Flip This Wholesaler

6/23/2008

Holy crap, this year is almost half over. How did that happen?

I've got all kinds of stuff in the works at the moment. I had 3 (yes, 3) buyers call me today asking me to find them more deals. That's a good thing. I think I've got 2 of them lined up with deals, but haven't heard for sure yet. More waiting... I sent one of them out to a house that a friend of mine is about to get under contract, and the stupid lockbox was jammed, so, being the hustler that I am, I went out to the house myself and after realizing that the lockbox was, indeed, jammed, I crawled in through a (very small) window in the back of the house and almost killed myself. No idea how I actually made it through, but I did. Also, I sliced my elbow open on some glass on the way in. Good times. I'm still waiting to hear back from my buyer about that one, but he seemed to like it, and the numbers are good, so we'll see.

I'm back in offer making mode, and have a goal to get another one by the end of the month. I'm going on 3 trips over the next 3 months, so I need to make me some cashola.

Over and out.


Hehehe.

6/19/2008

Went to see the Rays play the Cubs last night with my friend Jeff. Man, there were a lot of Cubs fans in the house. I'm not a huge fan of baseball, really, but had a great time anyway....

I'm meeting a buyer in an hour to get a deposit and sign a contract for the house I just closed on Tuesday. I have some other guys interested, but they are still working on getting their hard money lined up, and I know this guy personally, and also know his hard money lender already said he would fund it, so I'm going with him.

The short sale deal that I had sold to my buyer is not going to happen because the seller's attorney instructed her to not sign the promissory note, so I guess she's going to just lose the house. Thank you, Mr. Attorney.

No new news on the other REO that was supposed to close forever ago. The bank is still dragging their feet for whatever reason. Maybe it will close some time before Christmas.

And that's all she wrote. Gotta run....

6/14/2008

Well, neither deal closed yesterday, but I did get the HUD from one of the title companies (at 4:59 yesterday afternoon), so that one will be able to close Monday. The other one that was supposed to close Tuesday is still up in the air, and the bank will not give any answer as to when it might close. My buyer is not going to wait much longer, as he has a rehab crew that he likes to keep busy, and he is now finished with his other projects. I have yet another deal lined up for him if he decides to walk on this one (a wholesaler friend of mine just got it under contract Friday), so I still should make money out of this scenario one way or another. Also, last time I talked to him (my buyer), he mentioned something about buying 2 properties this time around, so maybe I will get 2 paydays out of it. Who knows. I wish this stupid bank would get their act together already. Sheesh.

I'm having an impromptu party at my place tonight with some friends that I haven't seen in a long time. I'll try to get some pictures, but I think my camera has joined forces with the rest of my electronic devices, and decided that it wants to be broken. I'm used to it.

I'll leave you with this article that my sister just sent me about their house in St. Louis. I haven't been back to visit since her husband finished the kitchen, but from the pictures in the article, it looks gorgeous. Check it out if you have a sec.

P.S. In case you haven't heard the news, FHA is temporarily lifting their 90 day seasoning requirement. Here's the article if you want to read more.

6/12/2008

We are still waiting to hear when/if we can close on the deal that was supposed to close Tuesday. No one will return a phone call, or respond to emails, faxes, etc. They are a bunch of idiots, and I hope they go out of business and end up on the streets. Really, I do. My buyer decided to wait to see if we could get this one closed, and in the meantime, the other deal I had lined up for him sold to another investor. HAHAHA. He is not going to wait around much longer, though, so if these assholes don't give us an answer soon (as in tomorrow), then he is probably going to walk from this deal (his contract was up on Tuesday), and look for something else. And then I am going to hop in my car and head down to Ft. Effing Lauderdale and set this stupid title company on fire. It would be one thing if they would acknowledge us in any way, and let us know what is going on and when we can close, but it is IMPOSSIBLE to get in touch with anyone who knows anything. VERY FRUSTRATING.

The other deal that is supposed to close tomorrow, I STILL do not have the HUD and title commitment for, even though the lady told me I would have it this morning, and then by noon, and then by 5, and now tomorrow. We are doing a simultaneous close on this, so I need to get the docs to my title company as soon as possible so they can get everything ready for the second half of the transaction. I can hardly wait to hear her excuse in the morning when I call bright and early to harass her.

To make myself feel better, I have been low balling the crap out of the banks all day.

