landed gentry

well, it's done. we're homeowners. i just finished half a tree's worth of paperwork and have the keys on my key chain.

i had always imagined that i would feel a supreme moment of elation, but it's actually a bit anti-climactic. a lot of that deflation may have to do with the fact that i'm more tired than a hooker on buy-a-blowjob-get-a-rimjob weekend. which is to say, i can barely think.

last night, my flight left 90 minutes late because of weather in dc. then we sat on the runway for an hour because they closed the dc airport for all arrivals. then we were finally cleared for take off, and started maneuvering down the runway, but it started raining, and they actually closed the atlanta airport for all departures. no joke.

after another hour, the block was lifted, and the captains tells us to prepare for takeoff, put up seat trays, turn off electronics, etc. now, i'm the first to admit to being a chronic delayer in doing this--i usually start the shutdown process when they say all electronics must be off. sometimes the flight attendants give me a bit of hassle about it, but it's not too big a deal. on this flight, the captain has said prepare for take off no less than three times, so i'm a bit dubious and don't close my laptop immediately.

a flight attendant comes by and yells at me to turn off my laptop. i don't mean this figuratively. she is literally yelling. she continues chastising me, citing that my tray table needs to be raised, and furthermore, that i'm delaying the entire plane, and in fact putting the safety of the other passengers at risk. and she is yelling. at this point, passengers about three rows up and back are staring. i just smile and listen, and then put my stuff away. no sense in getting into a confrontation, but really, it was a bit unnecessary. my seat mate is aghast, but we laugh a bit afterwards.

two minutes later, we're airborne. the same flight attendant gets on the phone and announces that she appreciates everyone's patience, "especially those passengers who complied with our requests to turn off their electronics." wow. a public shaming. a first for me. i could give a flying fuck, but airline people are not good people to mess with, especially when you have brown skin. plus, all flights to dc still have US marshals on them. so i get in at one. i'm too wound up to sleep when i get to the chief's place and have to read harry potter (since the last one comes out next month, i'm rereading the most recent novel) until two.

this morning at the final home inspection, we actually found that the seller hadn't really fixed one of things we agreed that they would fix, and furthermore, that there was new water damage in the basement. i took a pretty aggressive stance and negotiated our way into a fairly advantageous position (or least, it seems that way today).

so, i'm sitting in front of barnes and noble in downtown bethesda. the chief and chief chick are on their way to pick me up. we're going to grab some pizza and beers and have the first meal in the house. this would really be so much better if dr. wintermute was here. but she couldn't get away from the loony bin, so i had her grant me power of attorney and now we're done. she's getting on a plane as i type.

the movers are set to arrive monday.

dr. w lands at 10. tomorrow we paint. it's really the right thing to do before the furniture arrives, but it's also the absolute last thing i want to do.

here's to being landed gentry.