Enjablog

Ok, so I keep forgetting to download pictures when I’m at home, so I’m just going to post about it and put up pictures some time later when I remember.

Flew out of here on Tuesday afternoon and got in kind of early that evening. Found my coworkers, got the rental car, and checked into the hotel, at which point it wasn’t as early anymore. People were kind of anti-social that night, so we didn’t do anything. Made plans to meet for breakfast at 6am and get to work by 6:45.

So, I don’t talk about work much, but I’m an engineer and I went to go do a ship check. Basically, make sure all the things that are supposed to be on the ship are where they’re supposed to be. So, I wandered around and followed pipes, counted up valves, and drew on the fancy tablet computer with all the systems mapped out.

If you haven’t been on a ship before, let me give you an idea of what it’s like. Picture the movie ships or submarines that Hollywood shows you. Now, add grease, grime, and the smell of sealed up salt water. Ok, not really that bad, but it’s dirty. And gross. And the “stairs” between decks, let’s call them what they are: ladders. And by ladders, picture Jeffrey’s tubes (a la Star Trek) with the dirt and grime mentioned before and 5-story drops. Then picture me, scared of heights, climbing down one of these things. Fun!

Now, most of the spaces I needed to get into did actually have functional stairs on them. They were just very steep and narrow, which I succeeded in bumping my knees on almost every time I went up a deck. And then almost falling down when I went down. Not every time, but at least when I was carrying a laptop around with me, my center of balance was thrown off and I couldn’t compensate effectively enough to keep completely sturdy, so I ended up just walking really slowly the whole time.

Other than that, though, it was a really cool trip. It the first time I ever got to just wander a ship. All the other times I’ve been on a ship, it was on a guided tour with a dozen classmates, so I couldn’t get lost, there wasn’t anything really going on (at least where we could see), and we only saw the interesting stuff. This time, I had to navigate my way around the ship, find alternate routes when the passageways were blocked off for painting or welding, and find spaces labeled “Void #6.” Luckily, I did have a coworker with me for most of the time so I wasn’t completely left to my own devices.

I did, however, take a couple trips around on my own for various reasons. Apparently, having a boy around helps me blend in. Every time I walked around by myself, I got stopped by someone asking me if I was lost, or if was allowed in there, or just what I was doing there. Two people asked me if I was Phillipino and another asked about my One Campaign bracelet (he sounded really excited that he saw someone else with one; he had just gotten his the day before). It seems that a little Chinese girl doesn’t blend in, even if she’s wearing a hardhat.

The whole trip, I saw eight women on the shipyard, including me. That’s counting two women I saw in the women’s bathroom and one who was selling food in one of the trucks on the pier. No wonder I looked so out of place.

I got to see a lot of systems I had only heard about before or seen in drawings. I wandered the bowels of the ship, saw generators and engines, crawled around 8″ pipes, and searched entire engine rooms for 2″ valves labeled in small type. It was definitely an experience.

I know you are all waiting with bated breath to hear what happened with the crazy lady. I wasn’t there for it, so you can take a look at my brother’s blog for his account.

Summary: He talked with a lawyer, served ScholarshipWinner with an eviction notice, and gave her a check for a couple nights stay at a hotel. She complained and asked for a nicer hotel and said she wasn’t leaving until the check cleared. He said no. She left wearing one of my brother’s shirts.

Highlights: She claimed that I never gave her a key to the house. She also accused my brother of having an unnatural relationship with me. Apparently, it’s unusual for a brother and sister to be close enough to live in the same house and for him to take my word on the fact that she’s crazy.

In other news, I am back from San Diego! For those of you who didn’t know, I was gone last week and had that lengthy story posting while I was gone so you wouldn’t have to miss me. Haha… yeah, right. I know.

Pictures to follow. Highlights: Papa Panda (Gao Gao) having a bowel movement (goes in green and comes out green as well) and seeing Hurricane Katrina at 35,000 feet.

The Diagnosis: Sociopath.

I had never met a sociopath before. Now I have.

Signs of a sociopath:

Antisocial Personality Disorder is chronic, beginning in adolescence and continuing throughout adulthood. There are ten general symptoms:

not learning from experience
no sense of responsibility
inability to form meaningful relationships
inability to control impulses
lack of moral sense
chronically antisocial behavior
no change in behavior after punishment
emotional immaturity
lack of guilt
self-centeredness

People with this disorder may exhibit criminal behavior. They may not work. If they do work, they are frequently absent or may quit suddenly. They do not consider other people’s wishes, welfare or rights. They can be manipulative and may lie to gain personal pleasure or profit.

Emphasis added: 8/10 that I witnessed in three days. I’d hate to see what more evidence I would come up with in 2 months.

Other background info:

Some examples of this disregard are reckless disregard for the safety of themselves or others, failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors, deceitfulness such as repeated lying or deceit for personal profit or pleasure, and lack of remorse for actions that hurt other people in any way. Additionally, they must have evidenced a Conduct Disorder before the age of 15 years, and must be at least 18 years old to receive this diagnosis.

