Moving again. Part 2.

I agreed to meet him in 10 minutes, because I had a class right afterwards, but he wanted me to sign ASAP. I signed the contract. It was until next May, which I wasn't wild about, but whatever.

I met Carlos. And Jeff, the landlord. Courtney and her parents were there.

We chatted a bit and Jeff assured me that the Internet should be on soon. Courtney's parents asked me a bit about myself and about work (people tend to worry that since I sleep during the day everything will have to be silent, but I can sleep through pretty much anything). Carlos seemed cool.

Jeff was kinda weird. He had Carlos sign the last page of his contract. (That wasn't the weird part.) He filled out my contract, and he mixed up the Lessor/ Lessee stuff, so that it seemed like he was renting from me. It's cool, though. I drew a double arrow to correct it. I paid my hefty deposit and rent for the last week of August. Actually, Courtney's parents paid it because I wasn't thinking when I packed my last box of stuff, and now my checkbook is packed somewhere. Plus, I hadn't been planning on signing (it was all kind of spur-of-the-moment), so I wasn't prepared for it, but they said it would be kind of a big deal to Jeff if I didn't pay Right Then. I had planned to pay the day that I moved in, when I had my boxes. Or I could have gone to the bank for cash. They said they didn't mind spotting me the money, and I could mail them a check. Fine.

While we were signing contracts, Courtney's dad was trying to call Ben, who wanted to sign too. When Jeff went to make copies of our signed contracts, Courtney's mom said Ben had come by earlier to sign. And Jeff told him, "You can't live here." So he left without signing. And then, when Courtney's parents found out about it, they all sat around and said nice things about Ben for I think like 20 minutes. And Jeff said "I guess Ben wasn't so bad." So they were trying to get him to come back and sign after all. I don't think they ever reached him.

Carlos was going to move in that night (Tuesday).

Since the Internet wasn't there, I couldn't really move in yet. I did come back after classes and study for a bit in my (very!) air-conditioned room. I left a few books there, because why carry them if I don't have to?!

Carlos did move in. Wednesday I still didn't, but I left a few more books. When I came by after class, there was a (very attractive) guy in front of the house. "Do you live here?" "Yeah," I told him. "Oh," he said. He told me that he was thinking about renting at our house, and sharing with Carlos. "I saw it yesterday, but I was still deciding so I was hoping I could see it again." "No problem! Come on in," I said.

I started to take him through the living room and kitchen to get to the stairs, but Jeff was in the living room. Since he would technically be renting from Jeff, I introduced them. "This is Jeff," I said, "He's our landlord. Jeff, this guy wanted to see the room." "You're too tall," Jeff said. I laughed and so did the guy. He was pretty tall, probably 6'4 or 6'5, but he wasn't abnormally tall. "No," Jeff said, "I'm being seriously. You can't live here. I think you're too tall." "Oh, I'm sure he'll be fine," I told Jeff. "I was here yesterday," the guy said, "and it was kind of small, but not because I'm too tall." Anyhow, we kind of brushed it off.

I said I was going to take him downstairs, and I did. When we got downstairs, I told him the landlord is really weird, and he said Carlos had warned him about that. I said Carlos is cool, though, and he agreed. I didn't know which room he needed, but the guy did, and the door was locked. "Oh. Sorry," I said. "It's okay. I probably should have asked Carlos anyway," he said. I shrugged. We went back upstairs. The guy left. Jeff followed him outside, saying something that I couldn't hear. (Later I found out that he told the guy that, no, really, he couldn't live at our house.)

On Thursday, I was going to be moving my stuff.

That morning, though, I got a call from Courtney's dad. "Jeff's asked Courtney to leave for a second time, and we've decided it's best for her to go. We think all three of you should probably plan on leaving at the same time. We're driving up, and we'll talk to him, and I'll let you know when we know more."

I told him that I would prefer not to have to move, because the location was ideal. But I started thinking about possible alternatives while I waited for his call.

He left a message while I was in one of my classes. When I called him back, he said, "I think you'll be all right. Carlos is staying." He said, "Courtney's loud. She's 19. You and Carlos are more quiet. Jeff gets along better with people who are more quiet. He doesn't like surprises." He also said that Comcast had just set up the Internet. In my room. And they had been testing it and it worked. So I was a little nervous about moving in that night, but relieved that I didn't have to find another place to live. And I was relieved to be able to work from home again without any problems.

I figured I would just be especially careful not to provoke Jeff, and I'd be fine. I'm a busy person. I have full time school, and full time work, plus I'm planning on being really involved in school and at the Institute, plus I have to sleep sometimes, so I just wouldn't see Jeff much and then I'd be okay. Jess suggested I treat it like I was just renting the room, and not part of the house. The room had its own microwave and fridgey-freezery thing, so I wouldn't even really have to use the kitchen.

