Dig a moat around my life, that'll fix it

[sovay]

The plumbers came this morning and replaced the joint which they had replaced nearly two weeks ago which had since cracked and dripped through our bathroom ceiling once again. Here's hoping the third time is not the charm.

Also this morning I saw my first Cybertruck in the wild. It was sincerely impressive: exactly as appalling as the internet had led me to believe. It looked unreal not in the sense of futuristic cool but half-materialized eldritch incursion.

In the afternoon I managed to nap for three or four hours, which is approaching my normal ration lately and is not sufficient to sustain intelligence. It is especially frustrating since last night I finally watched at home on my own a movie which I loved.

Also last night I was so surprised to find myself still asked in this year of our trash fire 2024 for my origins based on my accent, I forgot to ask the man who stopped me after overhearing me at the pharmacy counter what he was expecting instead of the evident disappointment that I was born in Boston of American parents and had indeed heard before that I didn't sound like it.

Only thanks to a recent half-off sale was the curry powder of tonight's dinner affordable, but it is so neat to me that saffron has not depreciated since the days of Minoan frescoes.

Six monarchs in chrysalis are metamorphosing in my mother's house.

Comments

[gwynnega]

I sincerely hope the plumbers don't have to come back again.

I am happy to hear about the monarchs!

[sovay]

I sincerely hope the plumbers don't have to come back again.

Thank you. Everyone in this building is just very sick of plumbers right now.

I am happy to hear about the monarchs!

They are beautiful in jade-green and faint gold.

[muccamukk]

Awww. I hope the butterflies at your mom's do well.

[sovay]

Awww. I hope the butterflies at your mom's do well.

Thank you! We are hoping some of the hatchings coincide with my niece's visit next week. (If not, we'll keep sending her videos.)

[pameladean]

Cam and I saw our first Cybertruck in the wild today as well! We were driving to Afton State Park to hike on the prairie, and there that thing was ahead of us in the fast lane. It looked as if a rift had opened into an alternate dimension. "It looks even worse in reality!" we agreed.

P.

[pameladean]

Very best wishes for the repaired joint to stay repaired. P.

[sovay]

Very best wishes for the repaired joint to stay repaired.

Thank you.

[sovay]

It looked as if a rift had opened into an alternate dimension. "It looks even worse in reality!" we agreed.

It truly looks like bad CGI! Or the sort of monstrosity that could be created through the vivisection of garbage cans.

How was the prairie hike?

[pameladean]

It was beautiful. Indian grass and big bluestem were flowering. There was still some vivid orange butterfly weed in bloom. Lots of stiff coreopsis and gray coneflower. A whole raft of green darners wheeling and darting overhead. Goldfinches swooping by and more remarking "potato chip, potato chip, potato chip chip chips." Some blazing star was also blooming, blackeyed Susan, the first showy goldenrod.
The light was very harsh. It made the waving heads of the bluestem an amazing deep reddish purple, like arcane mist, but photography was difficult.
P.

[sovay]

The light was very harsh. It made the waving heads of the bluestem an amazing deep reddish purple, like arcane mist, but photography was difficult.

Thank you for describing it, then: it sounds wonderful.

[thisbluespirit]

I hope the plumbers can now stay away!!

which is approaching my normal ration lately and is not sufficient to sustain intelligence.

Or anything, really. *hugs*

Six monarchs in chrysalis are metamorphosing in my mother's house.

That is very cool. I'm still sorry about so much of the rest. ♥

[sovay]

I hope the plumbers can now stay away!!

We'd like that!

That is very cool. I'm still sorry about so much of the rest.

*hugs*

Thank you. It's just wearing.

[troisoiseaux]

Also this morning I saw my first Cybertruck in the wild. It was sincerely impressive: exactly as appalling as the internet had led me to believe. It looked unreal not in the sense of futuristic cool but half-materialized eldritch incursion.

I saw one try to go around a corner in an enclosed parking garage recently. It was hilarious.

[sovay]

I saw one try to go around a corner in an enclosed parking garage recently. It was hilarious.

Oh, my God.

[lauradi7dw]

I have seen a cybertruck in Lexington multiple times. I guess it's not too surprising, considering how many other Teslas there are in the area. It's ugly and dangerous and pointless, but there is a house near the center that used to have two Humvees in the driveway, so monster vehicles have precedent here.

[sovay]

I guess it's not too surprising, considering how many other Teslas there are in the area.

My parents garaged a Tesla for some friends a few years back. It was actually what decided my father against ever owning one: since this was before Elon Musk went so Sturmabteilung, he was merely put off by the flashy inefficiency.

It's ugly and dangerous and pointless, but there is a house near the center that used to have two Humvees in the driveway, so monster vehicles have precedent here.

I am almost as horrified by the two Humvees.

[osprey_archer]

When I was working at a coffee shop, a man once asked me, "Do I detect an Irish accent?" He can't possibly have done so, but I remain curious what exactly in my voice made him think so.

[sovay]

When I was working at a coffee shop, a man once asked me, "Do I detect an Irish accent?" He can't possibly have done so, but I remain curious what exactly in my voice made him think so.

