Dora the Explorer

So I’ve been off for the past week, bc my friend N rolled into town (visiting from North Carolina). We had a really great visit, but man, we were on the move a ton! Yes, in typical VG fashion, I gave her an entire list of ideas well in advance of her arrival and then once she landed, there was more planning. I know, for you spontaneous folks out there, I do need to relax sometimes, but frankly, as an ESTJer, there are few things worse than asking a group of people what they want to do and getting “I’ll do whatever. I’m easy” as the response. Bc I loathe that so damn much, I always have some kind of schedule in my back pocket just in case.

The great thing about N is that she, in her own words, possesses a kind of child-like wonder, so she’s super game for adventure. From a very young age, she loved travel and exploration. I think she gets it from her mom, although her father too had a very curious mind. Like all of us, N has many ideas and visions of what she wants to do and who she wants to be, but for one reason or another, she’s too often limited by constraints… you know what I mean. We all have big dreams, and then we come up against some wall… be it a wall that others have built for us or a wall we have built for ourselves or some other hindrance that I suppose could fall under the category of “life circumstances.”

But I’m super impressed and inspired by N. No matter the challenges, she trudges forward. She has fallen down a shit ton and she continues to have major setbacks, but she always gets back up. And really, if you think about it, so long as any of us choose life over death, there are only SO many options in continuing on.

I was saddened by her latest setback, but at the same time, I also observed considerable progress in so many other areas: with her finances, with nervous ticks/habits, with smoking. She is fighting battles on so many fronts, but she remains brave and she continues to forge a path forward, examining other options and possibilities and offshoots, like from her current career. She also talked of moving out west, either to Colorado or California, and I can see that she’s formulating plans to make those things happen. I’m so happy to see the fire burning in her heart again.

As for our week of adventure, we did a lot. And lucky for her, between Bubbey and me, she had a good balanced mix of serious and direct and fun and light. On some days, I got a little annoyed with the amount of car time and travel and hassle (city parking, hitting up crowded touristy spots, etc.), but then I checked myself. Things worth doing take time and work and hassle. That’s just how it goes. And thank goodness we did so many things she wanted to do, bc in the process, I discovered some amazing new experiences.

For example, months ago, N texted me asking about Forbes Island restaurant. I was like, what is this place, some cheesy artificial “island” randomly planted by the pier? You take a little ferry from the dock to the “island.” And then, god, a fixed menu. And it’s pricey? WTF is this tourist trap? But N read up on it and was so excited (She has a thing for lighthouses) about it, so I booked the reservations. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much. But then we went. And it was lovely. Delightful. And the food and service were superb. So, credit where credit it due!

Same thing with a day trip to Napa. I was dreading the car travel and the hoyty toyty wine tastings and then the traffic coming back. Yes, Debbie Downer is super prone to car sickness and then I get cranky. Although, I kept it mostly under wraps. Well, it turned out to be a beautiful day, and we hit up some old places like Artesa and Domaine Carneros (always scenic) as well as some new places, like Jamieson Ranch and Castello di Amorosa. I was giving major pushback about the latter, bc a frickin’ castle in Calistoga?!? Again, eye roll, right? I mean, I was envisioning some kind of Disney-like ridiculousness. And I really wanted to go home and not drive the extra 35 min to the goddamn castle. But Bubbey argued that we were “already in the area”… so fine. Well, my bad again. The castle was pretty fricking cool. Yup, I stand corrected.

Other things we did included a day trip to Santa Cruz then hitting up Bonny Doon winery (we even joined their club!) and driving north through Pescadero to stop at Harley Farms. We introduced N to Burmese food (tea leaf salad!!), and I took her to the Chinese foot spa, which she loved. We did karaoke, saw the movie Snowden (well done), and enjoyed German fare at the local cafe/bakery. She also reached out to a friend’s sis who moved out here three years ago from Wilmington. The lady is a mechanic who now lives on a houseboat in Redwood City. She and her boyfriend were super gracious and took us out on the water on their sailboat… which I have never ever done before. So all in all, we had a very full week and we had fun. And N was super happy and grateful and acknowledging. Seriously, she is quite keen and I think she knew I was being resistant at times, but she was so sweet in thanking us for everything. She’s so good about verbalizing her gratitude. That’s something I really should emulate.

