Out My Front Door

Finally replaced the molding around the front door casing.  The place is looking spiffy.

Some people wonder why a tenant would put out such effort on a place he is renting.  Here is how I look at it:
I searched for a place upon arriving here in south SoCal based upon a few specific parameters.  I wanted a free standing cottage, guest house, or similar structure.  Big apartment complexes were out, and I hoped to find something which was handled by the owner, not a management firm.  In all but one case in my vast rental history, owner operator has been a better tenant experience.

never posted the view along the right hand, east side, facing north, of the cabin. Should have done a wider view.  Just off frame to the right is a huge boulder that provides shade, and then the terrain rises with some shrubbery.

Also, by being a tenant who fixed his own problems, I received glowing recommendations from the previous owner-landlord;  "Oh, we miss having him here.".   So, if I have to hit the road, these people might say the same.  I did charge them the materials and a few dollars.  Not much, but they paid a little extra.  Still just a fraction of what even illegals--err, undocumented--workers would have charged.  And my overall work and clean up is better.  I do the jobs they won't do.  Backwards from what you hear.

OK.  So I discovered that I could find more prospective abodes on craigslist than anywhere else.  I began my search targeting the Pt Loma, Ocean Beach area.  Another condition was that I hoped to avoid a noisy hole in the wall cramped in with lots of other people everywhere.  Due to price, etc., I kept widening my search area.

those are roses of some kind wrapping the posts of the entrance.  we're top drawer here in ballisticland.

I did not find suitable places until I expanded the search pretty far east.  I was a little skeptical when I had to drive a mile up a winding, rather vertical dirt road.  But as soon as I entered the place I all but begged to rent it.  And it was the best price.  Nothing else was half as cool as this.  I fear I like it too much, but I am used to picking up and moving should they kick me out for whatever reason.

By doing things they don't have much time to do, I help them value having me here, plus I get a sense of satisfaction and am a baby step closer to luring hot chicks to ballisticMountain.  Heck, maybe even the right one will show up.  Could be that happened and I was unprepared and someone might give it another go.  Who knows.

such a deceptive front face. The place is bigger inside, and has plenty of window area--two large picture windows and a screen door in back, but I've shown the view out the back in previous posts.  Few care--this is personal therapy.

I really do good work.  They had a company spray paint the front of the door and I cleaned and sanded and painted all the white stuff plus painting the shed door blue and painting all the white stuff over there.  The molding fits like a champ.  Heck of a job, ...

I say all this because I make the effort to face and appreciate my surroundings when I'm cycling into something dark.  It doesn't fool me, but it has a lot of power over my mood and my attempts to be constructive.  I step outside myself and say what I would if I wasn't me, "Look, you idiot--I word, if you prefer--you're in exactly the circumstances you wanted.  Let go of the sadness and idea that you shouldn't exist.  Work on the things you thought could be done in such a setting."

Hoping that some great woman will "get" me is futile.  I don't get me.  One than can handle it and likes me in spite of myself and who doesn't have ultra rigid likes and dislikes to the point of dogma and hard judgement may exist.  Maybe I'll make some effort to find such a dame as my surroundings become more sociable, logical, and of use.  (can one still use the word "dame" without some sort of reprisal?)

*******JT in NC sent this, and although I wonder if such a contest really to place, I find the definition better than anything I can dream up.
There's an annual contest at the Griffith University, Australia, calling for the most appropriate definition of a contemporary term.

This year's term was "political correctness".

The winning student wrote: "Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rapidly promoted by a mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a piece of shit by the clean end."