Bemused solidarity.

Most people don't tell me what sounds foreign in my voice to them, they just ask a list of occasionally wild personal questions and then wander off. I was once told by an Australian that I sounded Norwegian, but the dude in question was being aggressively weird at everyone at that lunch (and having heard Norwegian accents in English, I still don't agree).

[asakiyume]

It looked unreal not in the sense of futuristic cool but half-materialized eldritch incursion. --Yes, exactly. Like it escaped from some beginning designers low-poly animation practice.

We have one living near us, apparently. We've seen it several times, and every time we do we think, There goes someone who makes poor life choices. Did you know there's a kid's picture book in support of the cybertruck? Awww. 🙄

(Why the hell did the last plumbing joint crack?? Hello? Where are they getting their plants? A fifth-grade pottery class?)

Yes, never mind gold, people should invest in saffron.

I'm glad for your nap and hope you get to refill your sleep vault a little more soon.

[movingfinger]

I'd be asking about "new plumbing cracking right after installation?" because that is not normal or good.

I haven't seen a cybertruck yet, I think. We do have a few Rivian and F150 trucks around and things being as they are, I assume that most of them are part of a home generator system when parked, because the power goes out too often.

The ferry crews hold special drills centered around a Tesla or other vehicle (let's be honest, most likely a Tesla) going up on deck. It will be uncontrollable and it will melt right through the hull, reportedly...

[sovay]

I'd be asking about "new plumbing cracking right after installation?" because that is not normal or good.

The thing is that it could have been, strictly speaking, not new plumbing, but we just don't know. The plumbers were not forthcoming. We are keeping an eye on the replacement's replacement.

I haven't seen a cybertruck yet, I think.

I don't think you could see one and miss it. Everything else on the road looks like a car.

The ferry crews hold special drills centered around a Tesla or other vehicle (let's be honest, most likely a Tesla) going up on deck. It will be uncontrollable and it will melt right through the hull, reportedly...

It is a lot of lithium.

[sovay]

--Yes, exactly. Like it escaped from some beginning designers low-poly animation practice.

It's so weird. I would be fascinated to know what someone from an era before CGI would make of it, except it feels truly cruel to inflict on anyone who isn't obliged by misfortunes of history to share a street with it.

Did you know there's a kid's picture book in support of the cybertruck?

I had no idea. It immediately suggests to me an entire population of very dubious small children watching a parent's midlife crisis manifest with wheels on.

(Why the hell did the last plumbing joint crack?? Hello? Where are they getting their plants? A fifth-grade pottery class?)

(We have no idea. It was PVC. It shouldn't have cracked unless it was weather-stressed or left lying around in the sun and we were told nothing of its origins. We are eyeing its replacement with some paranoia. Also our ceiling is still sheetrock.)

Yes, never mind gold, people should invest in saffron.

I love the idea of this economy.

[larryhammer]

I saw my first (and second and third) cybertruck in the wild last week. It looked like a very low resolution rendering of a sports car, very few polygons and no skin colors, from an early '90s video game with more ambition than current technology supported. Eaglet, who was in the car with me, delighted in clowning it together.

[sovay]

Eaglet, who was in the car with me, delighted in clowning it together.

An excellent bonding experience. I was stunned by just how bad it looked.

[jesse_the_k]

I'm about to make chicken salad with Penzey's outstanding garam masala, so I can vibe with your happy spice feels.

May your overnight have included some AAA grade sleep.

[sovay]

I'm about to make chicken salad with Penzey's outstanding garam masala, so I can vibe with your happy spice feels.

Hooray! I have never done that; it sounds like a tasty idea.

[movingfinger]

Cybertrucks are a metaphor made real, the rolling dumpster fire.

I have a tiny jar of that curry powder. I should use it up. I've been Saving it, as one does, and one can Save things too long. What kind of curry did you make?

Saffron. Yes. It is a magical substance.

[sovay]

Cybertrucks are a metaphor made real, the rolling dumpster fire.

That is perfectly said.

I have a tiny jar of that curry powder. I should use it up. I've been Saving it, as one does, and one can Save things too long. What kind of curry did you make?

Chicken with spinach and sour cherries cooked into the rice. Probably eight different kinds of inauthentic, but delicious.

Saffron. Yes. It is a magical substance.

I don't think I encounter it often enough.

[elanid]

What do you think causes people to ask you about your accent this way? I ask mostly because I have had the same experience, much more frequently the closer I get to where I grew up (southeastern Michigan); in parts of the Rust Belt I routinely get asked if I am European.

[sovay]

What do you think causes people to ask you about your accent this way?

I don't know. It has happened to me since early childhood. I naively thought it would happen less in midlife, but my personal dialect does not appear to have leveled. I share a couple of characteristic features with the traditional Boston accent (resistance to the Mary–merry–marry merger) while completely lacking others (cot–caught merger and non-rhoticity) but insofar as I can track the phonetics should still fall safely within the parameters of Easten New England. spatch's best guess as a stage and voice actor is that I speak precisely and with resonance and may show some admixture from my family whose substrate is primarily New York City, although I still don't feel that should cause strangers to ask me if I really grew up in the U.S. It's clear that something about my voice pings a number of my fellow citizens as not American, but I am fairly confident that outside the country I wouldn't sound anything but.