So this morning, I dropped her off in San Jose. She took the MegaBus to Burbank, where she’ll be staying a few days with some family friends. Bubs and I are aiming to get back on our routine. I need to hit the gym, and then tomorrow I’m meeting with my realtor’s friend, who is a real estate broker in Cupertino. Then, on Sunday, we’re off to Portland for a few days. I’m trying a new live-in sitter for Marty. We’ll see how that pans out.

Speaking of Marty, N gave him a promising prognosis. She said that he is doing remarkable given his age: he displays strong appetite, no vomiting, regular stool, and he still gets excited for walks and treats… She suggested a few things, like trying to put some weight on him, vitamin E to help with the arthritic inflammation, and moving his legs to exercise the muscles more… other than that, she’s amazed! Yay![FAG id=7478]

Turning it up

As you know, I’ve been jumping back into the networking pool lately. Unfortunately, the real estate instructor never replied to my email. I’m a little disappointed but not entirely discouraged. Having done this whole process before, reaching out to strangers and trying to make their acquaintance, I know it’s largely a numbers/volume game. I have to just keep plugging. So I still tune in to the instructor’s weekly webinars and one of these days, I will introduce myself to him in person. 

Incidentally, John’s friend T also referred me to her brother who is a realtor. He also did not reply. I get it though. Sometimes people are weird about responding to strangers. I don’t take that shit personally anymore, bc I’m confident that my approach isn’t entitled or demanding.

Interestingly, my own agent D texted me out of the blue last week. We met up yesterday and had a really good catchup over a pedicure and then lunch. She is super open and generous in sharing her experiences as a realtor, so I gained a lot of insight. She also put me in touch with one of her colleagues who is a broker running two real estate offices and growing her team. The thing about D is, she presses forward all the time. I’m sure much of it comes from her background as a trainer and coach and motivator: people in that kind of role have to adopt a certain language and style that nudges people… Still, I’ve never been someone who requires a lot of nudging. Give me your advice and insights, but then I will take it from there. So for example, she was thrilled to introduce me to her two peeps. Right then and there, she called them up on the phone, told them about me, gave glowing reviews, and asked if she could share their contact info with me. They both agreed. So I’m thinking, cool. I’ll reach out to them in the next day. Well, D suggested I call or text them immediately “while the lead is warm” to set up a meeting.

Here’s the thing. I always prefer written over verbal. And when I receive a contact from someone, I have a basic template where I introduce myself, name the connection, and then describe where I am and what I am seeking… And I am a very deliberate writer in that, I like to proof everything so I’m careful with what I say and how I say it. So she’s like telling me to text and I explain that I’m emailing. Then, she’s like wow this email is taking so long, blah, blah. I just ignore her. Then she wants to be copied, which is fine. Long story short, I send off the email and we go to lunch. By the time we’re done with lunch, her friend replies with a meeting date/time. Then D reads my email and acknowledges that it’s good, but then she again pushes me to formalize the meeting immediately. I understand what she’s saying about the connection being warm and being top of mind. But it’s not so urgent that I have to meet the lady TOMORROW or schedule it immediately. I mean, the good thing about D is that she’s just trying to help in her own way. Most people do have shit follow-through, so action items are now or never. But with me, I’ll get it done. Don’t harass me about it, bc I don’t need your prodding. 

I’ve been running up against a similar scenario with Bubbey. Maybe bc he doesn’t have his engineering team or coworkers to boss around and direct, he’s like starting to manage me, and I don’t like it one bit. I was telling him my plan for reaching out to industry practitioners to attend trainings, meet other realtors, and assess fit. D was thinking that if I got along with her lady, maybe I could join that office and ramp up even while I was waiting to take the exam. Bubs was also really focused on sussing out openings with these brokers… 

The thing is, I first need to make sure I pass the test. Then, I’m simultaneously  reaching out and learning about the events and different offices where I can prepare for the test and network with realtors and trainers. I dunno. Maybe he’s just sharing his thoughts, but I often feel like he’s reiterating what I’m already planning to do but somehow he thinks my approach is different from what he’s suggesting. It’s not. It’s frustrating bc I’m fine with spousal influence, but that influence has to run both ways. And that hardly ever happens with his personal/professional development. He basically just shuts down anything I propose in terms of networking and talking to people for ideas on projects and interest areas.

