klepto love story

Purchasing a home has been the single most stressful thing that I've directly been involved with in my life. Just when you think you have everything together and solved there's another curveball thrown at you. I've begged, borrowed and done everything short of robbing gas stations to get all the money together. But then there's escrow accounts and taxes to pay. So you scrimp together some more money. BAM! You are now in a flood plain. You need flood insurance. If you buy flood insurance turn to page 236. It's a Choose Your Own Adventure book only this time it's real life.

this one was my favorite.

So the adventure is continuing for now. Six days until closing. Six days until I'm a home owner. Will your intrepid hero survive the process? Turn to page 33 to find out.

 My early contender for "Album of the Year" is the new Decemberist's album, The Hazards of Love. I've listened to it all the way through at least five times in the last week. Some people may find the theme of the album to be a bit gruesome (we're talking about a woman in medieval times falling in love with a shape-shifter and her run ins with a jealous forest queen and a child killing rake) but as my wife Kristin said, "The fact that they have songs about ridiculous things like medieval rape and archaic child murder is EXACTLY why I love them!" I'm in total agreement.

I was lucky enough to be in the engineering booth when they were live at KUT during SXSW (thanks Abbe!). I thought Colin was funny in the interview. He riffed about IKEA shelving units when he mispronounced yourself and talked about how metal purists (and possibly folk purists as well) would hate him even more after this album. When asked if the album had a definite story, he responded with a simple "yes". He was then asked if he would like to explain it in 25 words or less he said "no". Colin then went on to explain it in probably 500 words. One of the guest singers, Becky Stark, then summed it up thusly, "Colin, isn't it really about true love?" There you have it. Two words: True. Love.

One other thing that Colin mentioned in the interview was that this was originally intended to be a musical. When writing it, he decided it sounded better as a rock album and moved towards that rather than the musical. But that's exactly what it is. It's a rock opera without all the mess that usually accompanies that. Each song works individually and as part of the larger story.

What I love about the Decemberists in general, and this album in particular, is the ability to tell a story. Their lyrics are literature. Their music gives a sense of time, place, and mood. When I listen to a song I am transported and can see exactly what's going on.

Allow me to be Jana for a moment and give you selected lyrics from "The Rake Song":

"No more a rake and no more a bachelor
I was wedded and it whetted my thirst
Until her womb start spilling out babies
Only then did I reckon my curse"

and this:

"Charlotte I buried after feeding her foxglove
Dawn was easy, she was drowned in the bath
Eziah fought but was easily bested
Burned his body for incurring my wrath
Alright, alright, alright

Now that's cruelty. I like it.

1. No Scrubs – TLC
2. Barracuda – Heart
3. Lawyers in Love – Jackson Browne (actually this one makes a little sense. Amazing Race was in Russia this week.)

It's been raining here for the last three days. It's that misty Seattle rain except, you know, without the beautiful mountains and evergreens. I like it when it's like this, especially when you're just staying inside reading or watching tv.

We found a house. Not only have we found a house, the seller has accepted the offer. Now it's on to the financial portion of our program. Hopefully we will make it through relatively unscathed. It's very exciting!

My current definition of frustration is trying to buy a house in a buyer’s market. We found a house we loved. It went on the market Wednesday morning. We were the first people to see it. We decided right then to make an offer for it at asking price. Unfortunately, as we were leaving another couple pulled up to look as well. They also submitted an offer. Now it’s a bidding war. Kristin and I resubmitted our absolute maximum we’d pay for the place on Thursday afternoon. It’s now Friday afternoon and there has been no real updates. Even more frustrating is that a house we looked at previously (that already had an offer pending on it) and were GOING to make an offer on is back on the market. So I just want to hear YES or NO from the seller so I can jump on this other house before it gets snapped up again. My advice to the kids out there: NEVER BUY A HOUSE!

I feel like shooting people in the face. I need a lot of drinks.