Saturday, January 25, 2003
The Unusual Routine
Today, in chronological order, I showed the house, test drove a Subaru (twenty minutes from here), had an Indian buffet lunch, painted some recent plaster work on the house, cleaned up the house, sold the house (probably), test drove a Honda CRV (half an hour from here), and went on a date. I'm probably leaving something out, but it's too dark to read these postit notes all over my desk.
Really, every element of my day went quite well, which is terrible because they're largely mutually incompatible.
I loved both the Subaru and the CRV. The Sub was super sporty, in perfect condition, and would be a really fun car to drive. And it's somewhere between a hatch-back and a wagon, so quite roomy with the rear seats down. The CRV was surprisingly peppy too, particularly given my expectations from all the reviews of them being under powered. (Perhaps it helped that it wasn't loaded with a family of five and luggage.) And it handles surprisingly well for a mini-SUV. And it had loads of room in the back. And it's got better clearance than the Sub. But the Sub fits my driving style and aesthetic better. Both are four wheel drive, power everything, roof racks, key-less entry. The Sub is a manual, the CRV an automatic -- both respectively appropriate, I think. The Honda has a better reliability record, but the Subaru is three years newer and has half the miles (and only $2k more expensive). (Both cars new would be nearly the same price as each other, coincidentally.) So which one???
Meanwhile, the four-wheel drive element is part of a plan already in motion to relocate to Tahoe for the time being (with a detour to New Zealand), and though this is nicely compatible with the sale of the house, neither is particularly compatible with dating someone in San Diego.
What's with my leaving-town karma? I've been back nine months, and it took selling my house to find someone local.
And this whole dating thing is weird. This was our second "date", and both times I sort of looked back afterward and went "hey, that was a date; how did I end up on a date?" I don't think I've ever been on a date before; in the past its always been both so much more nebulous and yet in some ways so much clearer. The dating process is so slow and methodical. I think I'll be gone before I know anything. Cutting across The Flow as always.
When I asked the genie to make the pieces of my life fall into place, I forgot to request that they fit together.
Anyway, must off to bed. Tomorrow's schedule reads much like
today's, starting with selling some things
to someone who will be showing up at my door six hours from now. :P