Our initial foray into the housing market came to an unsuccessful conclusion yesterday evening, and i must say i feel like getting out of the hunt for a while now. V and i bent over backwards to put a competitive offer in on a house two blocks over from the one we're renting now, and lo it was rejected apparently because the seller didn't like our financing setup. I'm not upset that our bid was turned down, that i can understand ... what bugs me is that our loan agent and realtor keep springing details on us at the last minute. You would think that if you've made it abundantly clear to everyone that you're doing 100% financing, some kind soul would point out that you'll need a 3% deposit to open escrow. V and i agree that it's time for us to take a step back, become a bit more knowledgeable on the intricacies of home purchasing, save up some money (which we're doing at a good clip seeing as i just got a raise and V is going back to her old employers Arthur Beren), and get away from agents and brokers who despite all the smiles and handshakes seem to keep leading us astray.

Otherwise, i've been distracting myself with my super Xbox and this grant. I stopped by Borders yesterday to buy Chronicles of the Roman Emperors, a synopsis of the Roman empire ... god bless the History Channel. V had a fun time at KROQ's Inland Invasion over the weekend, despite the fact that Morrissey canceled at the last minute (very last minute ... it wasn't announced until three hours into the festival) due to illness. Apparently the traffic and overcrowding were much alleviated this year relative to last, and Franz Ferdinand stole the show ... i however stuck to my guns and avoided the whole thing, opting instead to hang out with Sean playing FIFA 2004, drinking Guinness, and watching Cops, World's Wildest Police Videos, and Velvet Goldmine (which amazingly was even more of a crapfest the second time round, despite my fondness for the Venus in Furs version of "Baby's on Fire"). We're effectively in training as earlier that weekend i was witness to Matthew's much improved FIFA skills. I'm not giving up the SMFA title that easily.