6/11/2008

The closing that was supposed to take place yesterday didn't happen, because the bank apparently doesn't own the property anymore- so the file is now with a new lender (or loan servicer, or whatever), and as you would expect, nobody knows what's going on. They decided to let us know all of this yesterday at around 2:30, and we were supposed to close late in the afternoon. This is after the bank switched title companies while the property was under contract, but the first company wouldn't release the 5k deposit to the new title company, so the new title company wouldn't release any closing docs until they got the 5k deposit. So my friend who has it under contract had to wire another 5k to the new title company just to get it closed on time. And then after all that, it looks like we have to start from scratch. What a fiasco. So, we have no idea how long it will take for them to get everything in order to close this (days? weeks?), and my buyer doesn't want to wait, so I'm not sure what's going to happen. I should be getting a call any minute (hopefully) letting me know if they can get it closed any time soon. If they can't- I already have another property lined up for my buyer, that I will be able to make more money on, so I kind of hope we can't close on the first one. I'm counting on these inefficient, bumbling, hack-jobs to live up to their reputation- it will work in my favor for once.

The other deal that I have under contract is still on track for Friday, although I haven't spoken with the lady at the bank's title co since Monday, so I will have to call today to make sure she didn't forget about me/lose the file/lose the escrow check/etc. If you don't babysit, you can pretty much forget about anything getting done. It's kind of hilarious, really. I mean, you'd think that since most of these banks are SCREWED, that they might try to streamline the whole process of getting these properties off of their books, but instead they like to do things the slow, inefficient way. Makes perfect sense.

I'll keep you posted as to how this turns out- I'm sure there will be more comic relief to follow...

P.S.

JP Moses over at REI Tips is looking for real estate blogs to showcase on his website. If you're looking to get more traffic to your blog, I'd recommend heading over there and checking into it.

6/5/2008

Well, I met my buyer today to get the contract signed and get the deposit check for the house that he is buying from my wholesaler friend. We met for lunch, and sat and talked for an hour or so. I wish I could find a few more buyers like this guy, because he is the best. Easy to deal with, no bs, and the nicest person in the world. He's been in the game for 20 years, and told me he has never seen such a great buying opportunity, and said he hopes it stays this way for at least another year. He told me he would be ready for another one in about a month, so I'll be scoping the area like a hawk. Not that I don't do that anyway.

I may have a buyer for the REO I have under contract. Will find out tomorrow. The buyers are coming in from South FL to look at my property and a few others. I think they will take it, but don't want to put all my eggs in one basket, so I am still calling everyone I can think of to market it. I'm not used to not having a buyer already lined up, so I'm kinda stressed about it, but it will be a good learning experience for me, and I will probably turn up some new buyers while I'm advertising this deal.

I've been doing a lot of marketing to out of state buyers (NY, CA), as well as to out of state wholesalers who may have investors looking to invest in this market. I already know of a few guys who have buyers from outside of FL, and I'm pretty sure more will follow. Good deals are all over the place if you know where to look, and I think this market will be one of the first to bounce back when this downturn ends. Lots of millionaires are going to be made in this market. Might as well be one of them, no?

I've got another possible deal where I brought a buyer to another wholesaler, but not sure if that's going to work out or not, so I won't get into the details. I have a meeting with them (buyer, wholesaler) on Monday, so should find out then if it's a deal.

And that's all I've got for today.

Over and out.......

P.S.
If anyone is looking for a 3/1, 1000sf block house that needs no repairs, with an ARV of $135k-ish (prob would appraise higher, but I like to be conservative), let me know- I'll email you the details. It's not in the greatest neighborhood, but definitely not the hood, either. Asking price is 75k. I'll be your best friend forever and ever....

6/4/2008

I got one of my REO offers accepted yesterday afternoon, which is great, except the buyer I had lined up is now not sure if he wants it or not (grrrrrr). So, now it's a race to find another buyer. I didn't leave myself much time to close, because I was sure my guy would take it, so I kinda need to find a buyer fast. It's a good house that doesn't need any work, and I've got it at a good price, so I don't think I will have too much trouble selling it. We'll see. I've already got some signs up in the neighborhood, and put the word out that it's available.

Today I sold one of my wholesaler friend's houses to one of my cash buyers who was ready for another. The spread was really thin, so I'm only going to be making a grand off of it, but it's better than getting punched in the face or kicked in the teeth or what have you. This is the third house that I've sold to this buyer on the same street. He wants to buy up the whole block, I think. Fine with me.

