The Syndicate

We put an offer on a house this afternoon.

It's mint. It's a mint house. I'm not kidding.

Thanks gents.

thellama73 wrote:I am so happy that your circumstances are improving, Rob, and so distressed that you and your wonderful family have had such a hard time. If there's anything you need to help speed up your move, let me know and I will see what I can do. You've been a good friend many a year, and I'd love to return the favor. If anyone deserves a life of peace and happiness, it's you guys.

Thanks man! We think so highly of you. If anything, we'd love to hang out with you again.

Although...

...say.... you are a pack animal...

It's time to go.

We live in an awful neighborhood, in case you were not aware.

In six years, our house has been robbed, our car broken into, our house was shot at during a drive-by, our mailbox was taken out deliberately by a van (after which a second car deliberately ran over what was left), and there was a street fight right in front of our house two days ago involving at least twelve people, one of whom was pregnant (a student of mine), and baseball bats.

We are at fifteen emergency calls in six years. That's not counting the ones we didn't phone in because we knew the neighbors were already on it.

We're not belligerent people or racists. We don't stir up trouble or make demands of other people. We live quietly and keep to ourselves. Yet people here mean us harm, and I don't understand why. I am told a gang has infiltrated this area, and that is why occurrences have escalated. Perhaps they are attempting to intimidate us- but to what end?

Tonight someone tried to come into our front door (it was locked, of course), and then a car drove past doing perhaps 65mph blaring the horn and shouting. The police officer tonight asked me if I had a gun. He told me if anyone tries my door again I should shoot through the door. Never mind that the person on the other side could be a friend or my pregnant student who lives nearby and comes over to do school work.

And so I stay up most nights, as long as I can lately, concerned that something is going to happen in the middle of the night. I go to work exhausted. I come home equally so. I watch. And I wonder. When will there be an escalation? And I think: What if my daughter had been playing outside the day the driver of that van roared into our yard and eliminated our mailbox, and he didn't see my little girl?

How would that change me as a man?

Our circumstances are about the change, however.

In May, we were approved for a mortgage. That might not mean much to you, but in 2008, I lost my job while my wife was pregnant with the daughter I mentioned above, and every expectation we had of a hopeful future went to shit. I couldn't find work and we were unable to pay for almost anything but the bills and groceries. We lost our car. I had to sell instruments to pay bills. We ate cabbage and baked cakes made of flour, parsley and water.

I learned to cook like Gordon Fucking Ramsay because I had to learn how to be creative in the kitchen.

Then this past May, as I said, we were approved for a mortgage. That was great news on its own- we could turn our rent into a mortgage and get out of this neighborhood. The trouble was that we could not save the down payment because our vehicle is as unreliable as a chimpanzee accountant. So I worked hard and worked hard to build our credit. We now qualify for twice as much as we did in May.

It's time to go.

My wife spent several of her evenings covered in sugar. I have taken extra work through my school, earned additional money through fantasy sports, and we are selling so much stuff- even our furniture- to get out. We are getting this down payment. I don't care if we have nothing when we move- that's less shit to haul out anyway. If all we have come the first of the year is a nice big ass empty house in a modest and clean neighborhood, and our children, so be it.

Right now my eyes burn and my eyelids sag, but I cannot sleep yet. I have to watch.

Tonight these tired eyes look over a crappy house in a shitty neighborhood sheltering a remarkable family.

But tomorrow they will gaze upon houses we could not imagine owning six years ago. And in six weeks, perhaps they will weep, knowing that we have a place that is our own. That we, of all people, arising from the gutter of bitter circumstance and despair, are homeowners.

I apologize for my lack of involvement here lately and in the immediate future. I really really do.

But it's time to go.

A Person wrote:what the hell is up?

Not sure if it's kids having a laugh or something more sinister. I am a teacher who doesn't put up with bullshit....

A large white truck is driving back and forth on our street, watching our house.

We've spoken to the police three times tonight.

This is not fun.

A black Nisan came back through and hit what was left of our mailbox. We're the only one on the street. Somebody has it in for us.

I've spoken to the police twice tonight.

A white van just ran into our yard and knocked our mailbox halfway down the street.

MovingPictures07 wrote:Epi, that's absolutely insane. Seems Matthew hit you all really hard. Any idea when some semblance of normalcy will be returned and schools will open again?

I'm predicting Monday for us. But no way to know for sure.

From what I can tell, if the dam breaks, the water is going down to Spring Lake.

S~V~S wrote:45 minutes downhill?