People with this disorder appear to be charming at times, and make relationships, but to them, these are relationships in name only. They are ended whenever necessary or when it suits them, and the relationships are without depth or meaning, including marriages. They seem to have an innate ability to find the weakness in people, and are ready to use these weaknesses to their own ends through deceit, manipulation, or intimidation, and gain pleasure from doing so.

They appear to be incapable of any true emotions, from love to shame to guilt. They are quick to anger, but just as quick to let it go, without holding grudges. No matter what emotion they state they have, it has no bearing on their future actions or attitudes.

Ok, so after all this, even if you still think that I am exaggerating… At the very least, bare minimum, she is verbally abusive and has an anger management problem. That’s still not an acceptable way to go through life. I wouldn’t put up with that from a boyfriend, family, or friends. Why should I put up with that from a complete stranger to whom I’m being nice?

Day 3: Sunday, 8/21/2005
After lunch with BFF, Rain, and Ian, the girls decided they wanted to meet this terror. We all head over to the house, since I need to pick up a few things anyway. I had planned to make a cheesecake, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen anymore.

I show everyone around the house. Show them the empty scholarship room. We go down to the basement and the first thing BFF notices is the smell: armpit. I do introductions, we grab a DVD, and head back upstairs. They sit down to play Sorry while I go around collecting my things. I notice that the trash bag under the table that I had tied off has been opened and more trash deposited, there are aluminum cans in the trash, and I can’t find my cheesecake ingredients in the fridge.

I go downstairs and ask ScholarshipWinner if she has seen the ingredients I need.

“Yeah, I put it away in a drawer. It was in the way.”

“Ok… And have you seen my tofu from the night before?”

“Oh, I ate that. hahaha…” (And picture that as the Janice laugh from Friends.)

Why, exactly, is that funny? I wish I could more descriptively show how she sounded when she said that. At this point, she is just being a really unpleasant person. I mean, I’ve lived with other people before. I’ve never had to label food. I’ve never had a problem with eating someone else’s food or them eating mine. It would be one thing if she had asked, or offered to replace it, or even asked when I was going to the grocery store next so she could get some of her own food or pay me back. But no. There was no asking. There was no consideration or respect. She saw something she wanted and decided it was her right to take it.

I don’t even know why I’m surprised, but I am, again, stunned at her gall. I walk away with her laughter behind me. I start emptying the fridge, intending to drop off the food at my parents’ place for them to enjoy while I’m gone. Find that she has already eaten half of the fried rice that my grandmother made Saturday afternoon. Unbelievable. I haven’t even really had another meal chance to eat it and it’s already gone.

I go upstairs to grab a few more things with Rain, while Ian goes downstairs to have a little chat with ScholarshipWinner. He explains in very simple terms that the food that she has been eating had shown up after she had arrived and it belonged to both him and me. She should not be taking other people’s things without asking because that’s stealing. She comes back with, “Get the hell out of my face, Junior.” And, “You fucking mutt!” To which he calmly reiterates that things that she brings into the house are hers, and things that are already here are most likely not hers, so taking those things would be considered stealing. She says that they weren’t labeled and Sonny assured her that she was welcome to everything in the house. So, get the hell out of her face, etc. etc. More yelling and derogatory remarks. Eventually, to appease Ian and so she can go back to watching TV, she says that it won’t happen again. He walks away and BFF can hear her muttering profanities under her breathe for a while after.

My parents stop by a little while later. My mom goes downstairs to offer ScholarshipWinner some cherry tomatoes and chat with her. They come up a few minutes later so ScholarshipWinner can take off her shoes. Apparently, she had seen everyone else taking off their shoes at the doorway, had even asked about it when we arrived the first night, but didn’t know if it was a requirement. I guess she needed her shoes on because the house is so filthy. They head back downstairs.

I’m about done gathering my things and we finish up the game of Sorry. Ian goes downstairs and talks to ScholarshipWinner one more time while my mom is present. This time, she’s very polite and apologizes for before. She didn’t see any label on the food, so she figured it was hers to eat. Ian asks her what’s going on because she’s being very polite right now, but just 15 minutes earlier, she was yelling profanities at him and calling him a mutt.

“That’s because you are a mutt!” Obscenities, derogatory remarks, etc.

This time, all in front of my mother… With a really benign provocation. Sketchtastic.

The girls and I say our goodbyes to my parents and head out.

Throughout the rest of the day, all permutations of phone calls between Yenny, Sonny, my parents, and me. I tell my brother that it is now past the point of open hostility. She has demonstrated that she cannot even maintain her fake, nice act in front of our parents anymore. There is some serious mental disconnect in her brain. I will not live in the house as long as she is there.