The other cash buyer that is ready for another deal sent me an email today that really ticked me off. A lot. In a nutshell, I spoiled him with the last deal I sold him, and could probably have gotten at least another 5k out of the deal, if not more, but I'm retarded sometimes, and I told him how much I had it under contract for, which was a big mistake. Anyway, the place was a 3/2 block, needed ZERO repairs, he bought it for 72k, did a 70% refi (appraisal came in at 145k), pulled some cash out, and had it rented within a few weeks. This was his first deal, and apparently I gave him the impression that deals like that are just hanging out by the pool in my backyard. Anywho, I sent him a deal today (the one I have under contract) asking 79k. It is the same square footage, roughly, but is a 3/1 instead of a 3/2, but it is in a better part of town, and, would rent for a higher amount. It is rent ready. So, he sends me a (rather rude) email back saying (in a nutshell), that "frankly" a higher priced house that has one less bathroom is not very "appealing" to him, and maybe if I was asking 68k or less it "might be worth a look." Really? Well, go f yourself. How bout that? Go find your own deals and see how easy it is, pal.

Oh, You'll never guess who I had the pleasure of telling off yesterday.........Slim Shady's accomplice who wrote the bad check a few weeks back! I was having lunch with another wholesaler yesterday when this retarded piece of trash called the guy I was having lunch with. Slim and Co. have been pretending to be buying one of this guy's properties, too, and have been pulling the same shenanigans with him. So, I made my friend give me the phone, and I WENT OFF on him. I told him he was a dirtball and nobody in the entire city of Tampa wants to do business with him because he is a shady bastard. So, then, true to form, he tells me that he is still planning on closing that deal he bailed on like 2 weeks ago. HAHAHAHAHA. Then he tells me (this is freaking HILARIOUS), that he has a hard money lender in CHINA who is going to lend him FIVE MILLION DOLLARS to buy houses, and can he have his hard money lender call me? So, I play along, and a few minutes later I get a call from some other bozo with the same story. I let him have it, too, and let him know the only way I would ever sell him a house was if he showed up with a suitcase full of cash for the entire amount of the purchase.

These shady a-holes need to be put in their place. They give the rest of us a bad name.

I'll leave you with a picture of Slim that my buddy Bruce out there in Blogland sent me.....



Hehehe. You crack me up, Bruce.

6/2/2008

Geeze, I'm tired.

I had a long list of things I wanted to accomplish today, and I pretty much got everything done. And now all I want to do is sleep. Well, actually, what I REALLY want is to eat an entire pint of Ben & Jerry's chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream (I tried some the other day, and am now officially an addict), but I'm too lazy to drive to the store to get some. Wish they delivered...

I've been going back and forth with the banks on a few of the offers I made over the last couple of days, but nothing solid yet. I sure do have a lot of offers out, though.

One of my buyers called today to tell me he's ready for another house. Which really SUCKS because I don' have anything for him right now. He likes to buy in a certain part of town, and there's really not much on the mls that is even close. So, that makes 2 buyers that are waiting on me to find something for them. Crap.

Send me a deal, REO Gods. Send me a deal....

And some ice cream.

Dang, that looks good.

5/31/2008

Holy crap, how is it June Eve already?

The guy with the supposed buyers from NY is turning out to be a big fat waste of my time. He was supposed to send me over a signed contract for one of the properties I am marketing, and he disappeared for a day, then called to say he changed his mind. I'm done chasing this guy around.

One of the REOs I thought I was gonna get was bid up by another wholesaler, so that is dead (for now,anyway) and the other I am STILL waiting to hear back from the listing agent about. He says the bank is totally swamped and can't keep up with everything, which doesn't surprise me, but I'm starting to get pissed, and my buyer is getting antsy.

I got a call from a lady who I gave a short sale lead to back in November. She finally got the deal closed, which translates into a check for me. Not bad for about 5 minutes worth of work.

I've been on an offer-making frenzy over the last couple of days, so I should be getting something here shortly. I've been sticking to my quality vs. quantity approach, and, like I expected, it is going to take me making a lot more offers to get the spreads I am seeking (10k+ per deal is my goal, and my best to date is 8k), but I'm sticking to my guns. Also, I'm sick of hearing people tell me it's not possible to make big spreads on REO deals (even though I personally know people who are doing it on a consistent basis), and I just LOVE it when someone tells me I can't do something. So, that's a big part of my motivation as well.

