Don't they teach us procrastination, don't they teach us indecision

[sovay]

On the one hand, today we found out that our bathroom sink may need replacing (it certainly doesn't work) and that Autolycus can scale an eight-foot bookcase if sufficiently motivated (spatch thinks he saw a bug).

On the other, I have written my first substantive fiction since last summer (in progress, trying not to jinx) and this photograph of Pablo Picasso cosplaying Popeye makes me feel a lot better about the state of my bedroom.

I would have been cheerful if this deleted scene from Black Panther (2018) had not been deleted.

It is my deep and devout hope that I am not woken tomorrow, for the fifth day in a row, by a phone call I did not ask for at nine in the morning.

Comments

[julian]

Part of our shower tiles fell down, so I feel you there. (Uh, and sympathies.)

[sovay]

Part of our shower tiles fell down, so I feel you there.

Yikes. Is everyone who was not the shower all right? (We're cool! "I feel you" is a legible expression of sympathy.)

[julian]

Nope, happily, it fell down /after/ my shower, not during.

The fixing will just be complicated.

(How /is/ your sink not working? Water not coming up, or is it leaking?)

[sovay]

Nope, happily, it fell down /after/ my shower, not during.

Mazel tov, small miracles. I hope it is more or less easily fixed.

(How /is/ your sink not working? Water not coming up, or is it leaking?)

Since last week, the outflow has slowed to a trickle. The handyman came and poked at this afternoon. First he assumed the screen inside the tap needed cleaning; it did not. Then he tried the stopcocks under the sink, just in case we had managed to knock one of them closed without noticing; we had not. By the time he left the bathroom no water was coming out of the tap at all, which may or may not have been a consequence of anything he did to it. Fortunately the shower and the toilet are working fine, but we definitely do not have a bathroom sink. A plumber is coming on Monday. We'll see what they say!

[thomasyan]

bug as motivation for scaling bookcase: chasing or fleeing?

[sovay]

bug as motivation for scaling bookcase: chasing or fleeing?

Chasing, always!

[radiantfracture]

Good luck and many shoelaces.

[sovay]

Good luck and many shoelaces.

Ndiyabulela!

[kore]

Is that Xhosa? (google not being helpful)

[sovay]

Is that Xhosa? (google not being helpful)

It is! I do not actually know the Xhosa for what Ross said, but I am fully confident that someone, somewhere on the internet, does.

[ethelmay]

What I want to know is what "shoelaces" was SUPPOSED to be.

[sovay]

What I want to know is what "shoelaces" was SUPPOSED to be.

I don't know, because I don't know what in IsiXhosa sounds enough like "shoelaces" while being contextually appropriate! This is honestly the sort of thing I would love Tumblr to tell me.

[ethelmay]

I am too brain-dead to even think of an option in English (in the "If you were going to use a common phrase to wish someone 'good luck and many [X],' what would X be?" sense), let alone one that sounds like the IsiXhosa word. I mean, I can think of lots of nice things to wish someone many of, but the only one commonly in use that occurs to me is "many happy returns," which is very unlikely in context.

[ethelmay]

I did think of a bad-Yiddish equivalent: saying "lots of nachos" when you meant "much naches."

[sovay]

I did think of a bad-Yiddish equivalent: saying "lots of nachos" when you meant "much naches."

No, actually, that's wonderful.

I'd been wondering about "blessings." This would be easier to research if I knew how to spell what I was hearing. I got lucky with "ndiyabulela."

[ethelmay]

http://marvelcinematicuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Everett_Ross has
"Inhlanhla kunye neentlanzi ezininzi.[6]"
"It was close, it was close."
"Don't laugh, I practised that."

But that doesn't sound like what he actually said, which included something sounding way more like "iintsikelelo," which does mean "blessings" (cf. Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika). (And Google Translate. though that's not to be trusted, says the above is "Luck and many fish" [a reference to "So long and thanks for all the fish"?]) I've seen his line transliterated as "Amathamsanqa neentsikelelo," and a speculation that he actually said the correct "luck and blessings" expression instead of the shoelaces one.