This is his thing, it’s his house, and the decision is his to make. I have called him a half-dozen times in the past 48 hours, compared to that many phone calls in the last 18 months, at best. I have lived there and taken care of the house and really haven’t bothered him with much of the details or the handful of roommates who have been through. There were some minor annoyances that I may have mentioned, but nothing that I didn’t handle or take care of on my own. I have never, ever reacted this way to anyone before. I have never had to ask my parents for help because I was scared of someone.

I may have my faults and I may love gossip and drama, but my exaggerated stories don’t get this far out of hand. The things I pretend are so out of character for the people I know, it seems ridiculous to me that they might be construed as believable. The things I make up are amusing to the people involved.

This is not.

Day 2: Saturday, 8/20/2005

Spend the morning doing the run thing, so get back to my place with Ian in the early afternoon to shower and stuff. Go up to check my email and whatnot before getting clothes together to shower. We have trouble getting my internet connection consistent. It keeps flickering on and off. Maybe there’s something wrong with the router? Or maybe it has been moved or something?

Head downstairs with Ian to check the router and see that ScholarshipWinner has the sliding glass door open again. I let her know that I was having trouble getting a connection and that I was just going to reset the router. It would be like 30 seconds. She says she was having trouble as well, so she had to resort to using an ethernet cable. Wait a few seconds to make sure the lights all turn on properly and start heading back toward the stairs.

“Oh, uhm, ScholarshipWinner? Would you close the door so it’s not open while the A/C is running?”

“No. It’s stifling down here. I had a friend over before and he agreed with me.”

What? In the basement? That’s the coldest place in the house. Five to ten degrees colder than the rest of the house (at a constant 77 degrees) and decidedly colder than the 98-degree heat advisory in effect outside. I’m appalled. I don’t even know what to say. A rational, normal person would say ok to that. A rational person would understand simple thermodynamics enough to know hot outside + not as hot inside = leave doors closed. Give her a look of confusion and walk upstairs to regroup.

Discuss with Ian what kind of person would react like that. What kind of person leaves an open trash bag in the middle of the kitchen, while simultaneously complaining that my upkeep of the house is filthy? What kind of person piles someone else’s things in a corner to “clean up” while distributing their own things wherever she pleases? This is getting out of hand. Maybe she needs some boundaries set or she hasn’t had a roommate in a while and doesn’t know how to play nice with others. Something must be done.

We go back downstairs and she’s lounging on the couch in front of the TV. She glances over at us briefly and goes back to the TV. We sit down on the adjacent couch and ask if she received the email we sent her the night before. She says yes. Ian begins by explaining to her that this is Sonny’s house and while he’s gone, there needs to be some amount of respect for his space in his absence. He barely gets through a sentence before he’s cut off by ScholarshipWinner telling him this has nothing to do with him. He has no say in anything going on here.

“Well, I live here, so I do have a say. Simple things, like a request to not have doors and windows open while the air conditioning is running doesn’t seem like I’m asking a lot from you.”

“Fine! Fine. Whatever.” She storms over and slams the sliding glass door shut.

“That’s not the point though–”

“I don’t care what you have to say. My agreement is with your brother. You have nothing to do with that. If he has any problems with me, he can take it up with me himself. You have no say here!”

My mouth is literally hanging open at this point. Ian regains his composure first and we both leave her to watch more TV. Call Sonny, let him know what’s going on. Tell him how out of hand things have gotten in the past 10 minutes. He says he will send her an email and see what her side of the story is.

Parents call and arrive shortly thereafter. They meet her and support our opinion of her. We have a meeting upstairs and evaluate the situation. What is her goal here? Keep reminding ourselves that she is not a rational being. Decide that at this point, it would be best for me to leave the house. If she is already this short-tempered and openly hostile, it would probably be best to leave before things get worse. Go to Home Depot, pick up a new lock for my room, get back, install the lock, pack my things.

Hour 36: Vacate the premises.

Get back in the car and she starts cursing up a storm. I can’t believe she did this! I knew she couldn’t be relied on! I knew something like this would happen. I can’t believe she forgot to leave the key. I called to remind her and to tell her to make sure to secure it well. I hope someone didn’t steal the key. I have stuff in the backseat. I need that stuff! I can’t believe this!

Etc. etc. for the next 30 minutes of sitting in traffic. It’s not sooo bad because I paid attention to where traffic on 66 was on the way out so I would know where to bail and since she didn’t have her car now, I had her as a passenger and could drive HOV.

Get back and leave her to call her friend and figure out what’s going on. I get online to check email and chat with Ian. Let him know that we need a plan B for dinner because he has no leftovers to eat from the night before. As we’re chatting, ScholarshipWinner comes upstairs and lets me know what happened with the key. Her friend left it for her, but it’s gone now. So, someone stole the key, and must be coming back to steal the car later. Right…

After she finishes telling me that, I get an IM from Ian which makes the IM blippy noise. She comes over right next to me, between my bed (where I sit to use my computer) and my desk and squints at my monitor asking if that was for me. Yeah, lady. That was for me. I am in my room, using my computer, logged on with my screenname talking to someone. Who else would it possibly be for, why are you in my personal space, and why are you reading my IMs? I reply in the affirmative and then give her my best “what’s wrong with you?” look.

