In this house, we are mapping songs on the evening walls

[sovay]

Today in things.

1. spatch and I spent the afternoon doing the Kafka, which in this case meant contending with vague and implacable bureaucracy as opposed to turning into bugs. After far too much paperwork, we have finally been reclassified into the appropriate bracket of federal poverty, which does not mean that we can actually afford our healthcare, but at least means that paying for it will impoverish us further at a mildly less precipitous rate. Maybe we should have gone with the bug option after all.

2. After we got out of the insurance office alive, we went to the launch party for the first-ever publication in book form of Jean Berko Gleason's 1958 Wug Test. It was held at Toscanini's, which had invented two varieties of Wug Nut ice cream for the occasion; both were off-limits to me due to the chocolate in one and the chocolate and alcohol in the other, so I admired them from a distance and had no regrets ordering a cup of coconut pandan instead. nineweaving has given me the Virago edition of Sylvia Townsend Warner's The Corner That Held Them (1948), which I am already enjoying.

3. Comments notification for my DW account is currently borked. For years it worked just fine until the recent fix of other people's notification issues, at which point mine went to hell; it was in hell for a couple of days and then it did about a half-anabasis and then there was the latest code push and now it is all katabatic again. I get notifications of some comments and not others and I have no idea what goes on. If I am not responding in a conversation you expect me to, it's not personal. In the meantime, since I use e-mail notifications as part of my personal system of archiving, I am trying not to claw the walls about the gap in the records.

P.S. I meant to post this picture of me and my niece on her birthday. She is not making eye contact with the camera because she is paying attention to Slinky, who was one of her presents and whom she adores. Slinky is of the feminine gender and any use of the definite or indefinite article when referring to her, e.g, "a Slinky," "the Slinky," is rude. It is a proper name.

Comments

[nineweaving]

Slinky is gorgeous.

Very relieved that the precipitous rate has been braked.

Glad you're enjoying The Corner That Held Them. Think of all those poor nuns, living centuries before and oceans away from Tosci's!

Nine

[sovay]

Slinky is gorgeous.

It was love at first stretch. It makes me so happy.

Very relieved that the precipitous rate has been braked.

It hasn't, really. We still can't afford our insurance rates. But I need not to die, and in order not to die I need to see doctors who are covered under certain plans, and certain plans cost far more than they should even by the standards of a system where they cost anything, so here we are.

Think of all those poor nuns, living centuries before and oceans away from Tosci's!

The Black Death isn't so great, either!

[nineweaving]

I hope at least those doctors will continue to be covered. Many of us need a world with a sovay.

Nine

[sovay]

I hope at least those doctors will continue to be covered.

They will. I am working on staying.

[moon_custafer]

Many of us need a world with a sovay.

Indeed.

[gwynnega]

The bug option sounds more pleasant.

I have the NYRB edition of The Corner That Held Them, which I look forward to reading soon.

Yay Slinky!

[sovay]

The bug option sounds more pleasant.

I might not have all these medical issues as a bug. The physiology would be totally different.

I have the NYRB edition of The Corner That Held Them, which I look forward to reading soon.

Cool! I am hoping they reprint The Flint Anchor (1954), which I have fallen back on ordering from the library.

Yay Slinky!

She likes to make sine waves.

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, well, I'm glad the bureaucracy was vanquished, at least for the moment, and I am selfishly glad you are not a bug as I hear they are terrible about hanging out on the internet.

Talking of which I hope Dreamwidth sort out the issue soon!

And that is a lovely photo of you and your niece (and Slinky).

[sovay]

Aw, well, I'm glad the bureaucracy was vanquished, at least for the moment, and I am selfishly glad you are not a bug as I hear they are terrible about hanging out on the internet.

Thank you!

Talking of which I hope Dreamwidth sort out the issue soon!

I am sure they are working on it, because I am not the only person complaining in the maintenance comments, but, yes!

And that is a lovely photo of you and your niece (and Slinky).

I really like the pictures I get with her. She is a wonderful small person, becoming more and more herself by the day.

[cmcmck]

Such a great pic! :o)

[sovay]

Such a great pic!

Thank you! I can take credit only for being in it.

[oracne]

That's a beautiful picture. I suspect cockroaches have no health care because they survive everything.

...Though I wonder, if they did, what their system would be like. Hmmm.

[moon_custafer]

"Sorry, being stepped on is considered a pre-existing condition."

[sovay]

"Sorry, being stepped on is considered a pre-existing condition."

That's already what it's like!

[sovay]

That's a beautiful picture.

