i must be out, or i'd pick up the phone

last night was the most cost-efficient evening of my life. first on the menu, an eye exam from my good friend, dr. eric. eric and i go way back, or at least a little way back, and last night he "donated" an eye exam to me. tax write-off for him, confidence that i will not run over a dog in the night for me. then, he gave me enough trial contact lenses to last the rest of the decade. i had contact lenses spilling out of my purse, my pockets, even my socks, which were extra crowded from a run in with my friend that distributes mustard pockets. "wow, this is quite generous of you," i stated as he also packed a bag full of eight bottles of contact lens solution. "i wish i could somehow repay you. would you like some mustard?"

i was eric's last appointment for the day, so we decided to go out to dinner. eric also invited his mother along, which made for a semi-awkward situation. we went to a japanese restaurant, and, because of my newfound fear of fire, i nearly had a heart attack when our chef, "uncle chad," lit up that hibachi grill. holy smokes, what a dangerous set up. i wonder how many eyebrows are toasted in hibachi incidents. i wonder what that number would be per capita.

of course, eric wrote the whole dinner off as a business expense. he penned my name on the back of the reciept. "jook. job interview. declined." nicely done. i can't wait until i get to a point in my career when i do that. i'll be writing off lunches, dvds, tickets to medieval times. that's dinner and a tournament.

i have now reread every christopher pike book ever written in my ongoing research project. it's been pretty embarrassing being a 24 year old young lady and checking out books from the junior high section of the library, and now that i've finally come to terms with it, i'm done with the books. maybe i'll move onto "sweet valley high" next, but as far as my own mock young adult story goes, i really have no use for twins.

or do i?

chris and i are looking at houses. if you're looking for a way to add unneccessary stress to a relationship, try talking to a realtor and a mortgage broker. try agreeing on which townhome is better. apartment hunting is a piece of cake. there's not that many options, they're all basically the same. some just catch on fire more frequently than others. but when it comes to house-hunting? holy hell. and it's such a big committment, there are so many factors, and then the whole process of getting approved for a loan? how do people do this and not go crazy? why aren't home sales down and pup tent sales through the roof?

the proverbial roof. we're talking about a tent, here.

anyhow, it's only been a week or so since we embarked on this fiasco, so i'm sure things will get easier. let's just see what happens when we add "planning a wedding" to this particular stew.