Random Ramblings CCCIX · 12:30am Sep 1st, 2018
IN WHICH I COOL OFF
This is a busy week for me in the adulting department. So here's, uh, OG Ladybaby. Turn on CC and Enjoy.
Confused? Good. More confusion on the flip side.
I've been busy this week and haven't had a lot of free time to actually write. This is going to be the state of things until Sunday. For that you have my sincerest apologies. I want to get these backlog stories up just as much as you probably want to see them. Or maybe you don't. I have no idea. I plan to keep writing regardless once I get the time and the drive.
On Monday morning, I got a phone call from the AC company and they told me there was a slot open Tuesday -- I had asked for Thursday because I was told that was the earliest time -- so I said go for it. The two guys showed up at 8:00am on the dot and finished replacing my entire HVAC unit by 4:00pm (absent some cleaning). It cost a lot of money -- $8,000, a quarter of which was labour -- but I'm not going to turn down a ten-year parts warranty and a free year of checkups. The new unit is also quieter than my old one, in addition to being more efficient. Before the work was finished, I got the paperwork started to try and finagle a possible rebate from the electric company for increasing energy efficiency in my home -- a.k.a. the entire reason I'm dropping well over $40,000 on various home improvement projects to begin with.
Next up is insulation in my attic, which currently is almost nonexistent from decay. To get a rebate there, I have to use an electric company approved contractor. But, if they don't get back with me by the end of the day Tuesday (Monday being Labor Day here in the USofA), then I'll just go with a local company that got good reviews on one of the advisory sites.
Tomorrow (Saturday, September 1st), a handyman we met after the electricians accidentally broke my attic door is supposed to come and repair and possibly replace the columns on my front stoop. They're load-bearing (not just for pretty), so he has to somehow get a machine up the hill and jack the overhang up. I have no idea how much it'll cost. I guess I'll find out tomorrow if he shows up.
Now that I have new checks in (I like having a paper trail for big purchases), I'm anxious for the siding people to call me and let me know what that job's gonna happen, as I signed the work order for it exactly three months ago. Yes I know they ended up backlogged over the summer, but hopefully they'll get to me soon.
While waiting for packages to arrive today -- more on that below -- I went around my property jotting down more improvements I ought to make if/when more money comes in. Now I know they say not to put more than $50,000 into improving a property and I'm getting awfully close to that threshold. BUT, some of these things just have to be done -- my HVAC needed to be replaced; my stone steps and retaining walls need to be repaired (they're safety hazards with the mortar slowly disintegrating). Eventually I will need to replace my hot water heater, which is fine by me since the current one is almost comically inefficient.
These are just things one has to deal with as a homeowner. A homeowner whose mother moved in with him and doesn't want to live like White Trash, even if I don't care quite as much.
So as I've been mentioning in earlier blogposts, I made a shit-ton of purchases from various Japanese websites, as well as a more recent binge at Rightstuf to get a bunch of things that had been on my wishlist for over a year. The last two packages both came in today. What follows is a list of every single thing I bought. While I have taken photos, I'm not going to post them here now; I'll eventually upload them to Imgur galleries and just give y'all links because I don't see a point in bogging this site down. Anyway, because I held back on so much for so long, this list is BIG (and pricey).
BLU-RAY IMPORTS
- Babymetal: Live At Wembley
- Babymetal: Live At Tokyo Dome
- Babymetal: Legend S - Baptism XX
- Perfume -- Budoukaaaaaaan!
- Perfume -- Live At Tokyo Dome: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
- Perfume -- 3rd Tour JPN
- Perfume -- 4th Tour In Dome LEVEL3
- Perfume -- Cosmic Explorer Tour (Limited Edition 3Blu set)
CD IMPORTS
- Perfume - Complete Best (2006)
- Perfume - Game (2008)
- Perfume - ⊿ {"Triangle"} (2009)
- Perfume - JPN (2011)
- Perfume - Level3 (2013)
- Perfume - Cosmic Explorer (2016)
- Perfume - Future Pop {Limited Edition w/Blu-ray} (2018)
- Babymetal - Metal Resistance [Japan Edition] (it has 2 songs the US version doesn't)
- BRATS - 1st Album (Self-titled) (2018)
- Ladybaby - One Year Best ~ 2015–2016 (2016)
- Ladybaby - Beside U (2017)
- Ladybaby - Starless Sky [Single] (2018)
- Aiko Yamaide - SMILE [her first single] (2018)
- Joe Hisaishi - Castle in the Sky Symphonic Suite (2018)
- Ayami Muto - Eien tò Shunkan {Eternity & Moment} (2014)
- Ayami Muto - I-Pop (2015)
- Ayami Muto - Re:Birth ~ 19th Birthday Live at Shibuya (2015)
- Karen Girl's - Fly to the Future (2009) {I'm amazed Amazon JP even HAD this one}
- Sakura Gakuin 2010 Class Album ~ Message (2011)
- Sakura Gakuin 2011 Class Album ~ FRIENDS (2012)
- Sakura Gakuin 2012 Class Album ~ My Generation (2013)
- Mikio Fujioka - Trick Disk (???)
- Kari Band - Demo EP (2017)
That's the culmination of four different orders from three different Japanese sites, and I still didn't get everything I wanted -- later Sakura Gakuin stuff is difficult to find and very pricey. So I think I'll take that hit to my sanity later. Now here's the domestic stuff…
DOMESTIC BLU-RAYS
- One Piece Movie 8 [already own DVD]
- One Piece Film Z
- One Piece Film Gold
- Nichijou
- Outlaw Star (Limited Edition) [already own DVD]
- The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan
- Jin-Roh The Wolf Brigade [already own DVD]
- Your Name
- Hellsing Ultimate - Episodes 9 & 10
BOOKS
- Berserk Volume 39
- Trigun: Multiple Bullets (spin-off)
- FLCL Omnibus [already own Tokyopop originals]
- Satoshi Kon's OPUS
- Avatar: The Lost Stories
- Avatar: The Search
- Avatar: The Rift
- Avatar: The Promise
- Avatar: Smoke and Shadow
- Avatar: North and South
Whew!
So... yeah. It's been quite a fortnight tracking all of those packages. Now that everything's in, I just need to figure out where to put it all.
Someone please shoot me for I have bitten off more than I can chew.
I'll hopefully have story progress by the end of the weekend, but I can't promise it.
Peace out!
Well dang. I guess you're going to be busy watching and listening for a while!
My own recent adventures in home maintenance haven't come anywhere close to that expensive, but I can at least respect where you're coming from with all that.
Oh and for what it's worth, while I'm criminally behind on reading, I'm still glad you're writing. It's just going to take me a while to get caught back up from my couple months of bottoming-out leading up to, then during, then after our move.
Lots of improvements to make!
And I recommend under the bed.