ten good things

[kaberett]

1. The dishwasher may be broken but we did, in fact, blitz the washing up. All of it. In about twenty minutes. So now the kitchen is livable again, at least temporarily, while we wait for the electrician to show their face again, hurrah. (The dishwasher is A Saga. tl;dr the first time it blew the 15A fuse in the consumer unit we assumed the fuse had merely reached the end of its natural life. The second time it did it, we summoned an electrician, who pulled apart the plug and went "I think that's your problem, mate", which seemed reasonable enough. The third time, there was an audible pop from the dishwasher but the 13A fuse in the plug was fine and the 15A fuse in the consumer unit had gone again... and so did the fuse in the circuit for the washing machine, immediately, when A swapped it in to try to finish the cycle. So then we spent a bit of time Not doing the washing-up, and summoning an electrician, and so on, and now hopefully said electrician will reappear tomorrow.)
   
2. I am 3.5k words into structuring and fleshing out a benefits appeal for a friend. It Is Gonna Be Okay. I am Somewhat Tired but, also, this is a thing I can do and do well, and it's important work, and it feels like a concrete contribution to both the friendship and, like, Society As A Whole, so that's a thing.
   
3. A picked up burritos on his way home, so that (a) I didn't have to think about food and (b) we didn't generate any more washing up.
   
4. Turns out I enjoy Barack Obama's writing, too, not that I am particularly surprised by this at this point. I'm finding it absorbing and soothing. (I'm not managing to focus on it much, but I am managing a bit, and that's currently something of a relief.)
   
5. I'm not sure what the source of the bells that chime the hours is -- whether it's one of the churches, or the Albert Memorial Clock -- but the tolling of the bell across the water soothes & situates me.
   
6. Slightly to my own surprise, I am actually, in the middle of all this, managing to generate ideas and sort-of string together scribbled and highlighted sentences in the current PhD paper, some of them involving ideas.
   
7. On which topic, I am in fact in Belfast this week. There was some degree of uncertainty: I might have been pulling a couple of long days on the mass spec, but as it turns out the machine is having a strop, which means that instead I am At Home and looking out across the river and in company.
   
8. I am very much enjoying the ongoing uptick in activity around these parts, long may it continue; I'm perpetually low on generating-interactive-words (between the current paper and the benefits-wrangling for myself & others) but it's lovely to get to brush against your collective individual lives from my sofa in the corner, and it's lovely to receive comments, and thank you all.
   
9. Yesterday, at the penguin enclosure, I put a Piplup on the adjacent gym, to keep the shiny Psyduck (also blue) that was already there company. It's still happily sitting there being a tiny blue penguin Pokemon, and I am smiling every time I think about it.
   
10. We definitely didn't steal a red panda and absolutely have compelling alibis (animal went missing; was recovered safely).
    

Comments

[lunabee34]

Its wonderful to help a friend.

[harpers_child]

Fingers crossed the dishwasher situation is resolved soon. Though burritos sound awesome.

I don't think I'd have the heart to battle a Piplup in a penguin enclosure. He's obviously where he belongs.

[alexwlchan]

These are all good things, but (2) is especially good.

[cesy]

I hope the dishwasher is fixed soon.

[sfred]

I did think of you when I heard about the panda!

[silveradept]

Piplup makes sense, as would Prinplup. Good decision there!

The rest of these things are also good things to hear.

[hydrangea]

*sticks head in* I had completely forgotten that you play PokeGo! Just wanted to write a note that if you want/need friends for Gift Purposes or Progress Purposes, I'm available as a casual player to fork over Scandinavian Friend Eggs (and balls). I'm not really into the community, so I've made it habit to offer to friend people who might not have their list full from people they play with. :)

[alatefeline]

<3