Have a great rest of the weekend!

P.S.
I put a link up on my sidebar to banditsigns.com. If you're looking for cheap signs, they've got "Avoid Foreclosure" signs on sale for 99 cents each right now. Look under "Current Specials" :)

5/26/2008

Hopefully everyone is enjoying the holiday.. I had plans of working this weekend, but it hasn't really worked out that way. Unless you consider drinking margaritas working.. Hehe.

My friend Eli, who is one of my favorite people in the whole world, called me Friday night to let me know he was back in town. He just graduated from vet school and is doing his internship here in Tampa. We used to work together at Howl at the Moon many moons ago (hehe), and have kept in touch ever since. We went to the Hub for cocktails Friday night, and ended up drinking beer and catching up on my patio until 6am. Haven't done that in awhile.. We went rollerblading on Bayshore bright and early this morning, and I'm pleased to announce that I totally busted my ass (I'm not good at stopping) in front of God and everyone. It was funny at the time, but I re-screwed up my back and it is really killing me right now. Ouch. We're heading out to Sloppy Joe's in a little bit, where another friend of mine who also worked at Howl is bartending. Should be a good time. It's like a Howl at the Moon reunion..

I told one of my buyers about one of the pocket listings that I got last week, and he went out and checked it out today (he was out of town until this morning). He said he would take it at 60k, and my offer is 50k. Hopefully I can get it wrapped up before it hits the mls, because I have no chance once it does. Keeping my fingers crossed.

The guy with the NY buyers cancelled our lunch appt at the last minute, but I'm meeting him at his office tomorrow to chat.


OK, gotta run, the margaritas, they're a callin' my name.....



P.S.
I'm way behind on my emails, so if anyone sent me one recently, I promise I will get back to you very soon. Sorry.....

5/22/2008

I got a call this morning from one of the REO agents that I closed a couple deals with over the last few months. I put in an offer on one of his properties yesterday evening (a very, very, low offer), and he called to let me know he was submitting it this morning, and should have a counter back by this afternoon. We got to talking about some of his listings (I study his listings all the time to see if anything is getting close to where I need to be at), and he mentioned that one of the properties has been sitting on the market forever, and the bank is ready to dump it. Unfortunately, this house is teeny tiny, and also in one of the worst parts of town, however, if I can get it cheap enough (like 10 grand), I have a buyer looking for lots in this area who will pay in the high teens for it. so, I kinda threw out the 10k figure, and he told me to put it on paper.... We'll see. Going to call my guy to have him drive by the lot and see if he would be interested. That would be some easy money.... Also, this agent told me he has 3 listings coming up that I might be interested in (all are block homes, all are priced low), and sent me over an email with all the info. Hehehe.

My plan is all starting to come together, slowly but surely......

5/20/2008

I've been feeling kind of "out of the loop" lately, so today I pretty much sat on the phone all day and did a whole lot of networking. I literally had the phone glued to my ear for at least 8 hours. It's amazing what you can learn by just going up and down your buyers/investor list and calling people to see what they are up to and what they are looking for (if anything). So, anyway, I spent all day on the phone, calling buyers and also several other wholesalers that I have lost touch with over the last month or so. I also just got off the phone with a commercial broker who has 2 buddies in California who are looking to invest 500k in this market. Apparently they don't really know what they are doing, and are looking for someone to find them deals. I think I may know someone who might be able to help. Hehe. I'm definitely following up with this guy in a few days if I don't hear from him...

I'm meeting the guy with the NY buyers for lunch tomorrow, and keeping my fingers crossed that it isn't a big fat waste of my time. We shall see..

What else. I've got a whole shit load of offers out there right now, so I should be hearing something back by the weekend.

I'm trying to focus on quality as opposed to quantity when it comes to my wholesale deals, so my offers have been getting lower and lower. I know I will get less accepted this way, but I would rather do one really nice deal a month as opposed to 3 little ones. It will require me to make more offers, probably, but I can live with that...

Over and out.

5/18/2008

Well, Friday night I went out with some friends to celebrate the crashing and burning of the Slim Shady deal. We started off at the Hub, then walked down to The Fly, and then back to the Hub where the crowd is a lot less plastic-y, if you know what I mean. Good thing both places are within walking distance of Skypoint, because believe you me, we were in no condition to drive. We did, however, manage to crash the pool at 4am (it closes at midnight, supposedly). Hehe.

