The apartment complex keeps putting new rules in place, most have been minor tweaks but yesterday they sent out notice about two new programs.

There is a line in the lease that says "Resident agrees to abide by all amendments and additions to said rules after due notice of any such amendments or additions". They are saying these changes fall under amended rules.

The online community board is flipping out over all of this.

I asked why they needed to see the car registration, who will be enforcing the parking rules - private security or tow trucks, and why only 40 guest spaces (and do they really expect that some residents who haven't gotten their tags won't park there?).

I'm so done. Was talking with our maintenance guy about all this. He is a GEM. Told him we were planning on buying a place and he gave me him number and said he would be happy to do any handy man work and show me how to do stuff if needed.

Suzi, that's still ridiculous. I hope you get out of there soon.

In other news, I know it's getting close to spring because Finn is starting to blow his coat. His very fluffy, very white coat. I've got white floofballs tumbleweeding through the house even though I'm brushing him twice a day. Lucky for me, he likes being brushed.

Suzi, those rules are whack.

tommyrot, I did know that! But the birds are singing and it's almost 60 degrees, so I declare Temporary Spring. It's supposed to be really cold tomorrow again, and then back to warmer weather. I'd be okay with a winter with no snow. We had a few snowflakes one day, and that's been it.

Percy the Fluffy Emo Cat has not started shedding, but he likes his fluffiness and may be deliberately holding on to it. Or, maybe I just can't tell because it's been a month since I vacuumed the carpet. I should really vacuum. Okay, I will, but later, after I get rid of this migraine. I'm going back to bed.

Man, I would be better at my job if I already knew everything. Literally, everything.

signed,
Fucked Up One More Thing Because I Didn't Have ALL The Information When I Was Told To Do It

Told him we were planning on buying a place and he gave me him number and said he would be happy to do any handy man work and show me how to do stuff if needed.

That's so sweet!

I heard on the radio that this past January was the dryest on record for the Sacramento are. Records go back to 1877, so significantly dry. Supposed to rain this weekend. If only we could get y'all's excess snow out here to the Sierra somehow.

I feel like my cats shed more in the fall than the spring. Making room for their winter coats? Or maybe that's when they get cuddlier so I notice them shedding all over me instead of leaving their fur outside in the bushes.

Have you furminated him, Anne? Several long-haired felines of my online acquaintance are furminator sluts. Really gets the loose hair, too. You could spin it into yarn! Hah! I just realized you're one of the few people I suggest that to who actually has the equipment and the ability to spin things into yarn!

From back a ways, there's a fenced hillside near us that used to have two llamas, assorted goats, black swans, and a few other critters that seemed to come and go. Well, the goats and the llamas seem to have gone. I don't know if the property has changed hands, but in recent months we noticed the installation of a pair of scrap metal art running mustangs, which we'd seen in the artist's back yard for several years. Now they stand proudly, bracketing the gate into the field. And even more recently two little brown paint shaggy ponies have been introduced into the field.

What's odd, and both a little sad, and endearing, is that although the field is about four or five acres, the ponies seem to hang around the iron mustangs--maybe for company? I don't know. But it's odd to drive by and see the ponies lying on the ground, the mustangs appearing to stand guard.

Suzi, I hope you find a perfect place soon, and are able to make the move without penalty. Your maintenance person does sound like someone you want to keep in touch with.

I'm applying for jobs. How do I explain that I'm applying (and willing to do) jobs I'm over-qualified for, because I'm sick of capitalism?

How do I explain that I'm applying (and willing to do) jobs I'm over-qualified for, because I'm sick of capitalism?

The applicant is eager to share her skillset with a mission driven organization.

Dana, are you wedded to FTE?

If not, send me an email. I know the place I'm contracting through (and the project itself) has outposts in your area.

I'm so fucking annoyed with people right now. So many people. But the worst offender is my best friend's daughter. She got caught stealing. From the place where her mother works. They are so lucky the boss really likes her mom, otherwise she would have lost her job. As it is, the girl is not allowed to ever come into the store again. (Which considering she normally stays at the store after school for two hours is going to cause a bit of a problem for them. There's nowhere else she can stay except the McDonald's across the road (or sit in the car in the cold), and then she'll spend all her allowance buying fries and milkshakes.) Also, when she got caught (by a woman who dislikes her and her mom, naturally), she called the woman who caught her a bitch "for making a scene! She didn't have to make such a BIG DEAL of it!" Holy Batman, people. I couldn't believe it. She is lucky she didn't get arrested! Worse, this is not the first time she's stolen stuff, and not even the first time she's stolen from her mom's store! It's just the first time she's gotten caught in the act. She knows better, she knows exactly what could happen if she steals. She does it anyway. I thought the stealing-stuff phase was over, but I guess not. She talks like she had no control over herself, but I know that's not true; she doesn't have a compulsion to steal. She's stealing things like dry shampoo, that she just wants to "try out" and she doesn't want to ask for the money because she knows her mom will say no. That's not a compulsion, that's a choice.

This girl is seventeen! She's never had a job (she blames her mom for that, but she's had plenty of chances to apply for jobs, she just doesn't. It's her mom's fault, she says, for not bringing her an application and helping her fill it out). She's never learned to drive. She's failing all her classes because she won't do the work. She's basically 13 except she's not 13, she's 17. She seems to be trying her best to make sure that she can stay a kid and live with mom and have mom take care of her, for the rest of her life, while she spends all her time on the internet. She's already been held back one year in school, and now it looks like she won't be graduating when she's 18, either.

Her mom is about to have a nervous breakdown. Whenever she tries to punish her or discipline her, the kid breaks something or sets something on fire, "accidentally". Her mom's afraid if she grounds her from the internet, the kid will set the house on fire. There's not really anything else she can do, the kid doesn't respond to consequences at all, she just does whatever she wants at the moment.

I don't even know what to say to her. Either of them. I'm so mad at the girl, and so upset for my friend. My friend is one of the most hard-working, trustworthy, self-reliant people I've ever met. I don't know how her youngest daughter turned out this way. I hope she'll grow up and take responsibility for herself and her life, but I'm really afraid that she won't, and then what happens?

Ugh. I'm sorry, I just needed to rant, and usually the person I rant to is my friend! I'm so worried for both of them, and there's nothing at all I can do. I have zero influence over the kid, and I'm 8 hours away.