Anyway, in other news, my friend N arrives tomorrow. I have outlined a rough list of things to do so we’ll finetune after she gets here. Rover has been busy too. I had a meet and greet yesterday for a terrier who is kinda feisty and potentially annoying. She’s coming over tomorrow for daycare, so we can better test compatibility for boarding in early October. Then, I have another meet and greet for a referral client (from my esthetician) on Sunday. 

Martin is kinda stressing me out. After the Paso Robles trip, J and I have decided that our only real option now is to have sitters stay in-home, bc Martin gets really confused in new environments now. I met a lady today who seemed good, but she can only do part of our Asia trip, and getting her exact dates of availability has been like pulling teeth. I mean, I need to know so I can cobble something together with another sitter! It’s stressful too just wondering if we’ll even need care for Asia if we put him down before then. Every day is different.

Ok, I’m pretty pooped now. Off to bed.

Charm School

It’s no secret that, like my parents, I’m a fucking alien. Last weekend, while we were on our wine country getaway with the other couple, there were definitely a few very distinct moments when my comments/actions received confused and incredulous looks.

First, I should say that the other couple are big time oenophiles. They read wine books, host wine tasting parties (that they play seriously), are wine club members, watch wine movies, etc. You get my drift. They are serious about that shit. So, since I just had to show up, I had no inkling as to the collection and/or caliber of alcohol that was being brought. Our first night there, Bubbey grilled a Costco tri-tip, and his friend J cracked open the alcohol. Well, you know me: Bubbey and I live on a shared glass/plate system (to minimize dishwashing and water consumption), so we’re not huge on like individual serving sets. So we start off with the champagne in flutes. His friend poured and served into individual flutes. The champagne tasted pretty dang good, better than what I’ve had before but I couldn’t exactly say better how. Turns out, it was some fancy aged champagne where the bubbles are super fine. Ok, great. I enjoyed it. Next up was the red wine. Well, after I drank my glass of champagne, I just poured the red wine into my champagne flute, even though there was a new red wine glass set out on the kitchen island. The dude watched me and just kind of stared in disbelief (or judgement). Then he walked over and said, the red really needs to be enjoyed from a red wine glass. I thought to myself: ok sure, whatever. In my head though, I was thinking: does the vessel really matter? He started telling Bubs about the red wine… it sounds like a fancy wine. Just out of curiosity (and bc I’m always collecting data and price points), I asked how much the bottle was. I was totally expecting like $75 or something. Like still high to me but you know, not beyond the realm of expectation. Nope. Try over $200!

Given my strong history with charm school and etiquette (NOT!), leave it to me to drive the Porsche as if it were a Geo Metro, know what I mean? What can I say: classy all the way through.

So incidents like this kind of happened throughout the weekend. Am I just too plain folk? Or perhaps I just prefer to flip the middle finger to social graces? I dunno. To be honest, there has always been a part of me that has rolled my eyes at the stuffiness of etiquette, even the formality of plating and placement of utensils . I mean, I’m sure I have my own set of behaviors where I judge people as being discourteous or rude. But I’m just not totally clear on where I stand on politeness and manners. Clearly, the caliber of food/drink last weekend was way high for me. After all, I’m pretty happy with wine in the box. Or maybe I’m just not THAT food/wine driven??? When we host parties, we like to serve food that we make, but do I want to be the kind of people who snub their noses at guests who bring over Safeway soda or Sunny Delite or Lucerne ice cream? No. That kind of snobbery really rubs me the wrong way. I’m trying to dig deeper on this to determine why the whole scenario bugs me. Is it a class thing? An elitism thing? A pretension thing? Not sure. But I had a strange mix of feelings, like I was churlish and unsophisticated. And yet, I didn’t really care to fall in line with the norm. Defiant once again. Even in the most unsuspecting of circumstances.

