The New House

I moved in with Anna and Tim last month, and finally got around to taking some pictures!

I hate moving.

It's just way too much work.

Anyway, I am now living in my parents' camper in their back yard, with a few bins of stuff which I might need from day to day or week to week (like clothes and my computer). It's actually kind of cozy, even though the roof leaks in a couple places and the power goes out every few days or so. This morning the power went out at least two hours ago, and it hasn't come back on, so I've been trying to figure out why. It's the outlet that the camper is connected to on the outside of the house.

I tried every breaker inside the camper, plus the breaker for the outlet in the house, but the power still wouldn't come back on. So Dad said to try taking something electric out to the cord and the outlet to see if the power is even coming to the camper at all. I took the little hanging "lantern" out to the place where the cord plugs into the camper--it didn't turn on. Then I plugged it into the outdoor outlet--still didn't turn on. Finally, I brought it into the kitchen and plugged it in there--it turned on. So I need to find another outlet which the extension cord can reach before I'll get power in the camper again. I'm typing up this entry on my dad's computer inside while he's at church with Jason.

Bart from the Haven helped me get my furniture and most of my other stuff to my storage unit last weekend with his "Mobile Opression Palace" (a huge SUV)--thanks, Bart! Then Kayla and I went back to the townhouse on Wednesday to pack up our dishes and such. We left all of the tupperware-type containers for Jenn and Amit, since we didn't really have anywhere to use them. Then yesterday I went back to the townhouse and vacuumed my room, Kayla's old room, and the living room, then cleaned my full bathroom and the half-bath on the second floor--Neha helped me with that one. After I swept the dining/common room, I was done.

Speaking of the Haven, things are going well there. We finished our last Friday night 3.5 dungeon crawl a few weeks ago, and Gene and Steve decided to start teaching us D&D 4.0. We created our characters last week, and then this past Friday started actually playing. We killed a few kobolds, and then stopped for the night. My character is a dragonborn warlock.

On Thursdays, we have what I like to call "Crazy Thursday." Three Thursdays ago, Bart ran a Buffy game--although it was just creating characters, since we've decided not to play with the original cast anymore in favor of a setting in the Gold Rush time period. Then two weeks ago, he ran a new D&D 3.5 game, in which I play a gnomish cleric, with a dwarven fighter/cleric cohort.

This past week was the first session (in which character creation was done, and not much else) of the very first RPG I've ever run. I'm running a Serenity game, and I'm hoping it's going to be awesome. The only reason we couldn't do more than create characters this week was because the guy who will be playing the captain of the ship (once the crew has a ship, that is) was home sick. Next week is either going to be a free week, or the week which we start the actual Serenity game, if Brian (ship's captain guy) can make it both next week and for the July 24th session. Truthfully, I'm pretty nervous about running my first RPG, but hopefully it'll be fun. I've introduced a concept that I haven't seen done before--transient characters. There were a bunch of people who wanted to play the game, or watch the system, and I could only handle 3-4 actual crew members, so I introduced the transient characters idea so that some other players could get into the system at least every once in a while.

Not much more to say now, except that I wish the power in the camper was back on.

Finally, an Update

A lot's been happening the last couple of weeks, not all of it productive in the strictest sense of the word.

As of last week, I've joined a Buffy RPG game on Thursday nights. The story is set after season 3 episode 4, and I'm playing Faith. So far, we also have a Willow and an Oz, and room for two more players.

The Friday night game is going well--last weekend, we spent a "year" training and fighting in the plane of Akron (don't know if that's the correct spelling or not). My character, a ranger named Laina, gained a point of strength (for a total of 16) and lost a point of constitution because she'd been beat up so much (for a total of 12). Everybody also was given a level of dual-classing in fighter, with most of the extra stuff that comes from leveling. Next time I level though, I'm going to have to decide whether I want to be ranger 5/fighter 1 or ranger 4/fighter 2. Not much of a huge dilemma, but it'll be fun to figure out which would be best.