[rushthatspeaks]

I saw a cybertruck-- hopefully the same one, dear god let's hope there aren't many in the area-- parked near Harvard Square on Saturday, actually! It had a small crowd around it saying derogatory things, and there was a Harvard security guard within sight, so, although the crowd might have permitted it, I did not indulge in the temptation to key it.

... did you ask the plumbers why the joint had cracked, or did they charge less, or something? Because that does not give me confidence in the plumbers, if you see what I mean.

Fingers crossed for more sleep for you.

E. and I have been basically just watching movies, and I look forward to telling you about them at a later point.

[sovay]

I saw a cybertruck-- hopefully the same one, dear god let's hope there aren't many in the area-- parked near Harvard Square on Saturday, actually! It had a small crowd around it saying derogatory things, and there was a Harvard security guard within sight, so, although the crowd might have permitted it, I did not indulge in the temptation to key it.

You were heroic in your restraint. I hope there's only the one. The idea that there might be a breeding pair is distressing.

... did you ask the plumbers why the joint had cracked, or did they charge less, or something? Because that does not give me confidence in the plumbers, if you see what I mean.

The plumbers gave us no information about the cause of the crack, but did not charge us since the property manager had arranged for them. If we need a third repair in the same ceiling, however, we will be calling our own plumbers because come on.

E. and I have been basically just watching movies, and I look forward to telling you about them at a later point.

I look forward to hearing about them. Love you so.

[a_reasonable_man]

I've seen a Cybertruck in our neighborhood, too--a hulking armored creature stalking our peaceful, leafy streets. (I've also seen that bumper sticker that's been appearing on Teslas: "I bought this before we knew Elon was crazy.")

May raindrops and pipe drips not keep falling on your head.

I wonder why you ever get asked where your accent is from? Maybe like Eliza in My Fair Lady, they think your English is too perfect?

[sovay]

I've seen a Cybertruck in our neighborhood, too--a hulking armored creature stalking our peaceful, leafy streets. (I've also seen that bumper sticker that's been appearing on Teslas: "I bought this before we knew Elon was crazy.")

I'm so sorry. rushthatspeaks and I are hoping it is just the one truck with a wide home range.

May raindrops and pipe drips not keep falling on your head.

*hugs*

Thank you.

I wonder why you ever get asked where your accent is from? Maybe like Eliza in My Fair Lady, they think your English is too perfect?

That's my mother's explanation. Alas that we are not actually Hungarian.

[phi]

half-materialized eldritch incursion

I love your way with words

Good luck with the bathroom repair (again)

[sovay]

I love your way with words

Thank you!

*hugs*

[thistleingrey]

There's a few Cybertrucks near me. I've seen one painted Barbie pink, which seems a suitably ironically aware way of getting around the rust issue.

[sovay]

There's a few Cybertrucks near me. I've seen one painted Barbie pink, which seems a suitably ironically aware way of getting around the rust issue.

Indeed. (Does it make it look any less surreally two-dimensional?)

[thistleingrey]

(Not really! Whoever painted it didn't add accent lines; it is a very large blob.)

[alexxkay]

Six monarchs in chrysalis are metamorphosing in my mother's house.

I know you are talking about butterflies, but that phrasing is making me see it as the intro to a Doctor Who episode (complimentary).

[sovay]

I know you are talking about butterflies, but that phrasing is making me see it as the intro to a Doctor Who episode (complimentary).

Even one containing Martin Jarvis!

[marginaliana]

Every time I hear someone say they've seen their first cybertruck it comes with the statement 'it was as ugly as I'd been led to believe' or even 'actually it was uglier than I'd been led to believe.' I have yet to see one myself but I'm looking forward to it just to have that experience.

Plumbing work may be the worst thing to have happen in one's home. You can't even live around it like you can with other issues.

[sovay]

I have yet to see one myself but I'm looking forward to it just to have that experience.

I do not usually have experiences shared in common with the totality of the internet, I must say, but the Cybertruck was just like that.

Plumbing work may be the worst thing to have happen in one's home. You can't even live around it like you can with other issues.

Yeah. And this situation has afflicted our building since April. That is too long for plumbing.

[selkie]

THEY COME IN PINK IT DOES NOT IMPROVE THE AESTHETIC THE PINK IS NOT CHIC.

I think it would be justified if you looked into the credentialing of these plumbers. This was two days ago at this point and I'm still not impressed.

[sovay]

THEY COME IN PINK IT DOES NOT IMPROVE THE AESTHETIC THE PINK IS NOT CHIC.

Does it look like an incursion from the Pepto-Bismol dimension?

I think it would be justified if you looked into the credentialing of these plumbers. This was two days ago at this point and I'm still not impressed.

They came through the property manager. We're keeping an eye on everything.