Showing Up

J and I were back in Paso Robles this weekend… for local overnight trips that don’t involve air travel, Paso Robles seems to be our de facto destination of choice. We were traveling with another couple, also a peaches and cream combo (Asian woman + white man) and also child-free. Yup, we’ve been saying for a while that we need more child-free friends (no offense parents, but you know how that shit rolls) so this couple is being beta-tested, so to speak. JK. J used to work with the guy, and I guess the guy and his girlfriend (another J&J couple) have hosted a lot of his work peeps over, so she is pretty tight with that work crew. Anyway, they are big time wine/food/cigar enthusiasts so they’re a pretty solid match for my swanky Bubbey.

Overall, the getaway went pretty well. My dog sitter fell through a week prior, so we ended up taking Marty. I mean, as you know, Marts isn’t doing so hot these days. The car travel didn’t bode well for him either. During the 2.5-hr car ride, he managed to both shit and puke in the car. I mean, pretty gross but what can you do? He’s never ever committed such mistakes as an adult dog, so surely all of it is attributed to him being old as fuck and then just not feeling so great. He can’t be faulted. But as co-passengers in the car, it gets frustrating.

The good news though about the whole trip is that all I had to do was show up. Seriously. I did zero planning. The foodies planned the groceries, wine, meal prep, reservations, wine tastings, and all I did was go. It was pretty frickin’ cool to have zippo responsibilities. Oh, except that I selected the lodging, based on my past research of the area. The place was pretty damn posh and pricey, but I think it was a big hit. We had a great time just hanging out there. I mean, you know me: there’s always gonna be some constructive criticism: unfortunately, the site lacked a hot tub and pool, but other than that, really baller. Oh well, we can’t have it all.

Based on the VRBO pics, I had originally thought the house was a shipping container home, but after speaking with the owner, turns out it was a renovated monster mechanics garage (holding 12 cars), so no pre-fab construction involved. Yeah, kinda thwarted my container home research, but whatev, just as well. One of the wineries we hit up had a lovely tasting room that looked container-home-ish. Upon speaking to the host, I discovered it was a single-wide mobile home?!?!? Wow, just tweak the facade and add an industrial style roof, and you would NEVER suspect something as basis as a mobile home! Amazing. Add it to my list of topics to research for Project Little House.

In terms of connecting with this couple, I will say, Bubs def has much more in common with them. Not only do they share the enjoyment of these finer things in life, they are also very much on the same page re: humor and pop culture references. So yeah, I felt kind of out of it, but then again, you know me: social awkwardness is practically my middle name. I notice the discomfort, but it’s not bad enough to stop me from doing things. I do feel like Bubs invests a lot of time with “my” friends, so every now and then, I ought to return the favor. The rules of marriage and all. 😛

Fortunately, I also have no issues with going off and doing my own thing while they hang and drink and chat. Admittedly, I was pretty distracted. After Marty’s shit and puke bouts in the car, he just looked really off. He was uncomfortable and couldn’t get settled. He was disoriented and I dunno, just out of it. Thankfully, I brought the bag of fluids so we gave him 400 mls while we were there. It helped but I dunno. I’m feeling like the end is near. Needless to say, between that and my cultural illiteracy, I was less engaging than my usual ebullient self. Haha.

Other things we did on the trip: we hit up four wineries (Daou, Booker, Epoch, and Hoage) and had a fantastic dinner at the Hatch in downtown PR. I mean, I thought the food was phenomenal but I only get so excited over food. His friends loved it so much, they couldn’t stop talking about it even well into the next day. Great find, Bubbey.

As for the winery visits, generally, I find wine tastings to be rather stuffy and strange. I much prefer to just get a bottle for the group and enjoy together outside. But his friends are big on the tastings… Thankfully, Paso Robles is much lower key than say, Napa where the hosts are typically all in your face, throwing out all those ridiculous adjectives that don’t even make any sense. To the contrary, these hosts were chill and open to whatever we wanted to do (share a tasting, walk around, hang out, not buy any wines, or whatever), so that was a welcome difference. Also, some of the grounds of these places were so incredibly picturesque. Plus the weather was awesome (very warm but with a consistent cool breeze) and I had a blast wandering around taking pictures.

