more miniature (and manageable) in size. The lady gave us each a cup of food, we took turns letting them chow down, and snapped a few photos.

After jumping through several hoops, we found the Texas Tenant’s Union and attended their free weekly workshop. I’m now convinced that the information presented should be “required reading” for anyone renting a property.

The basis for their presentation was that all tenants should know what legal procedure to follow throughout the course of their tenancy even in landlord/tenant communication, in order to prevent situations later in which the tenant, although correct in a dispute, lacks any supporting documentation. The lecture moved through key points of the standard TAA lease and what the legal terminology means in everyday tenancy. Discussion included rights during eviction proceedings, etc.

I was surprised at the number of mistakes I’ve made in the past out of lack of legal knowledge, and E is in the same boat. Both of us have landlords who have been very kind, and with whom we’ve developed a congenial rapport. There have been things I never had properly documented, from existing apartment damage upon move-in, to damage done through violent incidents with drugged out neighbors. My trust rested in verbal discussion and the assurance by the landlord that “It will be taken care of”. What I see now, especially through the degeneration of Eilene’s situation with her landlord, is that it’s very important for landlords to appear congenial and create a false sense of security for the tenant, so that when something blows up the tenant has no documentation of anything and no legs to stand on.

I would highly recommend to anyone that they find a local meeting of a similar organization. It’s worth its weight in gold.

There were definitely pros and cons, my take on it is that the experience would be made or broken depending on which style/position room was chosen. The “Standard” room, with no city view, was no more than a La Quinta room with a small flat panel tv on the wall. The “Loft” room, however, was a really nice dual-floor setup with a large soaking tub centered on one of the bedroom walls, with a fair amount of tile and decoration (the color scheme and volume of which varied per room). The view of the city, while not breathtaking during the day while we were there (we are still talking about Dallas), was strikingly peaceful as the hotel feels far-removed from the skyline, and I can imagine that at night it would be just beautiful. The design of the pool alone was worth making a visit.

On the way back, we obviously stopped by Decibel as we were somewhat near the back end of Industrial Blvd. Most of the lot areas are overgrown, the back lot where Bukem was staged is in disrepair, and a lot of stuff is fenced off with some serious razorwire.

As we were leaving, we hit the intersection down the street from Decibel to make a u-turn, and came upon what looked like an old mosque of some sort. There were several abandoned buildings in different states of decay or condemnation, and as the time of day had just broken into dusk, coupled with the fact that that area is completely deserted and devoid of any life, it felt a bit eerie. The buildings were all just… out of place. We got out of the car, gazed around and took some photos. At one point Eilene leaned over to me and said, “Where are we, Beirut?”

I found out a few weeks ago I’m coming into the last portion of the money from my deceased father’s pension. The amount is more than expected. In the past, no plans would have been made, that’s not going to be the case here. Among investigating possible investments and completely paying off all debts, I’m going to do various small things like stop throwing money at renting an apartment and buy a condo for later resale. There’s been a big shift where I’ve suddenly found myself choosing career options, buying real estate, looking at furniture that doesn’t involve cinderblocks and pieces of wood, wearing slacks and dress shirts to work, and weighing serious consequences of future actions. Wasn’t I just screwing off at raves and yelling “live for today” two seconds ago?

I’ve been in a wicked relationship for awhile now that’s caused me to stop and take a serious look at myself and where I’m heading. It’s been successful so far, for the first time since I can remember, if ever.

My time to finish school is running out, part of the future plans have involved seeing how to realistically make my return. The end of August marks 1 full year since quitting all the psych meds, my brain chemistry has done a lot of healing and re-balancing, so I’m looking to pay the university the money I owe them and restart classes in January.

The 240SX is running and is absolutely sick, but there is still too much left to do to feasibly drive it. It’s being shelved until I move into the new place and have a garage. I rented a car this week and am looking to buy a beater pickup truck this weekend as a second car.

I’m actually contemplating parting the car out and selling everything. A stripped, bare metal, street (il)legal race car was a nice novelty but completely impractical and annoying. I may take the parts money and put a down payment on a 2001 IS300, which I’ve seen for $13K. I’m not afraid of a 2001 car as there’s no maintenance I’d be scared to do (I just built a car), and if I play my cards right with the terms of the mortgage I wouldn’t mind having a small car payment. Since I built the 240 and it has run and is ridiculously dope, I’m not calling this unsuccessful and would be able to sleep at night if I walked away from it in October or so.

Anyway, that’s the haps. That, and an internet break for a bit, work has been hectic.