Tsoris, as in gehakte tsoris, or a heavy dose of trouble. Nothing the Planet can't endure, God knows, but trouble still.
The people who put a contract on the house are backing out. The problem? The house isn't perfect. Nothing major. The roof, foundation, electrical and plumbing are all fine. No, there are some pieces of siding that need to be replaced. A couple clouded windows. All of which we're fixing, but it's not enough. These young people are scared.
And it's no wonder. The young woman's father is one of these macho jerks who made it a point of telling me he was a builder in the first few minutes. He sent four, yes four, inspectors to look at the house. For those of you who have never gone through this process, that's like having four irritable editors going over your manuscript, looking for trouble.
So they submitted a 16-page report which scared the youngsters and now they want out. OK. That's fine. It just puts us back two weeks, and now we have to keep the house in museum condition to show, and it's a pain in the ass. But the repairs will be made, the price will go up, and more of our lives will be eaten up by bullshit.
The real problem is that, for the first time in a long time, my writing was moving forward. Now all I can think of is this house, and the repairs, and showing it, and going through this whole mishigas again.
How do any of us stay focused on our fiction when life insists on sticking its fugly head in the door every few minutes and blowing us a cosmic razberry? How do you do it?
Tsoris. That's the word for today, Planeteers. Tsoris.
15 comments:
Ugh, David, I so sympathize. I sold my house last year and bought another and I'm STILL drowning in paperwork and tax issues. It's just endless. They're not kidding when they say buying or selling a house is one of the three most stressful things that can happen to you in life.
Keep breathing.
Alex
ARGH!!! That is so frustrating!
Keeping a house in museum condition sucks. Hope it sells (again) quickly and that life stops getting in the way of fiction!
check your contract for sale. If the house has passed inspection except for minor things that you've agreed to repair they may not be able to back out without losing the earnest money (assuming some was paid). So...free money! Feel better?
Yes, Dusty, it looks like they'll be parting with 1500 bucks, which, you know, makes it easier to take.
I'm not sure they understand this yet. It may come as a surprise.
Heh-heh.
And I'm sure you'll get a lot of bluster and bullshit from Daddy, but hey...the money, I assume, is in the realtor's trust accoint so it'll be them who'll have to come after it, and good luck finding a lawyer who'll take THAT.
heh heh indeed.
"How do any of us stay focused on our fiction when life insists on sticking its fugly head in the door every few minutes and blowing us a cosmic razberry? How do you do it?"
I don't know, honestly. I have so much admiration for people who have a day job and write at night, never mind life turmoil on top of it.
Hope things work out soon!
Oh, Jesus H. Christ. What a pain in the ass. Gotta love people who can't make decisions on their own without dipshit Daddy getting involved. Well, I'm sure they'll get pissy and rally against an unkind fate, but fuck 'em. Don't read the fine print, don't get your money back.
As to getting things done when crap is blowing through the door? Denial. Lots and lots of denial. Anti-depressants are good, too.
I know this might not be any help, but for me, I try to make a point of closing off the rest of the world when I'm working. It may sound like a stupid word, but the writing time should be sacred. You owe that to yourself at the very least.
Are you able to close things off when you're playing / rehearsing for a gig? If you can, maybe try to replicate that mental space with your writing.
Or just ignore the crazy Californian before he starts talking about crystals and Est.
Avoid life. Bugger it - most of it can wait an hour or two.
Not the most descriptive answer, but it's more or less what I do. Prioritise, I guess. :-)
This shit just sucks. When we sold our house in Colorado two months ago, the buyer was mofo insane. The house was 4 yrs old, built by the company my wife works for. As close to new as you'd find.
The inspection list came back and the guy wanted, among other things, light bulbs changed. There was a laundry list of other things that were beyond reasonable, but we did them because we needed to sell the house and we got sick of dealing with this asshole. The entire process was just assinine and I hope the house falls down around the guy, which pains me to say because we loved that house. But I swear I hope it crushes him and seals him in the earth.
As far as staying on task, I literally stopped sleeping because everything became so nerve wracking. So I actually got a ton of writing done during the middle of the night because I couldn't do anything else.
And when they politely ask for that earnest money back - and they will because realtors love to tell their clients that some sellers will give it back - I hope you use every profane word that comes to mind before you say "No."
Hang in there, dude:)
Argh. Rat bastards. Good luck....
The others have said it, but I'll add that writing is an act of rebellion.
It's not what you're supposed to be doing.
You're supposed to get a 9 to 5 job and a house and a car and a wife and 2.4 kids. You're not supposed to have fun and write.
So yeah, it's a little childish of me, but I seem to write my best when I'm supposed to be doing something else. :)
Too much tsoris will make you meshuggeh!
Hmmm, out of the shitstorm, a golden turd.
Take the money and write the asshole a thank you note telling him how much you will enjoy spend his donation
When life intrudes:
Adjust. Adjust. Adjust.
Juggle. Juggle. Juggle.
Hire staff.
Is the builder-father financing the house? Otherwise, he needs to butt out.
Jeanne
Do they have an LSR from the bank? If not, they can get out with their earnest monies if they are unable to secure financing and close escrow. But the kids may decide to go through with it if faced with losing the earnest.
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