Listening: "Counting bodies like Sheep," A Perfect Circle

I disappeared last month (or at least the last week) into a flurry of writing. I participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, if somehow you don't know about it) and came away a winner by getting down 50,000 words before the end of the month. It was killer but now I'm very well on my way to completing my first book. fuckin weird. But cool.

Anyhow now I have to get on with things and need to hunt down a job for reals. Of course I meant to do it earlier but I hate very material step of the process: looking at job listings, revising my resume, networking, calling, etc. And I've only had two phone interviews...in person ones are...well annoying. There's little in the way of silver lining, just a hopeful paycheck at the end of the tunnel.

There's also the reality of the messy apartment I live in and the fact that the building has a mouse problem, meaning *I* have a mouse problem. Just found the second mouse in a trap today, the fifth in total. Mice and other vermin, under CA tenant rights, are evidence of an unfit living space and it falls to the owners to clear them out. The management has paid for an exterminator to come by but he's told me a few times that the mice basically have free access to the building since the owners aren't plugging up the holes on the ground that let them in.

The first night I found them they creeped me the fuck out. Now I'm just pissed. They're extremely cute and thoroughly uninvited. I'm a light sleeper and soft little sounds of them running along the wall wakes me up fast. Plus they're still goddamn creepy. Occasionally I still think of getting a cat, but I think that will make more of a mess than I want to deal with, never mind the fact that I'm allergic to them. I've also thought of setting a loose python after them. Funny as that would be it seems a little unreliable.

So I have to call the management company and demand they do something preventative.

I don't know if the tenant's rights thing will let me sue them or forgo paying rent. It may just provide legal grounds for breaking a lease (which I don't have). I can't realistically move unless it's back to my parent's house (oh, God, no) so this is just all around annoying.

Bah.

In other news: I'm posting a picture a day at my LiveJournal. I find double posting mildly annoying, though I do it anyway, sometimes. But if you're inclined to follow along you can lookup my pictures at my Fotki page. Most of the pictures will be in the Miscellaneous album. Check whenever you like and please leave feedback.