An almost ex-roommate

Angie informed Leina two weeks ago that she was moving out.

As loyal readers know, Leina has been renting a room to Roommate Angie, Tony's sister, for a year now. There was an understanding when Angie moved in that she would be living there for just a few months. But as tends to happen when one gets comfortable and then sees how expensive San Francisco rents can be, those few months stretched out into a few couple of months. But deep down, Angie knew that she should move somewhere else.

She had looked at several other places during random spurts of inspiration, but nothing matched Leina's place. Finally, she came across a real roommate, a friend of Stephen Dodson's. And they really looked for a place and then found one!

So she told Leina, who was very surprised and sad. She had grown accustomed to Angie's lack of presence. See Angie always stays out late and Leina goes to bed early. Angie was suprised that Leina was sad. But Angie had already signed a lease, and so both began preparing emotionally for her departure. Leina started getting a little excited about having the room free, and didn't protest too much when Tony began planning her house to do list. She thought how her Auntie and cousin could come and visit all the time without disturbing Angie.

Then, Angie's signed lease was unexpectedly voided due to the current tenant who refused to vacate the premeses. Suddenly, Angie had no new apartment. She thought it was perhaps a sign. Maybe Leina would take her back. She asked Leina if she could stay longer. Leina thought about it. She decided it would be okay, for a little while. She has given Angie notice that she needs to be out by the end of the year. It seems both parties are comfortable with the arrangement.

Chair plastic

Leina still has plastic covering the fabric on the seats of her dining room chairs. The fabric is white, but most people would think that the plastic was intended to keep the chairs clean until they were safely in a customer's living room, where it could then be removed to expose the nice upholstery below. Not Leina.

Last night, Leina hosted Alice and David one last time. Serena and Erica and Tony also came. The original plan was to go out for drinks, then to go out for dessert, but in the end, all stayed at Leina's for drinks and shortbread cookies that Erica had made. Leina had a taco at Farolito Taqueria for dinner. It was big and cheap. She intends to go back some day soon.

During the evening, a list was made of things Leina would like to do to her house. It included, in no particular order, paint the kitchen, paint the kitchen cabinets, paint the bathroom, paint the hallway, buy a MacBook, knock out half the wall between the kitchen and living room, get new windows, give Serena her piano, take the plastic off the seats of the dining room chairs, clean the basement, and tear out the living room carpet to expose the hardwood floors.

They were then ranked in terms of cost (new windows at the top, tearing the plastic off the chairs tied with several other things at the bottom) and effort (again, finding a contractor and settling on a style put new windows near the top, possibly tied with cleaning the basement and tearing the plastic off the seats of the chairs again near the bottom).

A decision was made to cross one thing off the list then and there. David, being unknowing and English, inspired the tearing of the plastic off the chairs when he asked if Leina had gotten new chairs. Leina sheepishly admitted that she had gotten new chairs, about three years ago. David was then nominated to remove the plastic from the chairs, but he was too scared to follow through with it because he doesn't know Leina so well. After a few glasses of wine, Alice was more than happy to tear off the plastic. David helped.

Now Leina has to worry about the white fabric on the bottom of her chairs getting sullied by someone's dirty jeans. But she no longer has to put up with comments about how she still had the plastic on her chairs.

Still kickin' it.

Sometimes there are things that Leina doesn't get around to for quite some time. And then, as she procrastinates longer and longer, what could have been a minor task (like writing a blog update) becomes major, and she just keeps waiting. Until she just does it.

Charles finally met Alice last weekend. There was no huge scene with shrieks and "Leina, you're so cute!" remarks that she had been fearing. Charles is thinner and has longer hair because he works all the time. Leina doesn't get to see him so often.

Leina went to Burma Superstar with Alice and David and Serena and Erica and Tony the night before. It was good, and they barely had to wait in line. They got to sit at the big round table in the corner which was neat, because there were six of them, but also meant that they were far away from each other and it was a bit hard to carry a conversation including everyone.

The week before she was the candy/t-shirt/program seller at a tournament that Charles' team was playng in.

Leina saw some motorcyclist get hit by a car which then left the scene of the accident on Market last week while she leaving work with Mary and her old supervisor Carrie. She quickly remembered the license plate number and model of the car (it was one of those big white SUVs) until the police showed up. The cyclist was okay himself.

Leina has been offered the position at work full time, with benefits, with the condition that some day she may have to pass a Japanese fluency test.

Tony has been rooting around in Leina's basement and has unearthed half a dozen bottles of 30 year old Gallo white zinfandel or Portuguese cheap wine. They were subsequently dumped down the drain.

Leina went to bed at 7:30 on Saturday night because her allergies were acting up.

job description changed

Leina is stil social working for the City, still doing adult protective services, but she volunteered to be transfered out of her department, the department she wants to get a full time position in, for another department. They said they needed people in a different department, so in order to show her dedication, Leina has switched. She doesn't like the new job as much, but at least she wasn't responsible for this story that came out today. Unsurprisingly, it was a somber day at work.

She's still studying for the Japanese test, yet still has no idea when it will be.