It's only Tuesday

Marjane Satrapi is an author of graphic novels, the most famous of which is Persepolis. She was born in Iran and now lives in France and she is just one of those people who fascinates me. As part of my Book Group last year at work, we read Persepolis and had an excellent discussion; I also had the chance to hear Satrapi speak about her novels, particularly Embroideries, which tells of the lives of women in Iran. She is intelligent, well-spoken and fearless. Today, I read an amazing interview with Satrapi in The Independent, a British paper. She gives her views on the war in Iraq and its effect on U.S. perceptions of Iran and discusses her new book, Chicken with Plums, which tells the story of her uncle who was a musician in Iran and who took to his bed to die when his beloved instrument is shattered. Her illustrations are so simple yet they evoke a ton of emotion and you find yourself learning about the history and culture of Iran without even trying. Great interview. Amazing books. Fearless author. Wow.
______________________________________________________________

I had a tune-up on my car last Friday which has led to a front-end alignment on Tuesday (yes, that's today). If I don't find a job to which I can walk in the city in which I have moved my furniture and my husband in the near future, I might have to sleep in my car in the parking lot of my current job and dream about Portland & Bryan.
______________________________________________________________

The home inspector found the following problems which are a concern to our potential buyers:
*Some bad spots on our roof (which we had disclosed);
*A rotted section of a water pipe in the basement that has a small leak; and
*An exposed and torn electrical wire leading to a junction box on the side of the house which could lead to "serious damage to the electrical wiring inside the house"

The buyers are going to get estimates for each of these problems before deciding whether or not to officially purchase our house. Despite the advice of our realtor to sit tight and wait to see what those estimates yield (sitting tight is not exactly in my nature), we have asked a plumber and an electrician to give us our own estimates. The roof is a non-negotiable problem that they are going to have to absorb since we A) don't have the funds to fix it and B) have not actually had any problems with it despite its ratty appearance. Meanwhile, we turned over the contact info of our potential renters of the 1st floor apartment to this potential buyer and she promptly scared away the tenants who had agreed to move in on Sunday the 1st (she wanted to raise their rent and they weren't having that). Now, she has not called any of the other potential renters because she's probably not even sure she will buy the house. And we haven't called any of them because we're not sure we'll own the house for much longer.
Ah, the joys of home selling.