August 10, 2003

This week saw two visits to the new house. I imagine by now we're really pissing off the office staff at the community there, but every time I've asked they've said "no, actually, you two are pretty good; kinda cute too."

We never complain about anything when we look around, and really, we're probably the kind of people these staffers wish they dealt with more of. We're still just amazed that we're getting a house at all, much less a new construction.

We went Wednesday, just to look, and even before they gave us the master key to get into the house (they haven't changed the locks yet), they said "oh! We have a walkthrough date for you!" The house will be completed and its keys in our hands August 18, 2003, a full two weeks ahead of schedule! Already elated, we walked from the sales office to our new house to see what progress had been made in the few days since our last visit.

The floor tile was in place in the entryway. Workmen were unrolling and cutting the vinyl flooring for the kitchen, bathrooms, and laundry area (hey, we're not made of money; tile would have been wonderful for these, but we're already pushing our luck on this mortgage at is it). The floors, upstairs and down, were very clean, having apparently been swept up like mad the day before, in preparation for the flooring.

We took pictures. We were excited.

We came back home, I called up the assorted utilities to get services transferred or started up at the new house, and I called the lender to make sure we could close on the house in time to get the keys right after our walkthrough. The phone company gave us the first good news -- we get to keep our DSL. Hurrah!. The lender took her damned sweet-ass time, but also chimed in with good news -- she was putting everything together and promised to try her best to have the paperwork ready for closing this Wednesday, August 13, 2003.

With all that crap done with, we chilled for a couple days. Friday, we visited the house again, figuring they might be getting ready to put in the carpet.

With the requisite chat with the office staffers out of the way, we rushed to the house. The appliances were already out of the boxes and installed. Well, okay, they were hauling the new dryer upstairs when we arrived. To our astonishment, the carpet and flooring was completely finished. We didn't quite know what to do with ourselves, so we took off our shoes and walked around on it.

The dishwasher was mounted and installed. We didn't realize it was running until we looked at the control panel and saw it running through a cycle. It's seriously that quiet.

The refrigerator was powered, but not in place yet (they were still digging in their toolbox for the water line cable fastening thingy). The stove was positioned, powered, and presumably ready for use. We didn't fire it up, namely because it's not ours just yet.

The dryer looked nice and purdy (it's one of those spiffy front-loading deals, like the Maytag Neptune things but cheaper -- whether that's a good or bad thing is a mystery only time will solve) but comatose because, of course, it was being carried up the stairs by two grunting but seemingly competent guys.

The weirdest part was when we discovered a six-inch wide gaping hole in the drywall going up the stairs. We didn't even care (and we probably should have). We did mention it to the office critter, but she said "yup, things like that happen a lot." This got me wondering -- how exactly does that happen a lot? Anyway, they claim they'll have it fixed by the walkthrough, so we're happy.

It's amazing, though -- the house is really coming together. It really is as awesome as we'd hoped it would be. I can't wait to move in.

Friday was awful. I had to go up to the dentist. Now, I can't stand the dentist. But on this occasion I found the dentist visit especially horrible. I had to have molds of my teeth done so he can see what orthodontic work needs to be done. Now, everytime I go to the dentist, I come out wondering a few things:

• Why is everyone working in the dentist office short?
• Why is everyone working in the dentist office female, other then the dentist himself?

Now the only answer to these questions I can come up with are: 1. The dentist who is short himself, is insecure about his height and surrounds himself with people as short, or shorter then himself; 2. The dentist is either a pimp or a misogynist who believes women should serve him, another pig male.

Ok, finally, the most annoying thing about the molding process is the flavor of the plaster used to make the molds. And what makes it worse is the dental worker pushing the plaster (poured into a metal tray) up into your teeth. The irony of the process is that they ask you what flavor you'd like to have.....but the plaster has absolutely no flavor when in your mouth. When doing my top teeth especially the plaster makes me gag terribly, and it seems like an enternity for the plaster to dry and harden enough to remove from your mouth.

Man, I hate the dentist.

"Does anyone know what 'method acting' is?" Father Josh asked the congregation at Saint Timothy's this morning. "It's when an actor descends into a part and becomes the character they must play. I think Al Pacino does this, and I've heard it's sometimes difficult for him to come out of the part when the filming's over, he identifies so totally with that character.

"That is what we do with Jesus. We learn all we can about Him, how He feels, what He thinks, what He wants; what makes Him happy, what makes him grieve, and become angry; and then we live as if we were Him. We ask ourselves, if Jesus were in our situation and with our relationships, how would He respond?

"There's a lot I don't understand about the direction in which this Church is going. But whatever happens to the mission of the Church, whatever changes may take place in it, this is still the mission of each individual Christian and always will be: to become Christ, so that when people look at us, they see Him shining through in our lives.

"People are asking what we should do in response to all the changes and upheavals we're going through. The answer is that we do what we have been doing all along. Only a hundred times more so."