3.5.10

last night around 2am i thought someone was in my kitchen. i remembered nicole, the girl who lives on the first floor of the house, telling me about the time she thought she heard an animal in my part of the building. lovely. i reached out from my 5 ft loft bed to catch the light string from the ceiling fan. i tugged it and hoped my eyes would adjust in time to catch the critter. i hissed and declared loudly “you better get out of here!!!” there was a silence and then a scuffle as a 5 inch rat soon appeared around the kitchen corner and dove into the bathroom to escape behind the toilet. sweet.

today i had my first day of orientation.
well. technically it’s the second time i’ve done this orientation, but it was the first time this time around.
i realized i’ve been away from this kind of responsibility for near 6 months now. great.
i feel ready to get back to work though. and will definitely be glad when these 8 hours days of sitting and listening to people talking will be over.

i walked to and from the meeting dressed in grey, black, and a more red than maroon scarf.

on my way back up my metal black staircase i met an older weathered lady with dry golden hair. she seemed like she a healthy supply of energy as we discussed living in our apartment with the rats. her name is gail and she said she killed six of them already and generously offered me a trap. she was about to pass over the peanut butter too, but i declined. perhaps if she would’ve offered only a spoon full....
we discussed the appearance of rats and how they’d surprised her at random times lately, like when she and her partner were smoking pot on the couch. then we discussed how the guy that lives below her, but across the hall from me, must be on more than just pot because he’s so spaced all the time and plays his music loud til 4 in the morning. he wouldn’t even stop when she stomped on the floors. (could he hear you?) he stopped though after she told the landlord about it. (nice.) oh and by the way if i ever want to go up and just watch t.v. or hang out..(you mean smoke?)..then i’m more then welcome anytime. i told her i’d love to cook dinner sometime together, because i would. she rather got me excited about the kinds of neighbors i have now.

marianne and amanda came over for dinner. i made noodles and sauce for spaghetti and marianne brought salad supplies over and amanda brought bread. we couldn’t figure out how to light the pilot light on my stove so i went to call gail to see if she knew anything about it. she didn’t answer so i thought it was about time i visited my mysterious neighbor across the hall. judd came out all dazed and confused. he eagerly jumped into help try and figure out the problem. he was even kind of cute with his hair all messed up, but i’ll never know if i woke him up from a nap today. he seems like he’s too nice to mention something like that. come to find out i went to college with his brother for 3 years. small world. i sent him home with a bowl of spaghetti, some salad, and some garlic bread. he brought the bowls back, but i was catching up with marianne and amanda still. i’m sure i’ll see him later.
it’s definitely going to be fun building some type of renter-relationship with these people. maybe i’ll have them over for dinners on occasion. i’m very excited :)