My friend Ish had a superb idea. He's wanted to learn Mandarin Chinese for a while, and found this entirely free and convenient way to learn through podcasting. He's using ChinesePod.

Now, I have wanted to learn Japanese for years, and I can read and write Katakana and Hiragana, but I don't know a lick of Kanji--which is the most important part. Darn that country with its three alphabets! Sure, I can read the words but I have absolutely no idea what they mean most of the time. Unless the words are Romanji in Katakana (so for instance if an English word, like Dragonball Z, is spelt out in Katakana, I can read that).

But reading and writing is only part of the struggle. I primarily want to speak it, or at least be able to watch all the awesome Japanese horror movies in their original language and understand what they're saying.

So a minor request: if anyone knows of a free Japanese podcast, please let me know!

I am considering taking a Japanese course at USC this summer. But I was looking forward to an actual summer off, since it's been a crazy year of writing and teaching and literary theory. The course would be free to take since, from what I understand, Assistant Lecturers get to take 12 free units in the summer. Plus, if I took Japanese as well asthis Asian-American Literature class this summer, I'd knock out some coursework towards my doctorate--and seeing as how we probably don't want to live in LA forever, getting done as quickly as possible seems like a good idea. Plus, I'm working on a story about a Japanese girl loosely based on a news clipping I read in a Japanese news feed--so it seems like all of things are converging for a reason. But the real question is: Am I motivated enough to work through the summer?

There's another reason why I wanted my summer off though. I haven't discussed this with anyone yet, not even B. No, I am not planning on getting a full body horimono (although that would be awesome), and no, I don't want to have a kid. Nothing that scary.

As everyone knows, I have been keeping my eye on the real estate market for a year now. Looking at potential places to buy in downtown LA, in a vague hope that we'd be throwing our money down an investment as opposed to down the rental drain. I suddenly had a brainstorm, though. Have I been looking for property in the wrong area?

B and I probably don't want to live in LA forever. Although, if downtown continues to be revitalized, and if my mom and brothers couldn't join us if we moved to another state, then I can actually see us staying around here after I graduate--at least for a while. However, just because we live in one place, does that mean that should preclude our ability to own property elsewhere?

I have a good feeling about Flint, Michigan. Yes, currently, it is economically depressed. But I don't think it will be forever. And honestly, you just can't beat that real estate market. I found a house in Flint that could potentially be renovated into 5 separate rental units for $75,000--the monthly mortgage for which would only be $479.17 (assuming of course our downpayment would be $7500)--not too shabby.

Even if we rented each unit out for $100 a month, we'd be able to at least pay for the mortgage. However, if we borrowed $100,000 and used $25,000 for renovation, the mortgage would still only be $651.99 a month--and then we might be able to rent each unit out for $200-$400 a month. Meaning we could pay the mortgage and make money at the same time.

B's parents are both retired, and I bet they wouldn't mind being hired to be property managers of the joint, especially if we monetarily compensated their time. So even though we wouldn't necessarily be in the state, we'd still have a physical presence that would enable renters to have a resource in case the plumbing fails, for instance.

Furthermore, the renting situation in the area sucks. How cool would it be to provide some quality living space for an affordable price? I was looking at some apartments in Grand Blanc, which get terrible user reviews: the living situations are out-dated, shabby, and the areas are essentially ghetto, but they're still charging their customers upwards of $500+ a month. It's hard enough to find a job in the area, it's even harder to find a job that pays decent wages--so $500 a month can really sap a person's take-home pay. I know what it's like to pay $700+ a month to live in the gutter. It was depressing, and it literally sucked my will to live. I'd like to provide a better living situation to someone who needs it, while also looking out for my own family's interest financially.

I don't know if B will be receptive to the idea. He's not really a risk-taker when it comes to this kind of thing. And this enterprise is definitely risky. I mean, what if we go to renovate, and it turns out there's structural/electrical/plumbing problems that need to be addressed before we can give the joint a face lift--which then eats the entire renovation budget? Even worse, what if we renovate it, and then no one rents the property? Then we're out $651.99 a month until we can get people to sign leases.

I think it would be less scary if we could get someone to go in on this idea with us, and split the costs 50/50. But again, I doubt anyone we know would be willing. Heck, I doubt my own husband would be willing, so that probably ends it where it began.

See? I have all these ideas for the summer: Asian-American Literature class, learning Japanese, writing (obviously), and perhaps purchasing property and renovating it. But aside from the video games I have lined up to complete this summer, I doubt anything will be done.

Labels: grad school, real life, schedule

( 3comments )

at May 1, 2006 11:26 PM  Ish said...

I'd be somewhat cautious with it. First, Michigan is in a LOT of trouble right now, with no clear sign of things looking up. Most people I know are struggling right now, and the rest of them have moved or are moving to other states.

And Flint is close to the worst of the state on that score. Still many years after the GM Economic genocide of the city they're losing population and haven't really replaced the industry. They're trying, certainly, but things are tight right now in Auburn Hills, so how does Flint stand a chance, right?

Which isn't to say don't do it, because in the long run it will probably work out, and you might have located a good idea, but be VERY careful with research and such. Certainly Michigan needs money invested in it, and now is definitely one of the cheapest times to do it, with how bad it is. But be careful.

 

at May 1, 2006 11:41 PM  Samantha said...

Yeah, definitely. It's really not a project we should take on: 1) While I'm still in school and 2) From across the country. I guess I see houses for like $45,000-$75,000 and I get sort of dazzled by the possibilities. But then my brain sorta catches up with the fantasies and says things like: there's a *reason* the houses are only selling for that much...

Michigan needs a new core industry aside from automobiles. But how does that happen? How do you replace an entire's state's economy? Obviously, we know how to rip it to fuck. But the putting it back together is the tricky part.

I sometimes wonder, having now worked in the film industry and having been rejected by it--and in turn rejecting *it*--if something as simple as that would revitalize the area. Sure, the inclement weather conditions might be a problem for production schedules, but maybe it's jus something that should be adapted to, instead of wrestled against. Because not every location needs to be a soundstage in Los Angeles. A soundstage could just as easily be built in Michigan.

Plus, Michigan has something that I've been seeing a lot more lately in movies: snow. Real snow, not my fake John Travolta snow that I took from the set of Lucky Numbers when it was being filmed in Sacramento back when I had Rogue-From-X-Men white streaks.

 

at May 2, 2006 11:10 AM  Lorie said...

Yeah...the one comment that came to mind after I initially read your post was "make sure that $45,000 property isn't next to a crack house" but I couldn't think of a way of saying it without being too discouraging or unfairly stereotyping Flint. But I've seen enough worn out homes while driving through Flint that I can only imagine the number of structural problems a bargain property in the city could come with.