Courtney's parents asked if I could swap checks with them (...um, no, my checkbook was still packed...), and we agreed that I would bring cash and either pay Jeff (if they could get their check back), or I would reimburse them. Which was fine, of course.

I passed by the house while Courtney was moving, and her dad asked me to call Jeff to see if he had cashed the check. I went out to the FOR RENT sign, typed his number into my phone and called. The phone rang. And rang. And rang. And then someone answered. "Church offices :) " "Oh," I said. "This was the number that was on a sign for a house that is for rent." "Is it 242? Because ours is 242..." "Ummmm," I walked out to the sign. I read the number. It had nothing that even remotely resembled 242. "Well," the lady said cheerfully, "maybe you misdialed. Try calling again." "Okay." I checked the number and it was correct. I called it again anyway, and the same thing happened. "I think I have the wrong number," I said when they answered.

Turns out, Dave (Courtney's dad) had been getting the same thing. Like, since the night before. Jeff set his phone to forward calls to the Church Offices building! "He probably thinks it's funny," Dave said. A few minutes later, Jeff called Dave and said "Tell the person to give you the money," and he hung up on him. I gave them the money, and had them sign something saying I'd paid it.

While I was there, Courtney told me she had brought by a couple friends. They were black guys, but they were guys who dance ballet in her program at school. Not threatening people. She brought them by, and Jeff had kicked them out. "No!" I gasped. She continued, "Leave," he said. "I don't want them tearing up the place." I looked at Courtney, my eyes widened. "Oh. My. Gosh."

And then, apparently Jeff had bought a big sheet cake, like the ones from Costco. Courtney said she thought it was like, to celebrate everyone moving in. (Mostly her and Carlos.) But he never said she could eat it, so she didn't eat it. But it was way way more than one person could eat. And the day that Courtney moved out, he threw it away. Like, to make it so she couldn't eat it, which she wasn't anyway.

And then, I guess another point of contention was, there was this tan colored sweater-wrap. I saw it the day that I signed my contract, hanging from the FOR RENT sign, the same way that people will put mittens or other lost clothes up higher so that hopefully the owner walks past again and sees it. WELL, apparently Jeff saw it outside and brought it in and asked Courtney if it was hers. And she said it wasn't. And he said, "Well, it is now!" and threw it in her room. But obviously, she didn't want some dirty sweater that wasn't hers that he found on the ground. So she said she didn't want it and threw it out of her room.

And then, Courtney's mom had bought two Bath & Body Works fancy-schmanzy plug-in air fresheners. And they put one of them in the living room, and I guess he threw it away or hid it when he found out Courtney was moving out.

And then, he took everything out of Courtney's closet and put it into the closet that's in the living room. (Random!) (And...ew, don't touch her stuff.)

Anyway. They packed her up, but Courtney was just moving a few houses down, so she would still be in my ward. I told her I would let her know about anything else exciting that happened.

That night, Jessica's in-laws brought a big load of stuff up to my house, and so did Jess and Mitch. It wasn't everything, but it was almost everything.

Jeff knocked on my door and walked off. I answered the door, and found him in the living room. "I noticed you didn't bring a bed," he said. "I have an extra queen bed. Do you want it? I won't even charge you extra." "Umm," I said. "Just come look at it." "Okay."

I followed him out behind the house, to one of the garages. He opened it and indicated a huge mattress set. "No thanks," I said. "I'd prefer to have the extra space in my room." "Are you sure," he asked, and I told him I would let him know if I changed my mind. "Oh, yeah, and I guess you would have to buy different sized stuff..." Yeah, no, thanks. And then he asked me how I knew Dave (Courtney's dad), and I said that I only knew him because Courtney had called me about the room in the house. "I just didn't get a chance to know Courtney," he said. "Yeah." I agreed. He continued, "And then she came by with some riffraffs..." "Uh huh," I said. I was ready to go back to my room, so I politely excused myself. "You got a ride?" he asked, and pointed at his car. He was offering to share his car with me. "Seriously, any time you want to borrow something, just ask." "Thanks," I said.

That night I couldn't get my work computer to recognize the Internet connection. So I missed work. I slept. In the morning I called and talked to our special technical people and they helped me figure it out. FINALLY! I could work from home again, like normal!

...or could I?

(PS, I know these would maybe be more interesting with pictures, and I usually like to put pictures, but I just don't even know what to include pictures of. Plus, I usually take pictures with my iPhone because it's easy to upload them. But I connect it to my regular computer, which I haven't been able to access for like 2 weeks. AND! I had to put new system software on it, so I'm still trying to figure out how to get iTunes again since my computer is older than dirt. Anywho, sorry for the lack of pictures. Jeff is short and stubby and blond and looks...slow. Courtney wears heart shaped sunglasses and is a ballet dancer. She's really pretty. Carlos is totally American, but his parents I think are probably immigrants. Dave looks like a Bishop.)