Remember that guy I was talking about who supposedly has an investor looking to spend ten zillion dollars on Tampa real estate? Well, I kept harassing him with calls and emails because I had a gut feeling that he might possibly be a worthwhile contact to have. He ended up calling me Friday after seeing one of the properties I'm marketing on Craigslist. He's still sticking to his story that he has investors (cash investors) from NY that are looking to dump a lot of cashola into this market. Nice. We talked for awhile, and then set up a lunch for this week. I guess I'll find out soon enough if he's full of it or not. I sure hope not. $$$$$$$.

One of my buyers who is ready for another property called me last week to ask about an REO that just came back on the market. He told me what he would pay for it (not sure why he didn't just make the offer himself, but who am I to argue?), and asked me to try and get it at that price. I put the offer in (leaving enough room for a tidy little profit for myself), and got a counter back from the bank Friday afternoon. They came down 15k off of list price, which still isn't good enough, but we're getting close. We'll see what happens.

I also picked up another cash buyer from the signs I put out a few weeks ago. This guy's been investing for a long time, but hasn't bought anything in several years . He says he's in buying mode again, and asked me to send him whatever I get. Nice. I tell you, as much as I hate putting those stupid signs out, I always seem to pick up a buyer or two. So, I will keep putting them out.

And that's all she wrote.

10-4, over and out...

P.S.
There is a very interesting thread going on over at the Flippinghomes forum regarding the foreclosure mess that our country is in. Check it out if you have a spare moment...

5/16/2008

Well, a few hours after I posted yesterday, Slim's phone was turned back on. My friend got a hold of him, and he still claims to be closing today.

The check still hasn't cleared, but it hasn't bounced yet, either.

Not sure what time the closing is supposed to take place, but I'm guessing I'll be getting a call round about noon from SS or one of his cohorts with some story about why they can't close.

I'd love to be wrong, but I'm just not thinking this thing is gonna close.

I'll keep you posted.


P.S.
My friend closed on it yesterday with his own money, so he owns it now.

5/13/2008

And the saga continues...

I got a call from my friend earlier today letting me know that Shady never called back yesterday, and that he was pretty sure one of his other buyers was going to take the place (at a much lower price). I can't say I was surprised.

About an hour later, my phone rings, and guess who it is? That's right, Slim Shady (I even have him programmed in my phone as Slim Shady, which I think is hysterical). Anyway, he's all hot and bothered because he REALLY, REALLY, for serious this time, has the deposit, and wants to bring it over RIGHT NOW. FOR REAL!!! No, FOR REAL this time!!

I let him know that he pretty much lost any remaining shred of credibility with both of us, and that we didn't want to deal with him anymore because he is a liar and a waste of time. He kept insisting that he was for real this time, and said he would bring the deposit over NOW. No really, NOW. FOR REAL!! I told him it wasn't up to me, and to call my friend and ask him.

After a few more phone calls, Shady finally promised my friend (for REAL this time), that he would be right over with the deposit and the contract.

I have to say that I am totally shocked, because he did, indeed, show up with a check for 2k (that I will bet my dog Jim on, is going to bounce). He has until Friday to close, and I am giving him a .00000000000000000000000001% chance of actually getting it done.

I seriously will have a freaking heart attack if this guy actually closes.

Stay tuned.

5/12/2008

Wow this Shady character is really something else...

After disappearing for the last day and a half, Slim resurfaced again today, called my friend who has the contract on this property, and made arrangements to meet @ 3pm to sign the contract and give his deposit (this is at least the 5th time he has done this). 3pm comes and goes, and Shady of course does not show up. He then sends my friend a TEXT (because he is too much of a P-U-S-S-Y to call), asking if he can get another copy of the contract faxed to his "attorney" because he accidentally lost the one that was sent over the weekend. Right. So, my friend says no, he's not faxing anything until he meets up with Shady and his mysterious "partner" and their mysterious "attorney" face to face. (We pretty much came to the conclusion that Shady and his "partner" are one in the same, and his "attorney" is most likely make-believe, also). Shady's response, of course, was that he needed to call his partner and he would call right back. Still waiting...

At this point, we realize that this fucking loser is never going to close on the deal, but we're hoping to get a 2k deposit out of him that he will most likely walk away from. We're even thinking of dropping the price down to 46k or something (he's buying it for 60k), just to get a deposit out of him, because we know he will never close.

Nothing would please me more than to take this idiot's money.

Where do these people come from, anyway?

