crackerjackjoe

hildy @ 04:00 pm: It's alive!
The carpeters showed up promptly at 9:30am. They were quite agog at all the boxes in the kitchen & bathroom. The new carpet is a biege, only a shade darker than my loveseat, also a different consistency than the previous one. I don't love the new carpet smell though. They moved all the furniture in one room into the other one while they worked. Some of the bookshelves wound up in the hallway because they couldn't fit. They were nice enough to move the big tv for me. Are flatscreens/lcd lighter?

One piece of bad news: Last year in September, we had some water damage in the apartment. We never could find the source or what it damaged. We found it today. One of my smaller window bookshelves has a rotted end. It had clearly come in through one of the corners of my living room. So I have to figure out a way to repair/replace the bookshelf. Another of those times I wish my handyman father was still living nearby, rather than 1000 miles away.

I also think the children's bookshelf is nearing its last days. It wasn't put together well in the first place. I did wind up moving it next to my bed, so it's not quite so hidden behind my dresser. That's me for you -- books before clothes.

The rest is a little like an archaeological expedition. The bathroom is now clear of boxes and bins, so I don't have to navigate a rope bridge to visit the necessary. Or worse, find an outhouse somewhere. Tune in next week to see if Mme. Hilaire Booth finds the lost treasures of the hidden world. Why did the primitives pray to the great god Hamerhill and his assistant Staples? Very exciting.

Tags: apartment

hildy @ 07:46 pm: Boxed in
So my uncle and cousin have left for the second time. My kitchen is filled with boxes. The bathroom will be filled with the rest Monday. Despite my cousin getting a horrible case of food poisoning from a local pizza place, we managed to get the bulk of things done. I will be unboxing stuff until well past Judgment Day. Who knows maybe by 2012? I'm utterly exhausted. And the prospect of turning around and then unpacking all that? I don't think the building people realize how much work is involved here. I realize I own a whole ton of stuff, but I can't be the only person in the building with these issues. I wonder how they've managed. I'm just glad they didn't want the furniture moved out too. Then we would have had issues. I will be living out of a suitcase for awhile.

I'm contemplating disappearing to the Panera or Cosi tomorrow. If all else fails I can mooch their internet and follow the Dallas game there. I'll definitely be eating out for the time being, if I can afford it. This is not going to be a fun stretch.

Tags: apartment

hildy @ 10:29 pm: Remember WENN: Armchair Detectives -- the audio edition
Last year, the International Mystery Writer's Festival produced "Remember WENN: Armchair Detectives". I so wanted to attend, but finances and location really hampered my chances. Now I've got the next best thing, since they've released audio cds of the performance. My order arrived in only a few days but I'm only now having a chance to listen to it.

It's rather jarring to hear new voices performing favorite characters. I was reminded of the WENN actors hearing the student actors in "Don't Act Like That" playing their roles. It's strange to hear something so familiar performed so differently, like hearing a quirky rendition of an old standard. The timing and the beats you're used to aren't there and the notes are hit in different ways. I think it's a real credit to all the WENN actors, even the secondary characters, that to this day I can hear each of their voices and personalities so clearly. Also that despite how broadly their characters were written initially, they grew into those roles and gave them depth and feeling and humor. I'm trying not to picture this cast in later sequences, but it's difficult, knowing what comes next.

The other thing that takes some getting used to is the audience. WENN never had a laugh track, so hearing audience reactions besides my reactions was quite strange. A little thrilling, too, knowing some of these people were hearing and appreciating WENN for the first time.

The play combined "On the Air" and "Armchair Detective" with some added bits from other episodes. The "Ghost of WENN" material was not used, which was a shame. It might have given the play a spookier edge. The mystery section was a bit thin for a supposed mystery play festival.

( Remember me, remember you... )

Tags: old time radio, remember wenn

hildy @ 10:07 pm: Boxes update
My family is indeed awesome. After a morning email, the older of my two uncles contacted me and said he'd be happy to help and bring some boxes. Said uncle also brought a bonus in the form of my young cousin willing to help out. He was an utter trooper taking loads of boxes down to storage. Uncle is coming back tomorrow to continue helping out. Now there is still a ton of work to get done in time, but I'm a lot more confident than I was last night. The big shelves are mostly empty. The desktop has even been packed up. Thank god for wireless, so I can have my Internet connection. I may have to rough it for a day with my aunt and uncle if we have to pile all the rest of boxes in the kitchen and bathroom. I'm prepared for that to be honest.

Anyway, I was grateful for the help I received. Sometimes despite my differences with them (and lord knows we're on opposite sides of the political fence), they do come through. Sometimes they don't, but I'm trying to remain in a positive mood here.

Tags: apartment, family

sventhelost @ 11:31 am: Irritating 's
So, the BBC has taking to using single quotes when there is some as-yet-unproved allegation or statement in their news articles. (It apparently takes up too much screen-space to say "alleged.")

Now, it's not necessarily a bad approach, until you get headlines like Italian sex scandal woman 'dies'

It just makes it look like she didn't actually die, but was somehow faking it. Maybe that's because here in the States we use "air quotes" to imply that whatever is in the quotes is how someone else described it and probably not true? I don't know, but it just makes my brain cringe when I see it in this sort of case.

I mean, at least put it around the woman, since someone did actually die! 'Italian sex scandal woman' dies, for example. That's the bit you're not sure about. Someone really is dead, after all.

Aaanyway. Avoiding work. Can you tell?

hildy @ 09:43 pm: Cake or Death?
The boxing continues and continues and continues. The bulk of the video tapes are done and I've started on the books, but there's still a chronic shortage of books and space and strength and patience. I am dead tired and even when I'm at full strength I don't know that I'm strong enough to deal with all these boxes. I have four days to somehow "make it work" and not a clue how. I've asked to see if either of my local uncles can help. I hate to be the sterotypical girl who needs a big strong man, but sometimes you have to admit your shortcomings. I've already broke down crying a couple times during this ordeal. Probably will happen more before this is all over.

UPS still can't find my wayward package and the boxes I ordered are way too small. The only boxes I can swing from the grocery store are those stupid egg boxes which get massively heavy from only a small load of books. Hello, not helping! My November is really sucking, y'know?

The only bright side is the appearance of Curbside Cupcakes, a brilliant pink mobile truck of cupcakey goodness. They park around in various parts of downtown DC with an array of cupcakes. I felt quite sacrilegious in preferring their vanilla over chocolate. It's just not me! I also tried their red velvet, which wasn't bad. I'd never tried that flavor before. They vary the locations every day so the best way is to follow their Facebook/Twitter updates or hope they magically appear. The cupcakes are a little pricey and on the small side, but they're a cute little pickmeup in the middle of a really lousy week.

Fifteen minutes until the finale of Project Runway and I could care less who wins this season.

Tags: apartment