After we all figured out how dual-classing worked and made the necessary changes to our character sheets, we got to another plane of existence and found ourselves in Sigil, the City of Doors. We looked for a way to get back to Eberron (the world we're playing in), but it would cost us 500 gold per person, and even I'm short at least 80 gold (I'm the least broke of the party), so we looked for a job to do. This guy sent us to find some magic fungus in a cave rumored to have Medusae in it (wouldn't that be Gorgons though?), but when we got there, the Medusa was an illusion--we were actually fighting Driders instead! Laina took 10 points of temporary strength damage, 7 hit points of damage, and got stuck in a web for the last half of the combat. Then we were done for the week. I can't wait to find out what happens to us next! We still have to find that fungus.

When I got home on Friday, I watched episodes 3-14 (plus special features) of Firefly. Yes, you read that right, 3-14. I was so psyched about finally getting to watch the whole series (what little there is of it) that I didn't want to turn it off and go to sleep--so I didn't. The special features finished around 9 Saturday morning, so I put Serenity in the player and started it going. About fifteen minutes later, I was dead to the world. Good thing I'd already seen the movie.

Three hours later, Anna came over asking me stuff about Pittsburgh and New York, but since it was my "stay home and clean" week, I told her I wasn't going to come.

I went back to sleep for a while, and somewhere in there I remember eating some leftover boxed mac 'n' cheese, but I pretty much stayed asleep until around 5:30 on Sunday morning.

I layed there in bed for a while with my eyes closed, 'cause I couldn't make them stay open, then I popped MacGyver in and watched an episode before I went downstairs to get some cereal. I watched another episode while I ate, and by then it was about 7:30. There hasn't been much luck on the roommate finding front, so I started packing my movies and books. I got all of my stuff on the first floor packed up, plus a good portion of my books on the third floor, before I ran out of empty packing tubs. (I use the Rubbermaid 21.5 gallon things.)

At that point, I was kind of physically exhausted, but nowhere near sleepy, so I watched a couple more episodes of MacGyver before heading out.

Dinner at Mom & Dad's was kind of quiet, what with Anna and Kayla not there, and Kimba taking her dinner to her room. I pretty much hung out with Dad and Jason for the evening, and then after dinner we played video games. Kayla got in around 11 or so (Anna left again after dropping her off), and then I went home a little later.

Before I went to sleep last night, I watched the last two episodes of MacGyver season 2, so I can put that season in the tub now, and start on season 3 next time I watch.

I always pack my movies and books first, because no matter how much I like to have them out and organized, I know that they're actually the least necessary items in my possession. So I pack them first, and then I pack everything else with increasing necessity over the course of a month, ending with things that I absolutely need from one day to the next. And I put sticky labels on the lid of each tub with semi-detailed (but concise) descriptive words. That way, I'm not stressing about losing something, or not being able to find it later. Plus, I'll know which rooms to put which tubs in the next time I have a place to put them and I won't need a million cardboard boxes, just a dozen or two Rubbermaid tubs.

You're probably wondering where that drabble I posted earlier today came from.

Well, they added a new forum to the Haven message boards specifically for creative writing. So I suggested that we have weekly drabble challenges where someone contributes a challenge word, and anybody who wants to posts a drabble based on that word. The first word was "silver," so I got to thinking of thieves and then I thought to myself that it's pretty much a given that you should never trust a thief, but you should never hire a thief who has naught but two coins to rub together. And then I wondered if that were necessarily true, and decided to write my drabble based on the assumption that it wasn't.

Thinking

I think I might have to drop out of the Wednesday night Vampire game. There are various reasons, which I will explain below, but what they all come down to is: I don't have enough time right now--either to familiarize myself with the rules of the game, or to participate in this particular chronicle.

For one thing, those of us playing the game never know if that week's session will go until 8pm or until 10pm. I don't like to stay out too late on weeknights, so that I can at least try to get things done at home and/or relax before I have to go to sleep for work in the morning, but if I'm at the Haven until 10pm, then there isn't much I can do after that. Even after school's out and I've found somewhere to live after June 30, this fact alone could be a deal-breaker.

Then there's the fact that finals are coming up in 2½ weeks. I'll have to at least read my notes again. Not to mention, I haven't finished my night sky observations yet.

Looking for a house and/or new job takes up a lot of time too. And the stress is awful.

When I first started playing the Vampire game, I wasn't all that prepared. I just saw Dan making up his character with a few of the Vampire books sitting on the table around him and asked if I could join in the game. Carl said it was okay, so I started making up my character. He read a bunch of things out of the book about the game, and talked about each of the clans and the traditions and stuff, but I was only able to half-listen, since I was trying to get my character created quickly so we could start the game. I missed most of what he said.