5/10/2008

I guess I should have kept my big mouth shut.....The buyer who was supposed to drop off the deposit is STILL giving us the run-around. My friend who has the property under contract called me yesterday evening to tell me what was going on. Apparently the buyer's partner (it's always a red flag when there is a "partner" involved- always.) keeps saying he's on his way over to drop off the check, and then, for one reason or another, never makes it. I guess this happened 4 or 5 times, and so my friend called and said he can't figure out what's going on. This is a guy, by the way, who is the craftiest, smartest, cleverest (I know that's not a word, but it sounds better), investor that I have met thus far, and who I would venture to guess, is doing more business than any wholesaler in Tampa right now, so when he says he can't get a read on a situation, I'm genuinely surprised. We have done 5 or 6 deals together, and usually he just takes control of the deal, and I don't hear anything from him until it's time to pick up my check. So he tells me that he really thinks these clowns are going to buy the house-they actually contacted the title company AND the listing agent (without telling us first), to see if they could close it yesterday. This created (another) big fat mess, since neither the title company nor the listing agent had any idea who the hell these guys were. ANYWAY, my friend called me and said he needs a second opinion, and asked if I would call the "partner" and see what I thought. He also said that as furious as he was that this guy kept giving him the run-around, that he just couldn't be a dick to him because it would be like getting mad at Ned Flanders. I didn't understand what the hell he was talking about until I got off the phone with the guy. I got the same impression from him- that he has every intention of buying the property. Nice guy too, and if he is full of shit, then he's the best hustler in town, because he has us both fooled. And this ain't our first rodeo, either.

OK, so, long story short, last I heard from him, he was driving out to Odessa (this was yesterday at around 8pm) to get the contract signed by his "partner" and he would have the contract and the deposit to my friend's office by early today. And that's where we are at with this deal. There's some more drama involved, but it's too convoluted to explain, so I won't.

Oh, do you want to hear the funniest part about this whole mess? Anybody wanna take a crack at what the "partner's" name is? Anyone?

SHADY.

I swear. May God strike me dead with a random bolt of lightning next time I go outside, this guy's name is SHADY. It's in the tax records and everything.

Apparently his Mom was a psychic.

5/8/2007

The deal I had that fell apart last week (was it last week or the week before? I can't remember) is alive again... The guy who now has it under contract is a friend of mine (it's the same guy whose properties I've been marketing). He was going to close on it and keep it as a rental if he couldn't wholesale it (it's a 3/1 block house that only needs paint and carpet, and he has it under contract for 45k). Anyway, I found another buyer for it today, and it is supposed to close next Tuesday! Nice, huh? Also, he got it under contract at a lower price, so I'll be making double what I was going to last time around. Sweet. I'll believe it when I see it, though. This property has been nothing but trouble from the get go. The buyer was supposed to drop off a 2k deposit to my friend this afternoon, and I haven't heard otherwise, so I'm assuming everything is A-OK. Will be nice if it closes, that's for sure. Me likey getting paid.

Today, the mastermind/mentoring group that I am a part of had our monthly group call, and it was awesome. I got some great input/advice on how I can improve my current wholesaling strategy, and also learned a lot just from listening to others talk about what they are doing. It's an outstanding group of people, and I'm lucky to be a part of it.

I had this dream last night that was so awful, it screwed me up all day. I actually woke up sweating even though I had the air set on 69 (I can't sleep unless it's really, really cold). Anyway, I had this dream that I couldn't get a deal to save my life, and I had to go back to waiting tables. Bar tending is one thing, but waiting tables is, in my opinion, the worst job ever. I'd honestly rather shovel horse shit (or any shit, for that matter) than wait tables. Nothing can turn you into a bitter people-hater like waiting tables can. Anyway, in my dream I was waiting tables at this Irish place (as in, I had to go to Ireland and work there- no idea where that came from), and I had to work happy hour, and they had this horrible happy hour buffet that I was in charge of keeping full. Everyone was yelling at me and pissed off because we kept running out of bacon, and in my dream, I remember thinking that I was just going to walk out, but then I knew I couldn't because I had to pay my bills, and I just felt trapped and helpless. It was awful, and like I said, I woke up sweating and in a panic, and I've felt like shit all day.

I got some dvds back that I loaned to a friend a long time ago. I'm watching Garden State right now. I always cry when Natalie Portman dances in front of the fireplace. Not sure why, but I do.

Over and out.