Eric is the Planner in this duo. I would probably just sort of randomly show up to things but he is kind of in love with his calendar. (Should I be jealous?) We started our arrangements for Dragon*Con 2013 last year as soon as we got home from Atlanta. If you want to stay at a host hotel and actually enjoy the Con, it's pretty well required. By March, we (he) had planned out our summer pretty thoroughly - a trip to ComicCon to see my family, one to Portland for Trek in the Park, a visit from his mother, and Dragon*Con - three of which fell in the month of August. So when the move came up, we arranged all of it around our various plans. We threw in a couple of extra trips too to accommodate the realtor schedule. While we are in Houston house hunting, they will hold an open house. While we are in Las Vegas at a solar convention, they can show the condo again if need be. (Fingers crossed we get an offer before then.)
While we were at Dragon*Con, the condo was "staged". It's not like we forgot that this was happening. Certainly, we were steeling ourselves for this as we drove home from the airport. Still, nothing prepares you for motel art and fake plants and table runners and decorative pillows. NOTHING.
This is what hell would look like to me. Not shown - the one hanging above our headboard. You're welcome.
Apparently, a troupe of elves broke into our home and turned it into the lobby of an older (but still well cared for) Holiday Inn.
When the movers came to take half our stuff (much like a divorcee would in California) and the cleaners did their thing, it was slightly traumatic. There were little things that still made it our home but the overall character had been made anemic. Returning from Dragon*Con and walking from room to room, I felt like David Byrnes repeatedly whining "This is not my beautiful house!"
Now I realize my surrealist/pop art tastes are not the norm. Most people don't have signed prints by Lee Moyer, Scojo, and Saw. Most don't have photographs by Annaliese Moyer. Most don't have original art by Anna Kelland and Terribly Odd. Most don't hang action figures as art and proudly display their collection of Kid Robot toys. I get why they go for the blandest, vanillaest art and accessories. Our stuff would have been a distraction.
Doesn't mean I have to like it.
The urgency to move will increase with every day I have to look at this table runner and the pot of fake daffodils (or whatever flower it is attempting to simulate) on the dining room table. Houston house hunting starts this weekend.