So to recap, J and I are big fans of Paso Robles, but that said, it’s still 2.5 – 3 hrs. away. So is it still a possible little house weekend/investment property location? Tough to say but probably not: it’s just a tad too far, I think. But this trip def gave us some ideas to churn.[FAG id=7476]

Upcoming Travels

I’m pretty damn stoked that the Southwest Companion Pass is finally within reach. Normally, this elite status is attainable only if you clock 50 round trip flights in one year OR obtain 110,000 points, which is kinda a shit ton of dough, you know what I mean?

With the credit card bonus, I scored 50k points free back in March. But then separately, Southwest ran some insane promo for California this summer, requiring only five round trip flights from July to October. So now I don’t even need the 110k points: I just need the round trips, and with all the crazy sales they’ve been having, Precious will be mine!!  Muhahaha!

So it should come as no surprise that I’m a dork, and I tallied up the cost of the five flights. Some of them were flown solo and a few were with Bubbey but his flights are irrelevant in terms of the promo. Even after all that, the total came under $1500! Obviously, for each trip, there’s lodging and car rental and whatever, so the gross outlay is higher but still, if you just calculate based on the flights, this is a pretty low barrier of entry for a free companion ticket for any Southwest destination through December 31, 2017, right? I’m super psyched.

And speaking of travel deals, my bud N is celebrating her 40th in Big Sky, MT this January. Yup, she is not afraid of heavy duty snow in the mountains in the dead of winter. Anyway, she’s renting out a posh lodge and a bunch of her friends are gathering from all over the country. Bc Bozeman is a smaller airport, there aren’t really direct flights (except from Seattle) and airfare ranges from $300-$600. I was tracking and just waiting for a good price point. But then, N sent me her itinerary, which is uber cray from the East Coast (Wilmington to Charlotte to Nashville to Seattle to Bozeman), and a light went off in my head. Wait, what??? Alaska Air and American Air are partner airlines? It’s pretty fricking tricky bc when you go on the AA site to book an award flight, the default search is just for AA and American Eagle, so then no flights are available. But, if you open the search to partners, all kinds of routes emerge, including several on Alaska. I’m pretty thrilled bc I hardly ever fly AA or Alaska so I’ve had the points just sitting in my account, and now I just eeked out a freebie flight. Woot, woot! Maybe I should work in the travel industry. Hee, hee.

Browologist

John has started calling me a browologist, bc I am obsessed with eyebrows. Seriously though, the bros make all the difference. I mean, I have believed this for a very long while, but more recently, I’ve come to learn that these game changers are not natural… like a gabillion other aspects of being a woman, that shit takes effort and work (as well as time and resources). So who are my celeb brow muses? For one, Kdash has amazing brows. Specifically, check out her look from this year’s MTV VMAs.

My other celeb brow muse? Olivia Culpo. I don’t know anything about her (former beauty pageant queen or something), but her brows are on fleek, as the millennials say.

As for me, I am about two weeks post-touchup. After the swelling went down and shit started looking “normal” again, there was still some flaking and scabbing. I think we’re good now. I mean, if I want to be super nit picky, the right brow is slightly lighter than the left, but whatevs. At this point, we really are splitting hairs. My gal Chanton asked me to write a review, which I did. It’s kinda lengthy, but hey, I’m just trying to be thorough. I even uploaded pics which I never do, but given that her business website went down recently and her online portfolio was skimpy to start, here’s another data point for the hardcore researchers out there. Holla! Btw, I had to go back a ways to find a pic of me with zero makeup/pencil on the brows. Also, the young VG was super duper frump. OMFG, how did I even leave the house?! SMH.

Solid Waste Engineer

I’ve been wearing my solid waste engineer hat a lot lately. After Marty was doing amazeballs for so damn long, he’s back on the down swing. His appetite had been so strong for the last few weeks that we started giving him more snacks and treats bc well, he enjoyed them so much. Turns out, there IS such a thing as killing them with kindness. On Friday, he didn’t have appetite at all and for the last two days, he’s been hacking and puking sporadically. I looked at my vet handbook and it looks like the kidney disease is flaring up again. And of course, the added pressure from his coughing caused him to poop in his bed and then he’s also been wetting the bed due to incontinence. So lots of cleaning and laundry. Pretty much anytime he gets a bite of anything, he’ll puke again minutes later. Ugh. So now he is super weak.

