So, between my last post and this one, here's what took place:
My conputer stopped working. "Freeze frame" sort of stopped working. Nothing moved, nothing responded (including the system administrator, whom I still didn't find), including the switch-off button. I had to unplug it from the electricity in order to get some sort of response.
I didn't finish trying to deal with that (I lost a couple of days' results, and was trying to figure out what was saved), when one of my roommates called. Our landlord was supposed to fix our stove today. Instead, he brought another stove, a used one that still works. It has to be cleaned and scrubbed from scratch, very thoroughly, and after that it has to be koshered. That slightly freaked my roommate out.
When they tried to put it in the place of the former stove, they broke the refrigirator's door. That really freaked my roommate out.
Luckily, the new rooommate was there as well, and she handled things marvelously. The landlord re-attached, sort of, the fridge's door. In the meantime, I ran there to help and to try to calm spirits down and balance a swinging fridge. The fourth roommate doesn't even know what sort of an afternoon we were all having, she's still at work.
So now, I returned to the university. The freaked-out roommate went to class. The (great!) new roommate is scrubbing like no stain in the 'verse can stop her, after we took the new stove apart [Edit: um, on purpose, this time]. Things seem to be more calm now, so I can return to facing the compute crushing.
I wish y'all a much calmer day, in which nothing (especially roommates, but also doors) gets broken.
I was thinking about the word "akimbo" in the wee hours of the night last night (what? that's normal!), so I just looked it up in the OED. It's fascinating - completely obscure etymology (Icelandic? Middle Latin? not convincing cases for either) and appears first in 1400 as "in kenebowe." God I love English.
Timelies, all.
Nilly, I can't believe your landlord gave you a used oven. That's so cheap of him.
Also, where are my Prison Break co-natterers at?
Jeez louise, Nilly! I wish you a better day as well.
It's fascinating - completely obscure etymology (Icelandic? Middle Latin? not convincing cases for either) and appears first in 1400 as "in kenebowe."
That is fascinating.
I have not technically written any part of my paper yet, but at least I've typed in one quote from the reading and properly cited it. So that's something.
I was reading what's the Jamaican version of the OED, and it was a bit depressing how many of the words were alien to me. But then I checked with my father, and he didn't know a bunch of them too, so I felt less rootless. Fascinatingly (and predictably, but whatev) they've traced a lot of the words to their specific African forebears. It's really cool to see the creolishness laid out like that. I haven't finished reading the non-dictionary bit yet, but I'm really hoping for something that breaks down the grammar of Patois, because I'd love to know how many of the non-English rules are home grown, and how many imported from elsewhere.
PB: I liked how it ended, but why is everyone so STUPID? Why did
Hale do anything that he did during this episode? GET ON A PLANE AND PUT THE ENVELOPE IN THE MAIL. GOD! He deserves to bite it.
I was thinking about the word "akimbo" in the wee hours of the night last night
What amych said. And even more so because I had to look "akimbo" up in teh dictionary and now have learned a new word.
Wolfram! How are you doing? How is the job hunt going?
I can't believe your landlord gave you a used oven. That's so cheap of him.
Well, it's newer than the old oven we had, so we already are a step ahead of where we were with the old one.
bonbon, I couldn't believe that he didn't at least
give the damn envelope to Veronica
!
My job, while not nearly as stressful and assheaded as Shrift's or Hec's, is making me DESPERATELY need to choke a bitch.
That is all.