She leaves to go call a friend and some other people to see about getting a key made for her car and I go back to my computer. I get a call from Sonny (from Georgia) a couple minutes later asking if the new roommate is weird. Yes.

“Did you gather that from my blog?”

“Haha… yeah… ‘Different.’ That kind of gave it away.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“So is she weird, like I need to kick her out?”

“Well… I don’t know. Weird, like… I don’t know if this will work out, but you should probably get back and meet her first. I don’t really want to say too much now because she’s in the house, but she said something kind of weird last night and has been making herself really comfortable in the basement and hasn’t touched her room.” Elaborate on what she said about deserving something good.

“Ok, yeah… Her last few emails had started to sound kind of weird too. She said something kind of like that in the email.”

“And you didn’t warn me?”

In the middle of this conversation, I hear my name being called again from downstairs. I figure since she was crying wolf all the other times, I just continued with my conversation. Especially since I was on the phone, it wasn’t worth yelling back. Chat a little more and I let him know I’ll keep him posted and he says he’ll forward me her application. I hear a knock at my door and she lets me know that a friend is coming to pick her up to try and get into her car again. Finish up conversation with Sonny and lie down to read a little before Ian comes over.

Ian arrives and I meet him out at his car. We decide to leave this craziness behind and go out for sushi. It’ll be pleasant for both of us and we can just relax and enjoy each other’s company.

But we can’t get over this. This woman is crazy. She has been in this house for less than 24 hours, is unclear as to what my brother’s name is (had to ask me in the car), and has already made more changes than I made in the 16 months that he was gone and I had 4 roommates come through. What kind of person does this?

No, this is no good. This is a toxic way to go about things. What is some redeeming quality she has? There has to be something nice about her. I like everyone. I get along with everyone. Even mean people will be nice to me… I’m just a little girl.

Well, she has given us something to talk about. And this will make an awesome blog post. Oh, if she lives here for a while, I can totally diagnose her mental disorder! And she’s teaching me to be more tolerant of other people. I’ve never met anyone so intrusive before.

After dinner, we get back to my place and I show Ian around to let him see all the changes that have been made already. Every room, he spots something new that I missed. She has also reorganized the fridge, moved baking supplies I had on the table, and is using a set of weights to hang her backpack off of. I try to close the back windows, but they have swelled from the heat and humidity. I pull as hard as I can, but I am, after all, just a little girl. So, Ian has to close the windows. The carpet is damp from the humidity all day. The house is unpleasant and warmer than it was outside.

Something must be done. It has been less than a day, and I already have more than a dozen complaints. Talk to Sonny again and receive her application. Find out that he never really got around to reading the whole thing. There were a bunch of red flags in it, but most blatantly:

What is the most important lesson you have learned from life?
There is always some ate up mother fucker lurking around the corner looking to blow you and your plans up because they can. Not to hesitate because the world seem a cold place to be, because it is, and it always will be.

(Please note that this is the first time I have ever posted a curse word on my blog.)

So, get off the phone with Sonny still unsure as to what to do or how Sonny can do anything about this while he’s in Georgia. I already feel bad about bothering him about this silliness while he’s doing army stuff. Ian and I decide that something needs to be said before this gets even more out of hand. Being the non-confrontational person that I am, we decide that an email would be best:

ScholarshipWinner,

I want you to feel like a welcome guest in the house, but I feel it’s important to go over some expectations I have about the way this arrangement will work.

You should consider your room upstairs to be your own personal space, and should feel free to make yourself comfortable, move things around, and decorate as you see fit, as long as anything you do is non-permanent and leaves no damage.

Similarly, the rooms belonging to my brother and me are our personal spaces. In typical circumstances, you shouldn’t have any reason to enter these rooms.

Other areas of the house are common areas shared by all of us. I want you to feel comfortable, but you also need to recognize that Sonny and I have put things where they are for a reason, and have the expectation that things will remain where they are. It is unacceptable for you to have reorganized the basement to the extent that you have. If you feel that our things need to be rearranged, you need to ask Sonny or myself first. I realize that I didn’t say anything about this earlier; quite honestly, I was completely flustered and couldn’t think of a way to say anything at all on the spot.

During the day today you opened many of the windows to control the temperature in the house. In doing so, you opened many windows that haven’t been opened as long as we’ve lived here, because they have no screens. These windows need to remain shut until they have been replaced, as I don’t want the house open to the elements and bugs. I also don’t want the windows opened on a rainy, humid day like this one, as the entire house now feels damp and humid.

It is unclear to me why you removed the bag from the trash can in the kitchen. Trash is picked up from the curb early on Tuesday and Friday morning, and should be taken out the night before. In the event that the trash can is full, and you have to remove the bag, the bag needs to be firmly tied shut and placed outside the door, not in the kitchen.