J and I gave Marty his sub-cutaneous fluids this afternoon… it has been so long since we’ve had to do this regularly, and the last time, he totally wigged out when the needle went in. So I’m always stressed now about poking him. But this time, he was so tired, he got up but didn’t react as dramatically. I just hope it makes him feel better and then again, we just need to be super strict about sticking to his diet. Poor baby Marty. My bad.

Meanwhile, the neighbors went away for the weekend, so I’m on pet duty. This entails letting the chickens in and out of their coop morning and night, refilling their food/water, and then dealing with the kitty (feeding and litter box). So yesterday, I go over there, and the litter box is like chock full of shit. Already, I’m allergic to cats and then I spent like five minutes nonstop scooping/sifting the gabillion chunks of shit into the trash, with dust flying everywhere. I have NEVER seen a litter box so full. Must have been like a week’s worth of stuff. So fine, whatever. J says it’s not my responsibility to do that, but I mean, what kitty wants to take a dump in a mindfield?? Who knows what’s going on: people get busy, other pressures, whatever. Get ‘er done. After I get home, I proceed to have a full-blown allergy attack that lasts the rest of the night. Jesus Christ.

Needless to say, I have not been sleeping well for the last week. And yesterday, we broke our 6-day gym streak… with deep dish pizza, mind you. The pizza is completely devoured now, and today it’s back to the gym. I’m thinking I’ll wade around in the pool today, bc my muscles are sore as fuck. Maybe I’ll also use the wet sauna to clear out the sinuses.

Teddy Ruxpin

Meanwhile, eBay and Rover and blogging are still happening. John’s last trip back East in August resulted in some additional items for my eBay store. Muhahah. I dunno what my deal is but, my eBay fire has def been rekindled. I mean, there’s just such an ease with posting shit for sale and then coming back 7 days later with the money deposited into your account and the shipping label ready to go. The integration with PayPal and USPS has really streamlined the process, and even though eBay and PayPal take fees, it’s still easier than fielding emails and dealing with flaky people who never show up to check out the item.

As for Rover, Bubble girl began her five day stint with us after we got back from Aspen. I mean, there’s no dispute: BG aka Teddy Ruxpin aka Kayla Bear is pretty dang cute. In fact, on seeing a pic of her, my gal K grew completely obsessed with this Pomeranian, which looks like a unique cross of koala bear + red panda + stuffed teddy bear. For me, I’m thankful the dog was a lot easier than what her comprehensive list of instructions from her mother might have suggested. Ultimately though, she just wasn’t not dog enough for me. It’s too weird having to be so damn careful about trampling over something in your own damn house. Plus, Ruxpin came with a shit ton of gear: a collapsible play pen (5′ in diameter) that practically took up my entire living room, plus a wire crate for sleeping in the bedroom, plus a carrier for the car. And let’s not forget the Whole Foods chicken (but “only a tiny strip at a time” to lure her out of her crate!!). Bottom line? Dogs in Silicon Valley are living THE life for realz!! In the end, all went well and Ruxpin was a cuddly sweetie pie BUT after five days, I was def ready to have my house back. He, he.[FAG id=7474]

Winds of Change

In my real estate books, there is a pair of words that comes up frequently in chapter quizzes and sample tests. Accretion is the gradual addition of land through natural causes. Its antonym is erosion, the gradual loss of land through natural causes. For some reason, with all the recent news of extreme weather, I’ve been thinking a lot about how quickly things can change. One minute, you’re moving one way along with the current, the next minute you’re tossed out of the fucking boat and completely disoriented. I guess that saying is pretty true: the only constant in life is change.

So a lot has happened lately. Mostly good news. Last month, after my friend M totally rocked her job application, Skype interview (while we were in Palm Desert), and onsite job interview, she scored a sweet offer for a higher position at a different public agency. Yup, after 11 years, she’s moving on. Up and up you go, my friend!

My other friend K recently got engaged and this unlocks the next phases of adulting for her. She and the beau are thrilled. I know, that only means more friends with kids in the pipeline for us (ugh). What can you do: the heart wants what the heart wants. JK. Haha! Meanwhile, my friend N recently sold her house, left a job, started a new job, and is now thinking about moving out of state after more than a decade in North Carolina. She’s coming to visit in two weeks and I’m super excited (and have a hefty list already planned out, of course).

