The Art of Being Neighborly

Where is the line between keeping your community a nice place to live and invading the privacy of those who live there? The X-Files had a great episode where people in a wealthy neighborhood with an association were killed by the association president's pet monster if they didn't comply with the rules.

I'm on the board for my HOA, and sometimes I swear I'm the only one who has our collective privacy in mind during these meetings. No, I DON'T think you have the right to tell a homeowner he/she can't work on his car is his own garage. No, I DON'T think you have the right to try to force a homeowner to kick out renters just because you don't like them here. No, I DON'T think you should start fining homeowners for all those little, nosy things you pay attention to because you have nothing better to do. God, I seriously want to tell a few board members to get a life, because they're not only terribly annoying; they're really pathetic.

Does my desire for them to stay the hell out of my life (and in turn I'll stay out of theirs) make me a bad HOA member and board member? Maybe. But the whole reason I got on the board in the first place was to try to keep them the hell out of my business.

Jeebus.

Catch Up

It's been a month already: there's been a birthday (mine), a couple of job options in the family, a trip to LA to visit the 'rents with my sisters, and Fest started again. I'm exhausted, but also pretty darn happy right now.

The critique for the story I submitted to Women On Writing.com came in. It was GREAT!! For the first time in my life, someone professional has given me real encouragement and thinks i'm good. The comments meant so much I was totally overwhelmed and had a bit of a meltdown at my desk (to which my husband said "girls make NO sense" and promptly returned to his own WOW session).

more to come, but for now it's Friday nigth at 9:30, I'm wiped out, and I have to be up by 6:15 tomorrow. On Saturday. To work a 13 hour day at Fest. I'm sure it's worth it, or something.