Two Years On

I had two things to post about, one fandomy and one homey, and they didn't want to live in the same post. So I apologize in advance for the spam.

This morning I woke up and found I had another review for EWFS, and while looking it up I realized that the Epilogue was posted on Nov 30, 2002—two years ago this week. The reviews still trickle in, which is very gratifying, and the hits on the first chapter have topped 10,000, which is truly mind-boggling; that even a tenth as many people have read it is amazing.

Even more amazing is how many of you recommended this fic recently! Living as I do in that space between the BNFs and the who-are-theys, with a lot of people who have read and liked my story but many more who haven't, I've tried to train myself: Must not look at rec lists and hope to be on them, even if they are my ship, as it just gets me out of sorts. So I was very happily surprised to come upon folks talking so nicely about my story, two years on!

(It makes me think someone might read the sequel after all, even though, if the rumors are true, there is no way it will be done before new canon, and it's GoF-based as it is. At any rate, the sequel is coming along and at the moment I'm just waiting for some people to read some outlines, la.)

More interestingly, the review came from Mary G, whose fic I started to read and rec when it was first being posted over a year ago: Getting Closer to Fine, an excellent blend of H/Hr romance and police procedural. (I spent some of the morning when I should have been cleaning rereading it.) Like many PPers, I have a soft spot for post-war Harry, and hers is a great one. So go review and perhaps she'll finish it!

And in more domestic news

Timing has been good to me so far this weekend. Last night I saw A Very Long Engagement with Ruby, Cassie and Josh, which I highly recommend; I liked it much better than I thought I was going to. It was visually stunning but that isn't to say it had no substance, as the plot and the characters were highly engaging. I got out of the train and the bus was right there, so no cold walk home for me! Then this morning I finally gave up on the never-going-to-be-fixed washers in my building and put my delicates in a machine in the laundromat. Not really wanting to just sit and watch them wash, I walked down to the grocer to get a few things that weren't available at Fresh Direct, came back and my clothes were in their last spin! And all that done in plenty of time before the Fresh Direct delivery.

Then the exterminator came (hooray!); I finally figured out where those buggers have been hiding (in my bar, so the dishwasher is going to have a lot of cycles today). Very annoying but hopefully this clean up plus the exterminator's visit will end my current trouble. And hey, my wine glasses won't be dusty anymore!

So before I go back to work Tuesday I need to:

• Hang up my delicates which are in a sad heap in my tub
• Finish washing all my dishes
• Finish holiday cards
• Put away clean laundry from last two weeks
• Finish unpacking bag
• Make corn soup for lunch this week
• Make tomato relish for fish for dinner this week
• Call my old schools to send out transcripts

And then I want to go buy a mess of clothes because I need them like, yesterday.

water, water everywhere.

So at 8pm I'm sitting here minding my own business, eating some thai food that had just arrived and wondering what was on tv tonight, when I hear a loud rushing sound. I panic that my dishwasher has sprung some horrible leak, but no--a pipe had burst, under my kitchen counter. This isn't my actual kitchen sink pipe, but some bizarre miscellaneous pipe that went to an ancient sink of some kind.

I'm on the 5th floor so needless to say my downstairs neighbors were somewhat upset. My next door neighbor Frank and a really cute British guy from 2E braved our dark and creepy basement to turn off the water while I called the fire department, our totally absent and useless super, and an emergency plumber. (Really cute British guy turned out to have a really cute British lady but hey, at least he is straight.) I called Rach to have some companionship during my time of water, and the plumber came around 10pm. Not, as I'd assumed, some old guy with a belt pulling his trousers down, but a young North African guy with long hair. However, he wore tight low rider jeans so I still got an eyeful of his arse. It was nice, but he wasn't really my type. Took him about two hours to fix everything and he left about 25 min ago. And you'd better believe that money is coming right off next month's rent. I was lucky, as all I really have is a dirty kitchen floor that might have some water damage, and I'll throw out some plastic bags.

Man, I didn't get to eat my Thai food! But I'm too tired now, so into the fridge it goes, and into bed with me. But today, I'm thankful for good neighbors. Old and badly kept up as it is, I love my building because of the great people in it.