I think what I might do is drop out of this particular Vampire game, then when their adventure is over, if they start a new one after all the stress is over (either with the same characters or new ones), I might join in then. I figure by the time their current chronicle is finished, I'll have had time to read through the rulebook (and maybe a few of the options that I have in PDF format), so I'll understand the game better, and therefore be at least a little better at it.

Thoughts?

House Hunting and Decisions to Make

The last week has been really busy. Saturday, I went to look at apartments in Hagerstown with Kimba and Anna. The first one we looked at was in downtown Hagerstown, and wasn't in all that good of a neighborhood. The other one was in Smithsburg, and would cost way too much, even if I had Stacie living with me--not to mention, I wouldn't be able to save up enough for the security deposit.

On Wednesday, Dad, Anna, Kayla and I went to look at the mobile home that's for sale in the mobile home park down the road from their house. It's kind of small (the second bedroom is tiny--not really bedroom size at all, more like a den), and at first I thought I wouldn't be able to afford it alone, but I've done some figuring. I might be able to afford it after all. There are a few cons, but there are a lot of pros too, which goes for all of the choices I've looked at so far.

For instance, the walls in the house are covered with dark paneling. If I can paint over the paneling, that would be great, and it would make the place look more open. If I couldn't paint over the paneling, I'd just cover the walls with posters or something (I certainly have enough).

After looking at the $8,000 house, we went to Hagerstown to look at a house at the Fleetwood dealership there. We saw one with two bedrooms and two bathrooms for $36,000, plus $12,000 placement. So I'd need to get a mortgage for $48,000. The Fleetwood dealership offers financing, but you have to put 10% down (about $5,000 in this case), and I don't even have $500 to spare, much less the $2,500 I'd have to fork out to get that through with Stacie. I figured out that I could probably afford it if I moved in with Stacie though.

Yesterday, Kimba called me at work to say that one of the people she works with may have a room available in her apartment starting around mid-July or so for $450 a month, plus some utilities (I haven't found out which yet--gotta e-mail the girl after I finish this entry). That's a little late for me, so I'd probably have to store all of my stuff in my parents' basement and sleep on their couch for a month or so. I'm not looking forward to doing that.

I looked online for financing I could get with 0% down, and I found one site. They had a form to fill out for more information, so I filled it out twice--once for the larger house and once for the $8,000 house, so they could let me know if I could possibly qualify for either loan.

I have to say, this living with roommates thing is kind of getting old. I wouldn't mind living in the smaller trailer by myself. I'd have to wait until after I pay off my car in April of 2010 before I could 1) save any significant amount of money per month (though I could possibly still save a little), and 2) repaint the walls (if that's even possible), but that would be okay with me. There should be plenty of room for my furniture, and the site rental plus mortgage payments would only come to $490-500, which should be doable since the power and heating bills will be a lot less there than they are at the townhouse. I don't know if the size of the household has anything to do with my current cable TV and internet bills, but those might be less too, and even if they're not, I have a little of leeway about how much I can afford for those. Also, I might be able to get wireless internet from my parents' house (I'd help pay Dad's internet bill) if I put a high enough mast on the house and Dad got the necessary equipment on his end.

If I live in one of the two trailers, I'd be able to walk to my parents' house and visit whenever I wanted. I could bike too, and that would help me get in shape. But if I lived with Stacie, I might have to sell furniture in order for both of our stuff to fit. The wireless internet mast could also work here, since there's a vacant lot in the mobile home park there.

Apparently, Kimba's friend's apartment is near my work, so I might be able to walk there if I lived in the apartment. But there might not be enough room for all of my furniture in the apartment, and I'm not sure I have enough time to find someone to buy any. I suppose I could just give it away, but if I sold it, then I'd have more money available for a security deposit and such (if Kimba's friend would need a security deposit).

Once I've gotten a reply to my impending e-mail to Kimba's friend, I will adjust my financial figurings to reflect her estimates on utility costs. Since an apartment can't be much bigger (or smaller) than a mobile home, I figure the costs for utilities are at least a little bit comparable, as opposed to the costs for a townhouse that fits five people comfortably.

