I got the bill for my new knees. Guess how much? $95,000. Of that I owed 84 cents. The insurance company paid the rest (I thought they were going to pay the whole thing) and even with a discount it was still a really huge amount.
Although I'm not jumping up and down screaming "I love my knees" (I've heard this does happen), I feel like I could travel in a third world country now when before the surgery, with all the spontaneous swelling and emergency room visits, that kind of traveling was a really scarey thought and an impossible reality. Needing to be able to travel in a third world country may seem like an odd criteria for having knees replaced to some people but it's important to me. Currently I have no plans for traveling to third world countries and maybe I never will but it's good to know that I feel like I could.
Ohio.
I'm still suffering from Ohio Film MFA commitment anxiety. Vince is too. The pros are still the same. So are the cons. We talk about it every day a lot. We signed the papers so 'Ohio' is expecting us. Once the program starts and we're there, August 26 (that's so soon), we'll be totally present and committed but until then we're staying less anxious by feeling like we could still change our minds and our spots could be filled with any one of the hundred plus now disappointed applicants. It's such an amazing opportunity/adventure. Part of me worries about disappointing the program's decision makers (faculty). Did I appear more competent on paper than I actually am? I'm from Minnesota. We worry about things like that.
Anxiety aside, we'll need a place to live when we're there. Renting is really expensive and houses are really cheap. If we rented for the three years, we could easily spend upwards of $50,000 (the cost of one new knee) so buying makes a ton of sense. Not only is renting expensive, it's also unavailable. Searching for rentals, I left no stone unturned and of the fifty or so rental houses* I found, only two were still available for this school year** and I wouldn't dare walk in to either of them.
House shopping.
Driving to Athens would have only taken about 3 hours longer than it took us to fly and I would have had my luggage when we got to the hotel. The only flight (out of four) that was on time was the one on which we had first class seats and it left without us.
Of the sixteen houses we looked at, Vince and I decided on one of them but the one I decided on was a different one than the one he decided on. The one I liked probably needed a new roof. The one he liked definitely needed a tree and some character.
We had 'mine' inspected. Vince was right about the roof. We made an offer. They countered and we didn't. Later that day they changed their mind. So, as of June 29, we'll own a house in Athens, Ohio.
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| Portlandia looking don't you think? So so sweet. |
I told Vince that having a house there pretty much commits us to the program. He said, "Not necessarily."***
*we don't want to live in someone's basement apartment
**the others were already rented for the next one to two years
***actually, having a place to live is huge and was one of the things keeping us from looking forward to the program
Other.
I was among the 5,980 entrants that didn't win the NPR 3 Minute Fiction contest.