Please feel free to ask if you have any questions. Perhaps when Sonny gets back we can all sit down together and outline some ground rules for the house, to avoid any future miscommunication.

-Enjanerd

Emailed my dad and sister to tell them of my concerns and to ask for help. I really don’t know what to do, but I didn’t feel safe staying in the house after reading her application.

I talked to Sonny and he said he would see how things are when he gets back, so until then… I’m a little freaked out by her and I have Ian staying over here with me.

I was hoping you guys could come over and meet her this weekend or something and see if I’m just over-reacting or something. Though, Ian had a bad feeling about her upon meeting her without my saying anything. And, as she is staying here next week when both Sonny and I will be out of town, maybe you guys would be available to stop by the house to check things out.

Grabbed a few things and headed out. End: Day 1.

Day 1: Friday, 8/19/2005 16:30

Leave work a little early since I worked late a couple nights. Hit a little bit of the start of rush hour traffic, but still get home at a reasonably early time. As I’m approaching the house, I notice that the front kitchen window is wide open. This is strange because I usually leave the safety lock in place and it can only open a few inches. Then I notice that Sonny’s bedroom window is also open. That’s odd… It’s raining, there’s a heat advisory, and when I left, the A/C was on.

I walk into the house and am greeted with ScholarshipWinner, again, yelling. She sounds worried, “Who’s there? Hello? Hello?!”

“It’s me.”

“I’m getting dressed!”

Uh, ok… I couldn’t tell from the sound where she was yelling from (basement or upstairs), but from the panicked tone, I figured she was worried about me walking in on her. Ok… I’ll stay on the main floor and wait to put my things away in my room later. I walk into the living room to put my things down and see that the back windows are also open. These are the windows in need of replacement. I actually didn’t even know that they opened. I thought that they were painted shut. She did get them open, but they have no screens, it’s raining, and there are lots of mosquitoes in the backyard, as well as other bugs that like hanging out on the other side of that window.

I grab a tissue to blow my nose and then head into the kitchen to throw it away… and find that the trashcan is missing a trashbag. That’s also odd because trash pickup was that morning and I didn’t put the kitchen trash out because it wasn’t close to full. I turn and out of the corner of my eye, I see that there’s a trashbag under the mail table we have in front of the window. I go to throw my tissue away in the bag and ScholarshipWinner comes upstairs right as I’m noticing that there’s an open chinese food container in this untied trashbag on the kitchen floor.

She greets me with, “Oh yeah, I owe you a Chinese dinner.” Well, great… There goes my plan to spend the evening with Ian lounging around the house eating leftovers. But whatever. She’s stuck in the house and she doesn’t have any food or anything, so understandable. And she recognizes that she ate my food, so ok.

Then she lets me know that she cleaned up around here and that she would like to have a professional come to the house to clean up some… you know, mop, vacuum, clean bathrooms, etc. She’s noticed that it’s pretty dirty and since Sonny and I are so busy, this would help.

“Well… you’ll have to talk to Sonny about that. I’m not sure how he would feel about having a stranger come into the house and going through his things.”

“Oh, you don’t think he’d be ok with that?”

“I don’t know. You should probaby wait until he gets back and talk to him about it.”

“Well, I know a person, so it’s not like it’d be a stranger.”

blah blah blah

She lets me know she opened all the windows because it was really hot in the house. I’m thinking at this point that I had set the thermostat to not cool the house as much during the day while I’m at work. So, ok… That’s a sub-optimal solution, but I just want to take a nap, so I let it slide. I found out later that it was set to a constant 77 degrees from when Sonny was back in the house, so I have no idea why she thought it was hot.

She asks if I can take her to go get her car right then. I tell her I just got back from work and traffic’s pretty bad, what with it being a rainy, Friday afternoon. She tells me her car is in Merrifield. Uhm… that’s not really a response… I try again, “It’s been pretty rainy and I had to sit in over an hour of traffic coming home. Do you need to get your car right away?”

“Oh, yeah… traffic around here is terrible. People don’t know how to drive. Let’s go now then. Let me just go brush my teeth first.”

Uhh… right… I wait for about 10 minutes before wandering down to the basement where I find my brother’s workout equipment moved, his coffee table cleared of all his belongings and piled in a corner, DVDs moved and rearranged, tables stacked to create a deskspace for ScholarshipWinner, the sliding glass door opened, and a suitcase opened up on a table, another under a table, and the rest next to them. I look at ScholarshipWinner expectantly… Either for an explanation for her delay, a reason for opening a door in the coldest room in the house, or the rearrangement of furniture in the basement.

“I cleaned up down here. Do you like it?”

Uhh… No? She was being nice. Say something nice. Where’s all Sonny’s stuff? She’s awful comfy/settled in for having been here 16 hours… This is weird. Quick, say something!

