It was a bit of a dead Saturday in real estate, and likely because of how cold and gloomy our weather was nearly our entire day. I noticed the wind started changing directions late this afternoon, so perhaps it won’t be as uncomfortable as it was today. Now that we’re 30 days out from the winter solstice, I’m beginning to notice our daylight hours growing longer which makes me all the happier.
I had a few stops to make before heading to office, and when I arrived, I found that another agent had emailed me an offer on my new listing over at 326 – 1st St. NW, and since it’s corporate owned, all I could do was scan and email it to the representative, and likely not hear back until Monday morning. The offer is lower than I was expecting, which will likely trigger a counter-offer from the seller. I’m really not surprised we already have one because there’s nearly nothing to be found in our under $60K price range.
The rest of my day was spent putzing around at office with all the various little to-do’s I’ve been putting aside for another day, and since it was quieter than normal, I figured it the best time to dive in and get those things done. Being fully focused on what I was doing, the hours seemed to fly by, and when I looked at the clock, it was nearing the hour of four which was a bit of a shocker.
I did receive a text from another agent who was wanting to re-schedule a showing next week which I’d already set up, so I called my seller and alerted him of the change. It was a good opportunity to have a nice Saturday afternoon chat about the coming weeks, along with what our plans were for the weekend. We did get a few laughs over some past happenings which seem to be turning all the more into commonplace events. My biggest grip today, is this growing use of text messaging instead of picking up the phone and placing a call. I even mentioned how it’s become even more noticeable when in conversation with many of our younger crowd, where they don’t always finish their sentences which is somewhat troubling for me when wondering how much less people will be verbally communicating in the future. Some have said it’s the dumbing down of America, but I think it’s happening all over the world.
What I find the most bothersome is the lack of clarity when speaking to some, and having to listen all the more carefully, just so I can “fill in” the blanks of what they’re saying in hopes I made the right judgement call regarding the meaning or thrust of what they were saying. Now please don’t think I’m on a continued bashing of US Cellular, because I’m not when saying I even noticed it with that salesperson’s communication skills. I’m sure much of it had to do with all the multi-tasking that was going on when he was assisting me, and likely the reason he tune out details and only listened for key words. Sounds a lot like verbal Shorthand doesn’t it? Well, when speaking to someone who’s proficient in it, and I’m not, that’s when misunderstandings take place.
One of my friends sometimes interrupts me whenever I’m attempting to explain something, and the reason being, I usually preface or set the stage of a subject before going into detail, which she believes to be an over-kill. Unfortunately, I’ve always been that way, and will likely continue because I’d rather be clear in my narratives than having them mis-understood.
I did want to mention my deciding to watch a movie last night, and the one I chose, was “Schindler’s List” which I’d seen a number of years ago. It was a long movie, but in these times, I would highly recommend everyone to watch it, and for the reason it being a strong reminder of how one person can come to power and manage to send millions of innocent people to their deaths. You can bet I a shed a few tears while watching it, and especially because that movie was based on a true story. If you’re up for a bit of history and have some free hours this weekend, please watch it because I believe it’s one of Steven Spielberg’s best.
With my looking forward to Spring, I placed an order with a seed house for some vegetable seeds I thought worth growing, so if they’re as good as their reviews, I’ll have some veggies to share this coming summer and Fall. Being as I am, every packet I ordered were organic, just in case I decide to save seeds over, because if they’re not, the following year’s crops may not be anything like the parents. I definitely don’t want to be going down that road again.
Yesterday I received an email from an old friend saying his family came down with the China-virus, but luckily they’re not having any serious issues as of yet, so all I could do was wish him and his family a speedy recovery. I am glad to find more people masking-up again, which is definitely in the best interest of our general public because even some of those that’ve been fully vaccinated, are getting hit in one way or another from this new mutation. As one of my dear friends recently said, “This virus is likely going to be something we’ll be dealing with the rest of our lives.”
Before heading home, I decided to plop myself down at my office piano since I’d not touched it in nearly a week. I must’ve been playing non-stop for about 45 minutes which was a good work-out. In spite of having enough music to learn for St. Paul Lutheran, I decided to start working on a classic which has eight full pages. I started on it several weeks ago, and now I’m relatively comfortable with four of its pages. I figured I’d get those four fully-learned and comfortable with them before tackling the remaining four. Truth be told, I’m sort of surprised I’ve got those first four nearly cracked. It’ll be a long process, but a good skill-builder for other pieces I would’ve in the past, walked away from. Without a doubt, practice does create proficiency.
Tonight’s One-liner is: If you have enemies, then it means sometime in your life, you’ve stood up for something.
