tonight was really truly exasperating.

i'm supposed to call somebody a little after18:00, and i get a machine. so, i take a random guess at one of the places nobody picks up at - and get through to somebody.

this is a big basement for cheap; it seems like it's what i want. so, i'm excited to get down there.

when the landlord shows up, i take a quick run through, and it's clear i want to sign the lease. but, he seems intent on putting me through a "stress test" to ensure i'm not schizophrenic.

in some sense, it was like having an interview with a lewis carroll character - not because it was patently absurd, but because it was clearly unserious. he's trying to bait me on things like the moon landing, and jew-hating - things i actually have subtle perspectives on, subtle perspectives that can be easily smeared or misconstrued. i have no idea whether we actually went to the moon or not, and i'm not about to make an argument one way or another - but, see, this is the correct argument, because it's almost impossible to make a reasonable deduction, due to the difficulty of the evidence, all around.

i'm not really interested in the arguments against the moon landing - they've mostly been debunked. but, that doesn't prove we went; that's a classical fallacy. try to convincingly prove we did land. you can't.

i actually caught him in a few contradictions.

see, at the end of it, he's the one that sounded nuts - but i'm not sure if it was serious or not. and, i'm kind of left unsure of how to walk away from it.

if this was an honest representation of the guy, he seemed like he belonged in an asylum. but, i don't think it was; and, if he was fucking with me for some strange reason, it doesn't change the fact that i liked the unit - and that i need to move asap.

he gave me a lease with something incoherent scribbled on it and asked me to call him later on. i sent him some links, instead. i may follow-up in a day or two.

i have never been diagnosed with schizophrenia, and i'm not sure why he'd be convinced i have it based on such a brief encounter, and no evidence - but perhaps trying to work through conspiracy logic is a little bit pointless, too.

in the end, i listened to this guy rant for almost an hour.

i checked my messages when i got home just before 21:00, and the initial guy asked me to come in sunday morning.

i knew this was a trick, but i definitely don't want a christian landlord. so, i took the bait with intent. and, predictably...

"sorry. unit's been rented."

fuck.