We went to see a mortgage banker last week; our lease runs out the end of May so we're itching to start the house-hunt, but it seems we're still too early. When they pull credit, it only lasts 90 days so she didn't want to do the pre-approval till March. She did do some random calculations on her calculator and said we'd probably be approved for $300,000 and we both were like
what? I've been looking at at the most $175,000 range. And we'd be struggling. I mean we'd be able to make mortgage payments on a more expensive house but we wouldn't be able to, you know, eat, or have power or water! At least we don't live in Fairyland and haven't got all excited about being able to "afford" a better house. We just sat there and went "That's not going to happen" and left it at that. No wonder there was a recession if they're loaning that sort of money to people! So we have to wait a few months. I'm hoping more houses will be put on the market in Spring anyways, so we'll have more choice. Then on Saturday night we had the dinner at the Aquarium. I slowly started dreading it more and more all of last week because of the way my SO was talking about his colleague, Trent. My SO took an immediate disliking to him, because he said he is totally socially inept and rude, and I thought it was my SO just being my SO, but most of the Ohio office can't stand him either now, so its not just him! He just comes over very over-familiar with people, and after saying hello once thinks he can rag on you and make fun of you like old friends do.
And, then, what effects me the most, he is one of THOSE Americans that most expats hate. Whereupon their Great-great Grandparents were Irish and thus, they think they are also Irish? No. I actually find the ancestry talks quite interesting, because we're not as much of a melting pot as the US, and I find all the different stories fascinating, but its the ones that cling to "their" nationality as if they were born and raised there that is really fucking annoying and sometimes, extremely rude. Just because you drink Guinness and eat a bastardized version of Irish cuisine every week does not make you Irish. This guy, thinking he's Irish, has decided to take on the anger of the Irish towards the English, as if he himself lived through The Troubles (He doesn't even own a passport, never been there in his life) and has made several arsehole comments about me without having even set eyes on me- my SO has come home livid several times over it, and actually had to tell him to be polite to me, he was that worried about the guy's behavior.
So, I was dreading it. And when it came to meet the guy, without saying hello he said "I'm going to shake your hand, because SO told me to be polite to you." So what guy, you weren't going to extend common decency to me and greet me properly based on your delusion that you should hate me because you're sooooo Irish? Fuck you! Thankfully we sat further down the table so he couldn't get at me much, but then some people left straight after desert, so he sidled up to us, and started making passive-aggressive comments about greencards and immigration. That hypocrisy where he hates immigrants but is immensely proud of his immigrant ancestors also pisses me off to no end. Well my friend, if you want to play, I'll play, and I'll win too! I spent most of the conversation being overly-polite and making him look like a total wanker in front of the main boss of the Denver office. You should have seen my SO's face! Usually, its him playing the "Arsehole Game" as we like to call it with people we don't like and me trying to stay calm and not laugh, but I made him so proud this time!
Then to KO the fucker, I asked him what he thought of the current Taoiseach (I have limited knowledge too, but I was betting I knew more than him
) and he just looked blankly at me. Then I was like "Enda Kenny? No? The Irish Prime Minister, appointed by the President? No? Guess you're Irish enough to order Guinness at the bar, but not Irish enough to know the leaders of your own country, I understand you now! 
" ... then he was pretty quiet the rest of the evening 
My SO proclaimed his undying love for me once we left the table lol Anyways, the Aquarium was ok, the otters were freaking adorable and were totally showing off to us- we stayed watching them for ages
They also have a random Bengal tiger there too. I know they can swim and all but it seemed a bit out of place! I got to pet the rays too- its so funny how they like being tickled! The food was good- I ended up with shrimp and crab cakes- I shared with my SO because he got steak- all the older people were cooing and saying it was so easy to tell we hadn't been married long lol Hey, we can't help being adorable! Then Sunday, I hadn't had a drop of alcohol the night before but somehow felt hungover? Which made grocery shopping even worse- one of my favorite perks about being Atheist is that I can do my grocery shopping in peace on a Sunday morning, because a majority of people are at Church. But no, apparently its Broncos > Church out here. I can't deal with that much humanity on a Sunday morning! Aaaand we were both starving, which is always bad when you're at the store, so I ended up buying a whole chicken and making a full Sunday roast when we got home lol
Thats about it. As requested, the complimentary puppy picture, in the form of my favorite baby video:
View My Video
(Back-story- Dave was absolutely terrified of our big apartment when we first brought him home, so we used the love-seat cushions to make a barrier in the living room so he wouldn't be too frightened. He then took a liking to bouncing on the springs of the remaining sofa lol Love dem floppy ears and ferocious bark/squeek! and apologies for my terrible voice- I swear I'm not that bad in real life!)
I don't think having been to a country makes you more or less of that heritage. I teach at a German school and we have German teachers, of course. Our German teacher last year was from Austria and lived in Switzerland and people always said she was German. She told me one day that I was far more German than she was. Which is true! Just because I've only been once, and barely understand the language doesn't take away that my father is 100% German, his parents are 100% German, etc etc. When I meet people do I say "I'm German"- no, but I know that's where my family comes from. And I think it's perfectly fine to be okay with that.
Okay I have more to say but I'm going to stop now because I'm not writing what I want to say.
As a legitimate foreign person in this country, to me, there is a huge difference between "My grandparents were British", and "I am British", and its the second sentence that grates on me. The first sentence is accurate, acknowledges your heritage and indicates why you'd be interested in the culture and want to go to the UK and whatnot. The second implies that you are not an American citizen, and were raised and immersed in a completely different country and culture.
Simply put, if an American walked into a pub in England and said "My grandparents were from Manchester", the reaction would be "Oh how cool!". If an American walked into a pub in England and said "I am British", at the very least, they'd be laughed out the bar. It takes more than a bloodline to claim a nationality is all I'm saying. If you're Grandparents came from a different State in America that you weren't born and raised in, would you say you're from that State? Probably not. So why would you say "I am British" or whatever if you'd literally didn't come from there?
Its sentence structure at the end of the day. I know most people don't think they're from that country when they say "I'm British etc", I know they're talking heritage, its just something as a real live foreigner here that annoys me. Like, if you're going to treat me as foreign, you don't need to be laying claim to my country too when you already have one.