pilot light

just as i was coming to terms with my insular little world, the borders are redefined unexpectedly. a week ago, i was the sole occupant in this house. as i sit here now however, there are 4 people sleeping in the 3 rooms that used to be empty. this is worrisome considering that i voluntarily raised my rent, rather than look for a second boarder, so that i could live here alone. all these visitors are temporary, in fact 3 of them are just here for the weekend, but the fourth is somewhat tricky, as the duration of his stay is vaguely defined… he's a charity case. the owner of the house is letting him stay here while he "gets back on his feet." my permission was sought of course and i agreed that a week was a reasonable time that he could stay here. the guy is nice enough… but:

we were talking about the backyard, specifically the small garden patch and the possibilities for planting it, when he said: "if i'm here in the spring, then i think it would be fun to grow…" WHAT?!? i missed the rest of what he was saying. because a quick mental calculation assured me that spring, which does not start until the end of march, was a month away. a month is a lot longer than a week. more importantly, a month exceeds the level of generosity that i am willing to extend to a complete stranger. i can understand if 1 week becomes 2 weeks, that's kind of expected. but that's completely up to me, the guy that lives here and pays rent for the privilege. so now i need to talk to the owner of the house and make sure that he's not giving this guy permission to hang out any longer. this has nothing to do with how polite and respectful the guy is, he's plenty nice. this is entirely about my self-defined space getting compromised.

oh and i work from home too, so it's an invasion of that as well.

and even though it might seem contradictory, i'm very excited about helping tripp move up here in a couple weeks. he'll be staying in the house while he and rachel look for an apartment. hopefully they'll find something nearby, maybe right across the street. i watched him struggle with the career search and i am pleased that he found something that fits him.