“It looks… uhm, nice..?” *pause* “Let’s get going before traffic gets worse.”

Ok, she starts heading toward the stairs. I stand still for second, then walk past her to close the sliding glass door which she has left open and notice that the floor bolt on it is now loose. Loose? How did that happen? Look closer and see that it has been torn loose and is hanging from the ends of the screws. This is a brand new sliding glass door!

Go upstairs, turn off the A/C, lower the front window so it’s secure, and head out to Merrifield. Make more smalltalk… I ask if she knows the way back to the house. I’d like to avoid 66 on the way back because of traffic.

“I told you before: I lived here for 14 years.”

“Oh, ok. I know you lived in the area. I didn’t know if you know that area well or remembered the way around the neighborhood.”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

She asks about who owns the house… Our parents? Sonny and me? Just Sonny? She inquires about my work, I inquire about hers… She has her own online business and is self-employed/independently wealthy. Uh… So why does she need a free room to stay in while she’s attending school?

She also mentions that she saw signs of mice in the house. I said that we had caught two mice months ago, but there haven’t been any signs of them since. She proceeds to let me know how she saw signs all over the house and maybe I didn’t know what to look for. She also noticed that I had been sniffling a lot. (Though, for a strange reason, the congestion was mostly concentrated on the right side of my face.) Then, she proceeds to tell me the different ways people can get sick and then die from having mice in the house. Nice, lady.

Turn off of 66 toward Merrifield and the first thing she asks is where we are.

“This is 29. The Merrifield Post Office is on the right.” Seriously… she knows her way back from here?

Anyway, get to Merrifield post office and ask where her car is. Her friend parked it in the parking lot. Well, Merrifield is a large post office. As far as I know, it’s the largest in the area and has more than half a dozen bays. (I really like post offices.)

“Do you know which lot?”

“Well, let’s go look over there. Just drive up and down the rows. It’s a gray BMW.”

Great… Don’t these people know how to plan? Also, a BMW?? Are you kidding me?

Turns out it belonged to her husband. He left it to her when he passed away. Her friend was using it while she was overseas and was supposed to leave it for her with the key in the wheelwell. Find out about all this while searching the lots. We get lucky going down the 5th row and she spots it. I stop the car and she rushes to get out, almost getting my door swiped by a passing minivan. She gives the person a glare and then heads over to her car. Finds the envelope that was to contain the key, but no key.

“Do you have a spare key anywhere?”

“No. My friend had the key. She was supposed to leave it for me.” About the 4th time she has reiterated this plan to me.

“Do you have her number? Maybe we can find out if she forgot or something.”

“Yes, of course I have her number.”

*pause* “Well, do you want to call her then?” Handing her my cell phone.

“I don’t have her number with me now. Of course I’m going to call her. I need my things in there. I’m going to get to the bottom of this.” Ok, lady… I get that you’re frustrated and that you want your car, but I’m not the one to get snippy with.

Day 1: Friday, 8/19/2005

I get up for work and have just gotten out of the shower (around 6:45am) and ScholarshipWinner is yelling my name from downstairs. I say, “Just a minute,” rush to get dressed, and run downstairs to find out what she needs. I get down there and she asks me how to get on the internet. I explain that our wireless network is password protected and I can give her the password for it, but I don’t really know how to set it up, since other people have always done it for me. She asks where she needs to enter in the info and I repeat that I don’t know off-hand. She seems ok with it as long as she has the password, confident that she can figure it out.

She also asks to make sure we have free long distance anywhere in the U.S. Uh… no. We don’t have any long distance plan that I know of. Oh, well she made a bunch of long distance calls last night. She’ll have to pay us back when the bill comes in.

I leave her downstairs to figure out her computer stuff and head back upstairs to finish getting ready for work. As I’m walking out the door, I hear ScholarshipWinner calling my name from the basement again, very urgently. What could possibly be going on? I drop my things in front of the doorway, leave the front door wide open, and run downstairs.

“How do I get the cable to work?”

Oh. Use this remote and change the video input. That doesn’t work. Look a little closer… Oh, how did the VCR get turned on? And the cable box turned off? And the TV on the wrong channel? Ok, so she’s not very technologically savvy. It seemed like her method was to push buttons like a monkey in the hopes that it would work out. Explain the set up and the remote. Say my farewell and head off to work.

Day 0: Thursday, 8/18/2005
So, the plan is set. I will meet ScholarshipWinner at baggage claim at 8pm. I print up a sign: “Scholarship WInner: [Her actual name]” to hold up at the airport. I get to work a little early that day so I can head out early and avoid some of the traffic and get home to make sure everything is set in her room before I go to the airport to pick her up.

Did laundry the day before, put fresh sheets on the bed, cleared out the extra stuff we had been storing in that room, re-vacuumed (although Yenny’s Dyson did an amazing job already), and took a few miscellaneous things out of the closet. After that, I check online to make sure the flight is on time. Canceled. Most of that I wrote about last week.

