Back Home! For Now!
Posted on October 2, 2023 Posted by John Scalzi 12 Comments
After two weeks on the road, I have returned home and slept in my own bed and petted my own pets, and this makes me very happy. I am not done traveling — this month I have Bexley (a Columbus suburb), Wichita, New York, Detroit, Nashville and Madison to go to — but each of those trips is a few days at most and then I’m back in Ohio. I can manage that.
Today will be a day for catching up on emails and attending to some other things that needed to wait until I got back home, and otherwise doing a long exhale after so much travel at once. Home is where you get to exhale, folks.
— JS
Home is where the cats are.
“petted my own pets”
That somehow reads as if you have an assistant who brings you rented animals to pet while you’re traveling.
Wait! Detroit! I’m near there and would like to attend!
It doesn’t show up on https://us.macmillan.com/tours/john-scalzi-starter-villain/
The older I get the more I love my home. It’s my most comfortable place. Plus, I have snacks at the ready…
What Louis said!
Now that my wife and I are empty nesters, our house is probably 2K sqft too large and has a couple of extra bathrooms that we don’t need. Plus it’s worth 3-4 times what we paid for it 20 years ago. The trouble is that if you sell your house but plan to stay in the same area, you gotta have to buy another house (or church!) that’s probably worth much more now than it was 20 years ago.
I don’t feel THAT bad about it though. Going from living in a beautiful $650K house to living in your Prius (c’mon on man, one has to maintain a modicum of dignity!) would be a bad deal, but we’ll fortunately never reach that point. Well, as long as that damned Nigerian prince comes through with the money he owes me for helping him get his families oil money, but I expect a check any day.
Now that you mention it: Empty nesters are a reality im a lot of countries. If you bought a house for you and your family it will be too big once the kids move out.
If you’ve rented your apartment a couple of decades ago in Germany or in Switzerland you won’t find a smaller apartment for a lower price. And because of tenant protection laws it’s difficult for your landlord to evict you as long as you pay your rent – and the amount by which your landlord can raise the rent is also limited.
I keep wondering how this peripatetic life style has interfered with your writing? Or is this like a vacation for you that recharges your batteries?
I got some enjoyment from business travel, mostly seeing new places. But it was also a big PITA sometimes.
@Michael Fuss “That somehow reads as if you have an assistant who brings you rented animals to pet while you’re traveling.”
shhhhhhhhhhhh!
that’s my elevator pitch next time I stalk Bezos…
…as well the theme of my current Netflix screenplay “TimeShareCat™”
Bexley! Wow! That’s where my grandmother moved in 1941, and was there until the mid-90’s. Used to visit her there. Lots of straight tree-lined streets and small houses with garages that opened on alleys in the back.
Wait! Bexley?!? When? I’m in Mount Gilead, not terribly far. I want to come!
I am also interested in when you’re going to be in Detroit.