Burn Sid!

A lot has happened since my last post.  I always think of things I’d like to post and then never do it.  I’m going to blame it on Lily.  She’s not on a schedule yet so I have a hard time finding time when I have both my hands free.  She is starting to go to sleep at around 9/9:30pm and even sometimes stays asleep till midnight or 1am.  So this is my time to get things done.  

About a month ago Matt and I began a totally crazy pursuit.  He received an email about an opening for a resident associate (RA) at one of the dorms at Rice.  He proposed the idea to me and I ran with it.  Our minds boggled as we contemplated the possibility of an extra thousand dollars a month.  All we had to do was convince the student committee of nine that we were indeed the best candidates for the job.  The job: Live in the dorm with the kids, mediate disputes, play on their intramural sports teams, eat meals with them, and thwart suicide attempts.  The hitch:  The accommodation for said RA was a converted two bedroom dorm with one room as a kitchen/living roomette not big enough for a full sized futon.  The challenge:  Condense our 1800 square foot, 4 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage home into a 300 square foot 1 bedroom, 1 shower apartment.  And by the way, we do have two kids under two.

Anyway, that thousand bucks was real attractive to us, especially since we spend all our money every month making ends meet.  So we got psyched, went to Ikea to get ideas, and then wrote a great application.  There were 20 applicants in the beginning.  Miraculously we were chosen as 1 of 5 finalists for the position.  For a whole month we did everything we could to convince these kids that we could A) do the job better than anyone else, and B) make the space work for our family.  In reality we thought we would likely all end up sleeping in the one bedroom.  But it was worth it because we were going to sock away money like mad and buy a house with cash much sooner than we thought possible.  We drug our kids out to that dorm every night to have dinner and schmooze.  We went to every activity.  We knew all the kids on the committee and many in the dorm by name.  The only other candidate who came around (but not as much as us) was this smarmy blond grad student.  We gave it our all.  

In the end it was yet another exercise in futility, or faith (you choose).  They chose this couple who hardly came around and looked like (physically) they wouldn’t be participating with the kids much at all.  We just got their  “thanks for your effort but take a hike” email yesterday.  I vacillate between being somewhat relieved and annoyed.  After all we did quite a song and dance for them, poured out our souls, and let them into our lives.  We are a bit embarrassed about groveling to a bunch of kids for their crappy free apartment.  In the end I’m sure they didn’t choose us because they probably thought it was somehow inhumane to stuff a family of four into 300 square feet.  But I say, “Screw you!!!”  We would have been way better RA’s than baldy and his wife.  In addition, then we would have really had something cool to blog about.  Who wouldn’t want to read about how we were going to make something like that work out?  Or, maybe we owe those kids more than we think.  Perhaps the confined quarters would have driven us to sheer insanity.  No, I’m staying with, “Screw you!!!  You all suck!  Burn Sid!”  As Matt says, “I only have to be a good looser to their face.”  So here, among all our friends we can express how we really feel.  Their loss because we wanted and needed it more than anyone.  Because of that we were greatly motivated and would have been the best RA’s they every had.

I have more to say but it’s about Ian.  I love him and I don’t want to include him in this post, which is about angst.

BURN SID!