She calls just before midnight and I agree to go pick her up. She’s very gracious when I get there and we make small talk on the drive back. She tells me how she didn’t sleep the day before her flight and then couldn’t sleep at all on the plane and the whole debacle with the delay and stuff. I find out a little bit more about her and I point out some of the things in the area that have changed while she was overseas.

We get back to the house and I show her the kitchen, explain the state of the living room (windows), and show her the basement. As soon as we get in the basement, she seems excited about Sonny’s DVD collection. She says that she’s not really that tired just yet and maybe she’ll stay up and watch a movie or something. She doesn’t want to keep me up, so if it’s ok, she’ll stay down there. Yeah, whatever. I’m tired. I don’t care. We go back upstairs so I can show her to her room, point out my room and Sonny’s room, and the bathroom we will be sharing.

I say goodnight to her and she, again, thanks me and commends my brother for doing something so nice. She tells me how she “has done so many nice things in [her] life” and she “deserves this.” She’s glad she’s finally getting something to pay her back for a change. At this point, she also came over to me and gave me the most awkward handshake-hug to thank me.

So, that’s a little weird, but maybe she meant it as, “I’ve done so many nice things, I’m glad other people do nice things too.” Maybe it’s because she’s tired or some other reason, who knows. She’s definitely weird, but I know plenty of weird, quirky people that I have as friends and with whom I’ve lived. So, maybe this will work out!

A few months ago, Sonny had leave and decided to visit France and see what he could see. At some point in his trip, he came across a lot of homeless people and got to thinking about what he could do to help people and better the world. This resulted in him coming up with a scholarship program to help out a poor college student, working his/her way through school.

I was supposed to post some flyers around the GMU campus, but due partly to my laziness and partly to my scheduled free time, I didn’t get around to doing this. I did, however, post information on Craig’s List and publicized it by emailing directly to people looking for housing who met the requirements.

After Sonny’s return from Afghanistan, he awarded the first scholarship winner. I was very excited to meet my new roommate and find out more about her, but I didn’t think to ask for her application. Sonny said he had emailed back and forth with her a couple times and she was in the Army and is currently overseas in Germany and needs a place to stay when she got back. So, cool. She sounds like an interesting preson.

Didn’t hear much more about this until August 14th, when I received an email from her. Here is the exchange over the next couple days:

ScholarshipWinner:

Greetings,

I am the first recipient of your brothers scholarship award! My name is [ScholarshipWinner] and I would like instructions as to how I can get into the house. I don’t need a ride from the airport or anything. I can take the shuttle to the house. I just need a key. Please drop me a line or give me a call if you have any information.

Enjanerd:

Heya… I just saw the email you sent to my brother. I will be home on Thursday night, so whenever you get in is cool. See you then! :)

ScholarshipWinner:

Feel like a late dinner in the district? I know a great El Salvadoran restaurant! I can’t wait to get back to the metro area. I uses to live in Chantilly. Let me know if you want to see Europe. You can stay at my apt. It is really nice.

Give me a call if you like. You can call toll free. If you are able to meet me at the airport, I’ll pay your parking and take out to dinner. Drop me a line and I’ll send you my itinerary. Flying Delta from Atlanta, arriving 7:55 PM. Will be great to meet you and your unbelievable brother. I am so glad he came back all right. My car is parked in Merrifield but the wipers have to be replaced, so I can’t drive it if it is raining.

Enjanerd:

Sure, send me your itinerary. I should be able to come pick you up. I probably won’t be up for a dinner in DC though, since I usually try not to stay out too late on weeknights. In any case, we can work out those details when you get here.

So far, very pleasant and I’m excited about getting to hold a sign up for a stranger at the airport like a limo driver!

Assigned Reading: The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us From Violence by Gavin de Becker

Went and did a practice run yesterday for a half marathon that I attempted to sign up for a couple months ago. It’s a trail run orgnaized by a women’s running club and the actual race is in about a month or so. I found out that I didn’t make the deadline for sign-up and stopped worrying about it… but then, my mother, who decided to train for it anyway (we had intended to sign up for the mother-daughter competition part of it), remembered the practice run that was open to everyone.

They said that the practice run would allow people to run 6, 8, 10, or 13 miles and just get a feel for the trail and the area. I decided that even though I haven’t been training much, I could handle a 6-mile run. Little did I know how completely out of shape I am. Got there and everyone’s ready to run. They let us know that the first half is going to be an 8-mile run instead and then a 5-miler afterward. We could pick which we wanted. Well, being too proud to separate from the group, I decided if I could handle six miles, eight wouldn’t be too much worse. Oh, but it was… I was dead last and had the trail marker people escorting me back so I wouldn’t get lost. Took a little over 2 hours to finish… It didn’t help that I was sick last week and that I’ve been filled with snot for the last 2 days (completely unrelated to my new roommate, I’m sure), but those are not really excuses anyway. I was really unprepared for this, distance-wise and terrain-wise.