Eh, we're a part of the same geographic region. We're probably level.

Vass is about 45 minutes from us.

BBQ restaurant in my hometown right about now.

Our school has had no power since this weekend, and many of our roads are closed due to flooding and damage.

We have no idea when we will be returning.

Time to get my guitar and make the most of it...

Golden wrote:A boy arrived for us on the 7th, not long before midnight. His name is hamish. He was big but not quite as big as they expected. No sleep for me.

For those who know Sophie, she was due the same time as us but hers came earlier, a couple of weeks ago. She had a boy called Julian.

Heavy rains caused flooded roads and power outages, so school was canceled today.

On another note, the oldest son of one of our assistant principals was shot and killed last night. I went to school with him- even sat beside him in the sixth grade. It's been disconcerting in recent years to see the loss of so many people I grew up with.

RIP Arnold Palmer.

RIP Gene Wilder.

Metalmarsh89 wrote:I made coffee in a french press for the first time in my life this morning.

What have I been missing all these years?

That sounds like some kind of crazy sex toy.

Lizzy and Vompatti should sign up for my Chinese game and show us what they're made of.

I'm doing well. Still teaching (going back in a week). Kids are growing up and getting "big" (we're Hobbitses).

Still photographering?

A wild Lizzy appears!

Metalmarsh89 wrote:

Epignosis wrote:Like yesterday.

Sure, but if I drink all my coffee yesterday, then tomorrow I'll have none.

Tomorrow doesn't have a "y" in it though.

Like yesterday.

juliets wrote:I missed that last post by Vomps. There isn't anything worth stealing on my computer. I only use it for email, the internet, Word, Explorer, and Firefox stuff like chatzilla.

'Cept what the govuhment puts on there to frame you.

To hell with 10. I stuck with XP for ages and held out for 7, which I like more.

RIP Muhammad Ali.

I just won $95 on NASCAR DFS.

DharmaHelper wrote:Cout lol;

Fixed.

I spent five hours today learning C++.

int brain()
{
std::cout << "fried" ;
return 0;
}

MovingPictures07 wrote:I am going to Austin to see The Cure tonight with our resident Not a Doctor Wilgy.

DharmaHelper wrote:Wham!

My collection isn't that bad.

Our car got broken into last night, as did six or seven other cars in our neighborhood.

I guess whoever did it wasn't interested in my umbrella or collection of white people music.

"Yes? Tears for Fears? Kansas? What the hell is this?"

A Person wrote:

Epignosis wrote:I am playing "Song for America" on the violin.

Sweet. Does that mean further Epignosis will have violin on it?

Indeed. However, recording electric violin is a little trickier than guitar in terms of getting the levels, equalization, and tone right.

MovingPictures07 wrote:

Epignosis wrote:I am playing "Song for America" on the violin.

Awesome.

I played along to "Bringing it Back" also this morning. It sounds complicated because Robby is really wailing away on the song, but the riffs are, independently, very simple techniques and easy to do. The trick lies in stringing them together.

I am playing "Song for America" on the violin.

S~V~S wrote:All the cattle over the Rainbow Bridge are consoling Flossie for having died for nothing.

I'm a bourbon man, myself.

I think he's referring to G-Man's awful balls.

G-Man wrote:

Epignosis wrote:Maybe Albert Pujols doesn't mind hot balls.

Well, he could certainly hit these over the fence.

Damn. That is bad.

Maybe Albert Pujols doesn't mind hot balls.

RIP Doris Roberts.

I just rewired my home studio three times to find the source of some unwanted noise in the mic signal.

All I had to do was turn down an errant knob.

Mongoose wrote:

Epignosis wrote:

Mongoose wrote:Mad Max is going to be a lot less mad after tonight

I miss you.

I miss you too!

Any chance y'all will mosey down this way over the summer?

I think there might be.

Mongoose wrote:Mad Max is going to be a lot less mad after tonight

I miss you.

A Person wrote:

Epignosis wrote:

Ricochet wrote:"the reign of Uzziah". Heathen!

I was moreover trying to find if the name literally translates into something in particular, but thanks for that as well.

The name means "carried" or "burden."

Does that mean it is my burden in life to eat Famous Amos?

No. It just means Andy carried the show.

Ricochet wrote:"the reign of Uzziah". Heathen!

I was moreover trying to find if the name literally translates into something in particular, but thanks for that as well.

The name means "carried" or "burden."

Ricochet wrote:Epignosis, does the name Amos have any biblical meaning?

Yup.