Renters Unite

Today, January 16th, 2007, was a triumph for renters across the country. After 2 months of prayers and phone calls and finally one hard-core letter, I received my security deposit back from my slum-lord in Los Angeles! Hurray! My old cockroach infested, broken shower-ed, warmed freezer-ed, broken window-ed, brown water-ed apartment owner buckled under the pressure and legitimate threats of my borrowed letter (many thanks to the folks at UC Berkeley for their letter template!). I have pasted the letter below for you all to read. It’s a quite a triumph because I probably wasn’t going to sue him and he could have easily blow me off because I’m way out here in Michigan and who knows if the law still applies to me since I’m not a CA resident any more. So here it is:

January 4th, 2007

Chin Ho Liao, Landlord

Mr. Liao:

As you know, until November 2^nd, 2006, I resided in Apartment # 207 at 1800 N. La Brea Ave. and regularly paid my rent to the building manager Brian. When I moved out, I left the unit cleaner than it was when I moved in and did not change any of the wall color from its original state when I moved in.

Upon my departure I left my final rent check and a letter, dated October 1^st, 2006, with my forwarding address to send my security deposit. Additionally, I have left two messages with Brian, your building manager, requesting that he inform you that I have not received my deposit.

According to the rental agreement that I signed in section 3. titled “Initial Payments”:

Landlord acknowledges receipt of the following agreed amounts: First Month’s Rental $475.00. Security Deposit $475.00. The total of these amounts, except for the First Month’s Rental, shall secure the performance of the terms of this agreement and shall be returned to the Tenant within Two weeks after Tenant has completely vacated the premises…

As of today I have received neither my $475 security deposit nor any accounting from you for that money. Please be aware that I am aware of my rights under California Civil Code Sec. 1950.5. If I do not receive my money within two weeks, I will regard the retention of these deposits as showing bad faith on your part and shall sue you not only for the $475 in deposits, but also for the statutory damages allowed by Sec. 1950.5 of the Civil Code.

May I hear from you promptly.

Very truly yours,

Jennifer Geib

(He just made it under the two week mark)

Frowning Valentine

Last night I went down into the basement to dig some stuff out of all my packed boxes. I’m kind of living out of those boxes- grabbing things now and then- as I hope to not be here at home super long. Anyways, I grabbed my guitar, the base to my “wave machine” (helps me sleep- some say it simulates the sound of war, but to me it sounds like soothing white noise), and my old alarm clock, as I balanced all these things and stumbled over the old treadmill and dodged my strangely short IKEA bed (my feet hang off sometimes- I’m a towering 5′2″), my eyes fell upon the old “roll back” desk that is stuck half way shut. I saw a great old photo of my Grandma Geib leaning over the side of a ship when she was probably in her 20s. Shoved further back in the desk was an entire pile of more amazing photos, some dating back the turn of the century.

So in an attempt to be productive and do something interesting with my vacant hours as I job search, I decided to scan some of those photos and post them here for y’all to see. I hope to some day get them reprinted and maybe enlarged a bit for the wall of my next home.

These two bundles of uncontainable joy are my great-great grandparents:

Valentine and Ellen Geib- taken at Christmas of 1905! Wowzers.

This next photo (circa 1920s?) is of my great aunt Marian (far right) and her friends at Lincoln Lake- She is still alive and living in Traverse City, MI. She’s nearly 100 now. Love the usage of headbands/ scarves. Dad if you read this please feel free to correct me in a comment.

Final photo of the day is also Great Aunt Marian- I’m guessing this photo was taken in Grand Rapids, MI. That skirt and those shoes look like something you could easily find in clothing stores today!

Belong

Hi.

I was listening to this song on my Nano last night and it struck me in a new way. It’s called “Belong” by Chris Rice- here’s what he wrote (fav verse in bold):

Fading memories ignored
I crawl across the forest floor
Pool reflects an orphan child
Dirty, lost, alone and wild
Fatherless and nameless still
Fallen heart and broken, will
there ever be a place where I belong

I cower ‘neath the monster trees
And try to stand on tired feet
But gravity knocks me to the ground
Where I give up, and tears roll down
I claw the dust and beg the end
Curse the day that I began
to hope there’d be a place where I belong

I hear a sound I recognize
You lift my chin and seek my eyes
Song of love You sing to me
I ache to sing it back to Thee
“Father Love prepares a place
Brother Jesus leads the way
Follow to the place where you belong!”

How did I miss this wondrous song?
The forest sang it all along
“River rinses all your shame
Father offers you His name
Father Love prepares a home
Brother Jesus leads you on
Follow to the place where you belong!”

“Father Love prepares a place
Brother Jesus leads the way
Follow to the place where you belong
Follow to the place where you belong!”

Searching High and Low

Maybe I’m not really a blogger. Maybe I have the wrong idea in my head of what it means to blog. I can’t seem to get on here and do it! But I have received one request to give an update. It only takes one.

The update:

I’m a bit thankful that the holidays are finally over…they were nice, but seemed long this year. I learned to focus even more on the meaning of CHRISTmas this year as I wasn’t able to buy any gifts for my family. That was tough.

My day-to-day life here in Birmingham, Michigan is filled with things like- a few hours on the Internet looking for jobs (my tally so far of jobs applied to is 20- from everything like Borders and Whole Foods to Office Assistants at non-profits and random places as well as positions like “Membership Coordinator” at a museum and “Church Relations Coordinator” at a local Habitat for Humanity chapter)- I have heard literally nothing from anywhere. Good times. I also attempt to help around the house here, failing to reach expectations, but most of the time getting by. It is an enormous blessing to have parents who will take me in again and feed me and all that good stuff, but it will sure be nice to have my own place again!

In the evenings I can be found with my new (not so new any more I guess- 2 months old) small group/ Bible study through my church Genesis (see link on right)- all young women my age- right now we’re studying the book of Ecclesiastes. It’s amazing how much more I learn about what God is saying when I’m in a group. Also I’ve been spending a lot of time serving in the “Compassion Ministries” through Genesis at the Royal Oak Manor- a low-income senior housing complex. Along with lots of great folks from Genesis, I’ve been helping pack and unpack nearly dozens upon dozens of kitchens, as each apartment receives new cabinets. It started on the 11th floor and now we’re down to the 1st floor. One or two more to go! It has been SUCH an interesting experience meeting all of the different folks at the Manor- some nearly 65, some over 100 years old! They have the craziest stories and names and furniture and eating habits- and smells! So far I’ve had two women confess to no longer wearing a bra, one nearly Orthodox Jewish man had me separate his garbage into two piles- one with papers with the “Almighty’s” name written on it and one with everything else, seen at least 3 pantless people (one underwearless- thank God for the newspaper!), met a woman named Patience, sang Christmas carols next to an animated Santa figure, seen lots of stashes of alcohol, pot, and more medications than a pharmacy, felt the loneliness of dozens of people, received probably around $100 in cash (we gave it to the church, honest!), lots of hugs, kisses, thank yous, and seen some pretty sad folks light up after some seriously easy work done by us. Now that the cupboards are nearly completed, the hope is to turn our time into plain and simple visiting time. Many have requested this over and over! It’s been a blessing to help these people!

More to come.

I’m now off to go for a walk to the nearest mailbox to mail my resume off.

Does anyone read this?