(Somehow Sesame Street gets brought up in conversation)

AJ: (sarcastically) Brought to you by the letter Q and the number Ass.

Noah: (mock-confusedly) But... Ass isn't a number...

Me: (smirks, then smiles) Mine is. It's a 10.

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So my bitchy next-door neighbor Athena has moved out, and it looks like they'll be selling the house. My parents mentioned that they'd be interested in buying that house if it ever went up for sale, so I asked the guy working in the backyard what the deal was. He said yeah, it'll be going on the market next week. So I asked him for the agent's card, and he gave it to me, and said, ask for a guy called Mac, he's in charge of this house. I was like, Not Mac M! and he said, Yeah. Mac is an old family friend; my sister and their daughter Katie are the best of friends, and my parents always go to him when they're doing real estate. Real estate is their favored means of investment, they say it's a Filipino thing. It sounds smart to me--they'll be getting retirement income from the properties they own. That would be neat if they owned the house next door.

But mostly I'm excited to be getting new neighbors (eventually). I want to be friends with the people that live in that house. We share a driveway, we share views of each other's back porches. I just get this feeling that that house is friendly to me, and so I'll be welcoming whoever comes to live there. I intend to be on porch-sitting, wine-sipping terms with them people. Hopefully they feel the same way.

4:43 p.m. 2003-12-03