[sovay]

"Inhlanhla kunye neentlanzi ezininzi."

Yeah, unless the Xhosa language uses English letters very differently from English, that does not look like it at all.

I've seen his line transliterated as "Amathamsanqa neentsikelelo," and a speculation that he actually said the correct "luck and blessings" expression instead of the shoelaces one.

Well, then I hope one of those words changes dramatically if you put the click in the wrong place, because that scene is so good that I want the language to match it.

[dewline]

Google Translate seems to agree with you re: translating back from isiXhosa.

(Still thinking they need to scratch-build a language or two for Wakanda, preferably by aging Ancient Egyptian somehow.)

[ashlyme]

*I have written my first substantive fiction since last summer*

W00t! Go you! I'm shaking the pompoms quietly.

That Picasso Popeye is something else...

[sovay]

W00t! Go you! I'm shaking the pompoms quietly.

Thank you! I want enough time to write it (and everything else I have to write) and I want not to kill it before then. Also research. I want not to drown in research. Why is everything I write historical now?

That Picasso Popeye is something else...

I'm just very impressed by everything about that photograph.

[jesse_the_k]

It's impressed itself very deep in my brain. Also makes me feel much better about my cleanliness standards.

[pameladean]

"I have written my first substantive fiction since last summer." That is awesome.

And whatever else eventuates (may it all be fixed easily and well), at least you are safe from bugs that fly up over the bookcase.

P.

[sovay]

That is awesome.

Thank you.

And whatever else eventuates (may it all be fixed easily and well), at least you are safe from bugs that fly up over the bookcase.

They take bug hunting seriously in this house.

[lemon_badgeress]

Ah, the joys of finding actual catproof places for breakable precious things. *removes 'eight feet straight up' from the list*

Which is disturbing, since that's where we have OURS, but....our cat is a lazy, lazy cat and not that motivated by bugs?

(She'll follow ones on the floor around the house and stare at them so we know where they are, but she seems to feel disposal is OUR job)

I am super pleased on your behalf that fiction is fictionating, and wow Picaso's housekeeping sure is validating isn't it. That's a thing.

(So's that cosplay. I ... I honestly don't know how I feel about that cosplay. On the one hand, joyous self expression and on the other SIR YOU HAVE A THING ON YOUR FACE THAT DOES NOT LOOK SAFE)

I still need to go see Black Panther. All the overtime at work is destroying my ability to do anything.

[sovay]

*removes 'eight feet straight up' from the list*

In hindsight I suppose we should not have been surprised, because they have been scaling Mount Refrigerator since they were kittens, but they never before showed signs of wanting to extend their range to the bookshelves. Well, now we know.

(She'll follow ones on the floor around the house and stare at them so we know where they are, but she seems to feel disposal is OUR job)

Both Autolycus and Hestia hunt bugs for fun and protein. One of Hestia's earliest achievements as a small wild carnivore was the successful capture and consumption of a bluebottle. Autolycus ate a moth the other night and was insufferably pleased with himself.

I am super pleased on your behalf that fiction is fictionating, and wow Picaso's housekeeping sure is validating isn't it. That's a thing.

Thank you! I am trying not to break the fiction and really enjoying it in the meantime.

For some reason I find the umbrella by the foot of Picasso's dresser that appears to have been crushed by a stack of notebooks really endearing.

I still need to go see Black Panther. All the overtime at work is destroying my ability to do anything.

I hope your work eases up soon and you get the chance. I really enjoyed it.

[gwynnega]

Yay fiction writing!

I hope you get a functioning bathroom sink soon.

[sovay]

Yay fiction writing!

Thank you! It's been forever and appears to be taking a surprisingly large percentage of my brain.

I hope you get a functioning bathroom sink soon.

Also thank you. Maybe tomorrow? We don't actually have much in the way of concrete information? Wish us luck?