In other news, I have temporarily taken leave of my home of the past 2 years. ScholarshipWinner has come in and become openly hostile toward me and to Ian. She is eating my hours-old leftovers and cackling about it. Just an unpleasant person, in general.

Made amends with a former roommate because of this, so I’m sure my mother will think that this was meant to be. This was the lesson I was to learn from this. For all the roommates I have had in the past (10, not including the current), after a certain point (on the magnitude of 6 to 24 months), there were always little things that started to annoy me. We may have been good friends beforehand, known each other through a mutual friend, or just known each other peripherally by association, but they have all been rational people who, if I had just made the effort to let them know that a little thing was bothering me, it wouldn’t have mattered. It just seemed to me that if it was a little thing, it shouldn’t matter and I shouldn’t need to bring it up.

For instance, a certain roommate left cabinet doors and drawers open in the kitchen. Otherwise, he was a perfectly fine roommate. I just thought that was a little weird. And after a while, it was a really funny quirk. But if I had just said, “Hey, would you please close the cabinets when you’re done” I would expect a reasonal response like, “Ok.” I just never said anything because I didn’t think it was a big deal. But now I realize that I was afraid for nothing. It was dumb to not say anything because I’m putting their opinion over mine, as well as not giving them the chance to do something that they didn’t know was annoying me. So anyway, apologized to former roommate for awkwardness and did my AA thang.

And speaking of former roommates, got lunch today with Rain, BFF, and Ian. It was a really fun afternoon. Haven’t seen them all together in a while and don’t usually get to spend much time with them. Brought them over to my place for a little while and in just the “short” amount of time it took to play Sorry Card Revenge, they were witness to a couple of lash-outs. Parents came over, we all headed out… went in search of Mr. PotatoHead at Target, but didn’t find the one we were looking for. Jumped around like a bunch of girls and went our separate ways.

For my life update, I packed a bag and am staying with Ian for a while, possibly back to my parents’ for a while. More stories this upcoming week. Forty-eight hour takeover, hour-by-hour commentary. I know this will be a funny story to me in a couple weeks, but for right now, it’s terrifying. Thanks to all the friends who didn’t bother to say, “I told you so” and to those who have expressed concern for my safety instead of for my stuff.

QOTD: “Hey, uhm, would you close the door so it’s not open while the A/C is running?”
“No.”

I was in my car on my way to work this morning, totally relaxed and thinking to myself, “Gee, it smells like a mountain spring in here.” Then, I realized, it smells like a mountain in here. What’s up with that, yo?

Start sniffing around.

Is it my air freshener? No… I haven’t replaced that in months and it used to smell like berries.

Is it my breakfast? No, that smells like bread.

I think it’s me.

Deodorant? No. I’m powder fresh.

Shampoo? No, fruit again.

Ah… it’s my clothes. It’s this new detergent I’m using. I washed my sheets in it and I could smell it for days. And now it’s filling up the car with this scent. The mountain spring is going to get me!! AHHH!!!

The winner of Sonny’s scholarship was scheduled to fly in from Germany yesterday and arrive around 8pm. When I got home and checked the flights online, though, her flight was canceled. Not delayed, not rescheduled, but canceled. Uhm… what do I do? I said I’d pick her up. I have no way of contacting her while she’s in transit. I’m not going to just hang out at the airport. That’s expensive and useless, though a little bit interesting. Anyway, left her a voicemail message and figured she’d contact me if/when she needed a ride here from the airport.

Read a little bit and hung out with Ian for the evening. Ended up going to bed at a normal hour for once and then woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. Now, sometimes I use my phone for a backup alarm in the morning, so if I hear it when I’m sleeping, I turn it off or hit snooze. So, I heard the phone ring, silenced it, and rolled back over in my bed, thinking to myself, “That did not feel like 8 hours of sleep… I’m SO exhausted.” Then, I realize, my alarm clock didn’t go off. My phone isn’t supposed to ring first. What’s going on?

Roll over and look at my alarm clock. 12:00. Is it midnight? Is it noon? Did the electricity go out? No sun out, maybe midnight. Look at my phone: 2 missed calls. Ohhh. I get it now. My phone was ringing. It was actually a phone call! I get it.

Yeah, so I’m dumb when I’m asleep.

Picked up ScholarshipWinner from the airport, got home, showed her around, went to bed. She’s … different from what I expected. Didn’t get much chance to talk with her or anything, so I’ll wait to publicize my impressions.

QOTD: “Do you think a panda would eat a bambooger?”

LOTD: Courts signal that Google’s keyword policy is lawful

We’re very pleased with Judge Brinkema’s decision, which tracks our AdWords trademark policy.

That’s so cool. I went to high school with Judge Brinkema’s daughter. She came in for career day or one of those things. I’ve heard her name in the news a couple times recently. So cool.