Also, these financial figurings will only be for the first few days of living wherever I end up living. My 3-year review at work comes up on July 5, so I'll be getting a raise of at least $500 per year (the largest raise I have gotten so far was $1,500 per year). It's not much, but it will help me to afford a little bit more. But first, I have to get whatever housing I can afford right now. That way, when the raise comes, I'll be a little more comfortable than I would be at my current salary.

Tonight is D&D night. We finished our adventure during last week's session, but I've heard that we will have a couple of options to continue with the same characters in different adventures. One option is to join a game in the Greyhawk setting. The other option is to stay in the same setting (Eberron) and make our characters 2-3 levels higher than they ended up. I'd like to stay in Eberron and level my character naturally, since I've never actually played a campaign where my character earned the experience and levelled up without artificialness.

Another Weekend, Gone

Saturday, I gave Jason my arrows. He was playing a Nintendo DS game with his friend William at the time, so he didn't say much except, "Thanks."

Then, I talked to Dad about the roommate/place to live situation. For those who don't know, the situation stands thus:

• Kayla's old room has been vacant since January or February.
• I have looked in many places, and posted many ads to the effect that the room is available. I've had a few interested parties, but they were either a) not currently in Frederick (I won't offer the room to someone unless I've met them face-to-face, for safety reasons) or b) didn't get back in touch with me after seeing the house.
• Our lease is up on June 30, 2008, less than three months away.
• I don't know if Jenn, Amit and Stacie want to renew the lease or not, but
• If Kayla's old room doesn't get filled, the point is moot anyway and we're all screwed.
  
• If they don't, then I'm pretty much screwed unless I find somewhere to live by mid-June (so that I have time to pack up and move out before the end of the lease).
• I can only afford to pay a total of about $550 per month total for rent, internet, water, power, heat, cable, and phone (if I have a land line).
• Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Frederick does not go any lower than $750 or so, and if I go to where rent is only $550, I won't be saving any money, because then I'll have to pay even more for gasoline.
• I can afford to buy a house which costs up to about $60,000 or so, but none of the houses in Frederick cost less than $150,000.

Dad suggested I might be able to live in a mobile home park. There are four or five in the city that we know of. We went to see if there were any vacancies at four of them on Saturday, but the offices were closed for the weekend (where we could find the offices anyway).

The way I figure it, if the site rental, plus the monthly mortgage payment on the mobile home itself (the model I like would be about $24,000 total), and utilities such as I've listed above is less than $550 a month, then I can afford to live there. I could also do without the phone (I have a cell), and even the cable, if my family will TiVo shows for me. Since I mostly watch the shows that Anna watches anyway, that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Dad said he would go to the offices today and ask about costs and stuff like that. He also said he would ask if there were any of the mobile homes available for rent, or if I'd have to purchase one myself to put into one of their vacant lots.

After the trips to the mobile home parks (to see if there were any vacant lots and look at the quality of the "neighborhoods"), which was during a grocery trip, Dad made dinner. We didn't do too much after that though, except watch Sydney White and What a Girl Wants on the projector screen.

Yesterday, Anna, Kayla and I woke up, then we played Halo on the projector for a bit. After that, Anna broke out the Clue boardgame I'd gotten her for Christmas but she hadn't opened yet. We played two games (with Jason)--Anna won both times.

Then I setup my old desktop computer for my dad to check out and possibly fix. It wasn't fixable, since it's a Pentium III reporting as a Pentium II. So, we cannibalized it for parts, and I'm going to take the harddrive, the zip drive, the ethernet card and the memory sticks back to my house to see if I can use them there. I might be able to add the first three to Kayla's old computer so that it will run faster, and I might be able to put the ethernet card into my laptop dock. I'll still need to purchase more memory for my laptop though.

After the computer mayhem, Anna, Kayla and I watched the first season (plus some of the second) of Red vs. Blue, which I had never seen before. It's hilarious so far; we got to the part where Lopez and Sheila have decided to make their own army, and the Blues are supposed to be surrenduring both to them and to the Reds at 0600, but by then it was 12:45am, and the second season had been going for about an hour and a half. I thought it would only be an hour, so I asked to watch season two at 11:15. Turns out, it was longer, and since I had to work today, we turned it off before I started to fall asleep. I didn't want to miss any of it, so I was trying to stay awake as long as I could.