My mother took it! I'll tell her.

I suspect cockroaches have no health care because they survive everything.

So long as I could be guaranteed to survive . . .

[selkie]

I think my favorite thing about that picture aside from its more obvious subjects is the gleeful calling-upon of Slinky to strut her uncoiled stuff for the photographer. It is excellent.

*considers a little tin bucket with a slot in it labeled 'Hanukkah Ha'Pennies for the Artistic and Impoverished*

[sovay]

I think my favorite thing about that picture aside from its more obvious subjects is the gleeful calling-upon of Slinky to strut her uncoiled stuff for the photographer.

I will communicate this comment to my niece. And Slinky.

*considers a little tin bucket with a slot in it labeled 'Hanukkah Ha'Pennies for the Artistic and Impoverished*

God, everyone I know.

*hugs*

[sporky_rat]

We didn't actually have a code push, something came up. The notification system is currently being ...well, not ravaged like Genghis Khan through China, but definitely having a good hard look done at it.

[kore]

My notifs got borked right after this

https://dw-maintenance.dreamwidth.org/80091.html#comments

so it seems what caused it was a tweak after some notifs maintenance? My tracked items also aren't working, I think.

[sovay]

We didn't actually have a code push, something came up.

Check. I was going by the title of the latest post in dw_maintenance, since otherwise I have no idea what is or is not being done with the infrastructure.

The notification system is currently being ...well, not ravaged like Genghis Khan through China, but definitely having a good hard look done at it.

I am glad someone's looking. Thank you for the information.

[sporky_rat]

I am glad someone's looking. Thank you for the information.

It's causing a lot of trouble, we want to get to the bottom of it quickly.

(And I can't help but answer when I see things I know I can answer, I think it's a support volunteer thing? I can't seem to take this hat off, hah.)

[sovay]

It's causing a lot of trouble, we want to get to the bottom of it quickly.

Good luck!

[edit] For what it's worth, they do not necessarily seem to arrive in order of comment, and of course I can't tell what I might not be receiving unless it happens somewhere obvious like one of my own posts, but I appear to be receiving notifications again. So thank you.

[kore]

Comments notification for my DW account is currently borked. For years it worked just fine until the recent fix of other people's notification issues, at which point mine went to hell; it was in hell for a couple of days and then it did about a half-anabasis and then there was the latest code push and now it is all katabatic again. I get notifications of some comments and not others and I have no idea what goes on. If I am not responding in a conversation you expect me to, it's not personal. In the meantime, since I use e-mail notifications as part of my personal system of archiving, I am trying not to claw the walls about the gap in the records.

Yeah, that is exactly what happened to me, and that is also how I use comments, so it's extra frustrating.

[sovay]

Yeah, that is exactly what happened to me, and that is also how I use comments, so it's extra frustrating.

I admit the speed of the flip from "Yay, it's fixed!" to "Crud, it's broken!" was fast enough to qualify as an archetypal IT joke, but I think we were all—DW staff included—having a tough enough week without it.

[kore]

Yeah, I love having a record of DW conversations, it's a huge part of the site for me. Or being able to track interesting conversations or topics. I'm sure the poor staff didn't need this about a week before the holiday season starts, too!

[drwex]

it did about a half-anabasis and then there was the latest code push and now it is all katabatic again

There are very few people who can send me to the dictionary twice in a finely constructed half sentence but you managed it. However, even after online study I'm unable to understand how a "half-anabasis" relates to this problem, nor do I understand how carrying high-density wind down a slope relates, either.

You and your niece are cute. I do pictures good!

[sovay]

However, even after online study I'm unable to understand how a "half-anabasis" relates to this problem, nor do I understand how carrying high-density wind down a slope relates, either.

Katabasis in the sense of a descent to the underworld; the reversal would be an anabasis, an ascent; so my notifications got about halfway out of hell and then fell back down again.

You and your niece are cute. I do pictures good!

Thank you!

[a_reasonable_man]

I'm sorry about your having to do the Kafka. I want the world to change.

You guys travel in more interesting circles than I do, in that you knew about the publication party for The Wug Test. What a lovely event!

Pictures of you and your niece are always welcome.

[sovay]

I'm sorry about your having to do the Kafka. I want the world to change.

For the better, please, soon.

You guys travel in more interesting circles than I do, in that you knew about the publication party for The Wug Test.

I'm so sorry! I made the mistake of assuming that since it was Ig-adjacent, you would know before I did! I will not make that mistake again.

Pictures of you and your niece are always welcome.

Thank you. I like her. And she seems to like me!