Even when all the changes are good changes, for me it really reminds me of the importance of adaptability. Adaptability provides the backbone to progress. After I took the real estate exam prep workshop last Saturday, I realized that many of my steps in transitioning to real estate were sub-optimal. Bc of my fears and reluctance about returning to an academic setting (albeit short termed), I picked the more isolating self study route with online real estate classes, and I took the courses in series rather than concurrently. Also, I def obsessed about grasping the material sufficiently before taking the class exams whereas other people studied way smarter, meaning they understood they needed to just jump through the hoops and focus on getting to the next stage. It really wasn’t about understanding the content but just getting to the next phase. I mean, it’s fine: what’s done is done and I suppose I can view the slower route as a good way of training up my brain to memorize info again, something it really hasn’t done in a very long while.

Still, I was pretty down on myself for a few days. At the end of August, I had submitted my application for the exam date, Again, I just followed the very next incremental step based on info from the Bureau of Real Estate (BRE) website, but after I attended the exam prep workshop, I learned that I was actually supposed to apply for BOTH the exam date plus license issuance at the same time. Ugh, I picked the slower track once again!!! I’m hoping that the BRE will pick up their pace at the end of summer and hopefully cut the wait for both my exam date and the later step of obtaining the license, but we’ll see. I’m frustrated that I’ve kinda been “doing it all wrong,” but I suppose it’s also not the end of the world. As Bubbey has pointed out, there’s still a lot I can do during the waiting game, open houses, learning the neighborhoods, studying the area trends, etc.

I will say, in a minor attempt to recover from all my procedural mistakes, I emailed the instructor on Friday seeking his advice on how best to use the downtime from now until the exam date and license issuance. I asked him about internships and opportunities. I’m going to reach out to a few other real estate people I know to inquire the same things. I know, sometimes it’s downright awkward to ask for assistance, esp from people you barely know. But these are strategies I was taught during my time at the job training center: you have to put yourself out there. And to be fair, there IS a way to ask without sounding entitled. I truly believe that. And on the flip side, whenever a stranger reaches out to me for job advice, I happily oblige and pay it forward… So anyway, here we are. We’ll see how he/they respond.

 

Back to the Gym

After Bubs and I nearly died gasping for air in Aspen, we returned home kinda scared straight. Time to get back to the damn gym and build up that cardio, right? J had been pushing to join Equinox in Palo Alto bc his sister S is a member of the SF facility. It’s super swanky and posh, it has the free Kiehl’s products and whatever. On the other hand, I was voting for the JCC bc I just used it in June/July as part of a Groupon, it’s cheaper, and it’s super close to home.

We toured both facilities last weekend, and the winner is the JCC! Woo hoo! I mean, the decision actually ended up being a no brainer bc the Equinox is just way pricey ($190/month pp!) plus they don’t have indoor bball courts or a dry sauna. And their pool is tiny. Add to that, a 12-month minimum membership… uh, sorry, not gonna happen.

So we’ve been hitting the gym every day since joining. For the first time, I tried circuit training on these machines called TechnoGym. Wow, super smooth, natural movement! What an improvement from the Nautilus machines of my college years! Another day we did the spin class– the first class ever for Bubs and the first cycling class for me. What a nightmare!! I do NOT like to work out to the point of exhaustion. For reals, this body’s got zippo endurance and stamina and while I want to become healthier, I’m not trying to be a ninja warrior or anything. Of course the instructor was super nice and helpful, getting us all set up in the beginning with adjusting the bike. Afterwards, she told us to come back within the week for class 2, bc if we give the body too much time off, it’ll have to start from scratch again. Huh?

I’m really disappointed bc I don’t think this form of exercise is for me (my ass got so fricking numb!!), but someone in the class said she lost 15 lbs. in a month from spin class. And J seems to like it, so I guess I’m going to try and be a supportive spouse. There’s a class scheduled for this afternoon, and I’m going to dig out my padded shorts (that I used before for horseback riding)… Ugh.