Suleyman Films

Happy Friday, All!

After a house-hunting-induced break last week, I have returned, much to the delight of friends of mine who read this blog on family cruises.

❤ u my Texas-bound friend.

Anyhoo, what’s going on in my life? You shall find out as I chat about house-hunting, student discounts, and a brief trip to Philly.

So, the first order of business and likely most relatable to people of my generation: buying a house sucks. Let me rephrase that: buying a house really sucks. My master’s in creative writing has taught me nothing, if not how to be a wordsmith. For the past (our entire marriage), my wife and I have been looking for a house on and off. Our first foray into the market took place around 2015. I was working at Bethesda Softworks all the way in Rockville (not Bethesda), my wife was working at our old stomping grounds of a university, and we wanted to settle down. Can’t do that in the city, though. So, we searched a bit near where I grew up. Houses were moderately affordable, and we were willing to take commuter trains/buses/automobiles to get back into DC or, in my case, into not-Bethesda. We put in a few offers, got beat out by all-cash offers (because fuck you, Zillow), and then gave up.

A few years later, we began the hunt again.

And much like the first try, it ended with a few offers being beaten out by offers we couldn’t match.

We kept an eye on things over the years, and over the years, things got progressively worse. The $100k house we wanted in my hometown was now a $300k one. Then it became a $450k house. Everything about buying a house feels impossible, including the looking part. So, what were we going to do?

Try again, and this time, have our search fueled by our disdain for our current landlord (my feelings toward Zillow match my feelings toward him). We were done with renting, and after our last landlord selling the place and giving us the boot, and our current landlord breaking our county’s laws, we decided it was time to grit our teeth and buy a place. For real, this time. No, seriously, for real this time. Not like all those other “for real this time’s.”

Rewind to last week: we put an offer in on a place, and it got beat out. We found a few places, and other buyers snapped them up (real people? Zillow? Who knows.). Hope was dwindling, and our realtor said the market would only get worse. Cue stress and anxiety and a few sleepless nights and a skipped blog (that last point is the worst). But we stuck with it this time because we had to. No more renting, we decided. No more landlords letting our AC not work during a heatwave. No more rent hikes. We needed this.

After a few hours of driving around with our realtor, I found the perfect place. Or, it seemed like it. Whenever I look at a place, issues tend to be glaring. Scuffed self-repairs, mold in the basement, stains in the ceiling, lumpy floors, a deck with a massive hole in it, neighbors with a liquor store’s dumpster’s worth of empty bottles in the front yard. But this place? I couldn’t find an issue, and that almost worried me most.

I asked my realtor what he thought. He said it was great—besides some wasted space in the living room. Which can only mean one thing: ghosts.

Probably not. I don’t think my hometown is that exciting.

But we made an offer, and then things weren’t looking so hot. The seller took their sweet time to respond, and when they did, they said they weren’t ready to respond. Incredibly helpful. We continued to wait, and during a quick trip to Philly, while out with my wife’s coworkers, our realtor called us and got right to the point with five exciting words.

“Congratulations, you got the house!”

We couldn’t believe it, and while there was still more work to be done, it felt like (and feels like) an end was in sight. As cliched as it sounds, a weight had been lifted despite all the other stress on its way. Deposits, inspections, money down, packing, moving, unpacking, projects in the new place, figuring out what will go where (Where are two kitty litter boxes going to go? What about our desks? All our Magic cards?), and then hoping that, after everything, the place we just bought is the right one.

But that will consume the next few months, so I’ll move on to less thrilling things. I have some advice for any fellow students out there (or people with student IDs): ask places if there are student discounts! I recently found out my local game store offers student discounts, as do most museums and other “of the arts” places, and those savings add up. That is a random aside, it may seem, but it leads me to my next point:

Dinosaurs.

No, not that. On Wednesday, I took the train to Philly to meet my wife, who was there on a work trip. Alone and in a rainy city, I figured I’d check out The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University (i.e., the ‘Museum of Natural History’ when you have a word count to meet). I’m a simple man: I see a museum with dinosaurs out front, I pay the exorbitant fee to get inside. Having grown up around in DC (and lived there for the last few years and some change), I always get sticker shock when going to museums that aren’t free. Like, what? Call me spoiled, but that always blows my mind. And they’re not cheap, to boot. But luckily, I have a student ID, which saved me five whole bucks.

After the field trip-filled museum, I wandered around and did what my wife and I do in all new cities: find some game stores. I checked out one that was half vinyl store, half game store, all packed to the brim. Dark Depth Games on 4^th Street was a fantastic place with friendly staff who bombarded me with questions I’ve come to expect: What games do you play/what are you looking for/have you checked out (Cool New Game Name)? I scooched past other patrons and chatted with an employee about Warhammer (one of my favorite games that I don’t play enough of) and their wall of boxes.

(Photo Credit: Dark Depth Games)

Everyone was friendly, and despite the cramped location, it was a sweet store that I hope to check out the next time I’m in the area. Maybe I’ll play a game or two there during one of the many events they host regularly. I might even buy an album or two from their impressive collection.

I checked out one of Dark Depth Games’s competition nearby and didn’t have nearly as enjoyable as an experience. The space was fantastic and clean and well-lit, the prices eh, the one person on duty all but mute aside from a single “Hello,” so there wasn’t much to write home about (or blog about), so I’ll leave that negativity out. Only good vibes here, readers.

Then, I grabbed some coffee, refueled, and left just in time for it to start storming. I Ubered to another game store that was just a comic book store that sold some Pokemon and Magic. So, I called it quits for the afternoon and retreated to the hotel to read.

The rest of the evening consisted of meeting some of my wife’s coworkers for dinner, getting some great news, and having some decent pretzels and crab dip—something Philly is known for. We stopped by Reading Terminal Market the following morning and grabbed some breakfast and goodies for the road, er, train.

Then, we headed back home nice and exhausted. But it was a great little trip with some big highs, some great excitement, and even a few bargains from a cool little game store. Now, it’s time to celebrate and enjoy the weekend.

Until next time.