How will you die, Joan Wilder? Slow, like... a snail? Or fast, like a shooting star?

I think I enjoy having as few options as possible when it comes to big decisions. Narrowing down the DFW metroplex to a suitable city for owning a home was fun enough, but now, due to new and exciting factors (the rest of my family), another possibility has popped into the mix: how about Washington, D.C.? Since the majority of the family, it seems, shall be residing in Vermont, it would be nice to live closer than Texas. Sorry, Veloute, but living in Vermont itself would be too much! Even though I never go out or do anything, there is something about living in The Middle of Nowhere that sorta brings me down a little. And however much I may loathe the heat here (it was 99 before 10am the other day), I'm not sure six months of winter is really me, either.

So I have always loved Maryland and think DC would be a great city to live near. Maryland/Virginia, who cares. In commuting distance to DC. PA was gorgeous but perhaps a tad far. Unless we work in Philadephia, and an ex of mine (having grown up there) has fully turned me against it over the past years. I now picture Philadelphia as one of the meanest cities in the world. Not real high on the list. However, back to MD/VA...upon perusing the real estate, I've been scoping out the same price range as we were using here. I don't know whether to laugh my ass off and give up altogether or what. The one house that did show up, I could not make this up, was boarded up at every opening. I feel like I should be looking at trailers. It totally took me down a peg or eight.

Somehow we went from good-sized two-stories (2000 sq ft) with backyards to...trailers. Okay.

So I did a search online for comparing cost of living. For example, if you make $35,000 in Dallas, you should make $48,000 in DC to enjoy the same lifestyle. Which is better than NYC, where you must make $80,000 to keep things on the same level. Holy balls. Now here's the prob: If we make x amount of money NOW, even if we would be paid DC wages once we got there, how could we possibly get approved for the amount needed to live in a suitable house near DC where the rats won't use my cats for dodgeball?

I am definitely getting older. I (at the moment) really feel like just sticking with my decently sized ol' Arlington houses. So much easier and cushier. Just gotta score a gig with an airline and fly for free. Problem solved. SIGH. I find the effort and the unknown to be incredibly daunting. And yet somehow I once took off and lived in Tokyo? Age is taking over, that's for sure.

I cannot find Romaning the Stone because the special edition is coming out August 29th. Looks so cool...squee. There is also one with both it and Jewel of the Nile, but I just can't remember that movie being even remotely decent. D really seems to like it, but he also keeps rediscovering these movies he thought he liked, only to find ginormous turds where great movies ought to have been. It may have been watchable, it's just that I'm sure it's nowhere near the realm of the first.

Downfall and In the Company of Men are on their way from Netflix, which should bring me lots of entertainment tomorrow night.