Facebook flog - Jan 7 & 8 2013

[blogfloggery.livejournal.com]

Link: Jan 7 2014, 22:49
Disclaimer: This blog entry is verbatim, as originally posted on LKH's Facebook. Copyright belongs to Ma Petite Enterprises.

On the serious plus side - The house is not, repeat not, on fire.

We woke at 4:30AM to the fire alarm screaming through the house, so that was the first thought. It wasn't fire, so let's just take a moment to be happy for that. (A pause for the relieved happy.)

On the minus side - Water cascading down through the fire alarm fixture second floor entry way/stairway area. Apparently the water shorted out the fire alarms on two floors, because they were the easiest point for the water to find freedom. Water finds it's way down, it's what water does. Yes, the basement is also wet.

The three of us, Jon, myself, and our daughter, Trinity, have now cleaned up what we could. It's nice to have a kiddo old enough to be truly helpful in an emergency. Everybody else can complain about their teenagers, but young adult rocks! I think we do our kids a disservice, by not remembering that they are at an age that was considered adult for centuries. A plumber, that has been here before, will be coming later in the day. Apparently, we are far from the only burst pipe emergencies calling him in this cold. Yes, the water is turned off, and we've drained the pipes, saving what potable water we could.

The dogs have been fed and out in the snow, and back inside. They are on the couch with Jon. He's dealing with the adrenaline dump by playing a new video game. Trin has gone back to bed, apparently how she deals. I'm in my office writing this, because writing is what I do after the emergency is over. Writers write, it's what we do. It's how I process the world. We are all safe, warm, and a professional that can fix what's broken is coming. I'll likely do a longer blog about all of it, but right now, it's all good.

Jan 8 2013, 13:53

We have running water again! Yay! There are holes in the ceiling from the search for the leak, but it was finally chased down and fixed. I lost count of the times I tried to turn on water today, like when you lose electricity and keep turning on light switches to no avail. But we are warm, safe, and all the indoor plumbing works again, so alls well that ends well. In fact, I've been strangely peaceful today, because when the fire alarm woke us at 4:30AM this morning I so thought it was worse than just a busted pipe. I worked on Merry today, mostly thinking and making notes rather than actual pages, but considering we've had an insurance adjustor, carpet restoration company, moisture abatement company, and a plumber here today, I'm pretty pleased at how much I've accomplished.

Here's hoping that tonight and tomorrow are much less exciting. My husband, Jon, said, "Hell, to the yeah," at that last sentence. I'll second that.

Comments

[dreamstrifer.livejournal.com]

After all this time, I have absolutely no idea who her husband is. Think she might drop in a hint sometime soon?

[jeza-red.livejournal.com]

Pipes burst, that's what they do. Water finds its way down, that's what it does. Writers write. Teenagers are helpful in emergencies. Words are my biznez. I am so hyped by the emergency that's over now I have to write. Short sentences. Are best. What. The. Hell. Is. She. On. About.

This she consider exciting? THIS? Oh goodness...

[moonbeamdancer.livejournal.com]

"SEE? Here's the proof of why the book is late!"

...

Makes me wonder if she bothered to get her house ready for winter at all, though you can do that and shit will still go wrong sometimes.

[collectively.livejournal.com]

The constant "Yes, ...." drives me nuts.

Yes, the basement is also wet. Yes, the water is turned off.

There are circumstances under which that could come off as something besides deeply condescending, but the way she seems to use it is not one of them.

[mocha-latta.livejournal.com]

Isn't Trinidy 19? It bothers me to no end that she talks about her like she's 9-13

[mystickiwi.livejournal.com]

I was going to ask how old she was, because I feel like the last time I got any reference to her age she WAS 13 but I have no idea how long ago that was...

Also, even the sulkiest most stereotypically cranky 13 year old I know would buck up and help if their house started flooding at 430 because shit, you don't want your stuff to get ruined and also you live there. If she was volunteering to help with, I dunno, the dishes, that would warrant being impressed

[polymexina.livejournal.com]

Heh, I'm related to some teens who wouldn't and who'd then be mad at you for not helping. :-/

[ronni-l.livejournal.com]

IIRC, she's the same age as my youngest son. He'll be 18 next month so, depending on her birth month, Trinity is either 17 or 18.

[magdalen77.livejournal.com]

She voted in the 2012 election so I'm pretty sure she is now 19. Her birthday is in very late summer or early fall. I got that based on their trip to see Lady Gaga somewhere (maybe Seattle or Portland) for her 16th birthday.

It's confusing because LaLa talks about as if she's much younger like "it's great the kiddo is old enough to entertain herself". I damned well hope she can at 19.

[a-sporking-rat.livejournal.com]

My husband, Jon, said, "Hell, to the yeah,"

THAT COMMA IS SO AWKWARD THERE WHEN YOU SAY IT ALOUD UGGGH

eta: It's nice to have a kiddo old enough to be truly helpful in an emergency. Everybody else can complain about their teenagers, but young adult rocks! I think we do our kids a disservice, by not remembering that they are at an age that was considered adult for centuries.

SHE CAN'T EVEN TALK ABOUT PLUMBING WITHOUT GOING ALL 'LET ME GIVE YOU TOTALLY GREAT ADVICE THAT ONLY I KNOW' AUGH also this comment is so creepy when you consider she's the lady writing Anita with Cynric

[lliira (from livejournal.com)]

She's also full of shit about kids. (What a surprise, she's wrong about something!) While laws were very different than they are now, 16-year olds were NOT considered adults. They were treated differently. Western culture has been pretty steady at not treating people like complete adults until they were in their mid-20s for a very long time.

However, since Trinity is 19... bwuh? I think many people agree that 19 is too young to marry or have kids, say, but I can't think of anyone who would say 19-year olds are bratty teens who don't help around the house. I do wonder if LKH realizes what her daughter's age is. She's old enough to join the army, ffs.

[grackles.livejournal.com]

Wait, her child is 19? The way she was talking about her, I figured Trinity was 13 at most. JFC Laurell. If this entry is any indication it sounds like she needs to teach her adult child how to be an adult. I'm speaking from experience when I say that she's not doing Trinity any favors. That is some terrible parenting.

[suzycat.livejournal.com]

Hell, 19 is not a teeny child any more. Yes they're kiddies compared to us old folks, but where I live Trinity could have sex, vote, and purchase alcohol legally.

[jessica collett (from livejournal.com)]

That's exactly what I was going to say.

[suzycat.livejournal.com]

To be fair, my father was in fulltime work at 13 (and expected to leave home as well). Had the world not changed he would not reasonably have expected to vote, ever, though.

[lliira (from livejournal.com)]

Work wasn't considered an "adult" thing in the past, though. It was something everyone did as soon as they could walk and had basic hand-eye coordination. And it's only extremely recently that voting has been connected with adulthood, even in the history of voting being something people could do. It used to be connected with being a white male property-owning citizen head of the household, and of course you'd be a certain age to be the head of a household. Having adulthood grant rights and privileges under the law, and having childhood be work-free is, relatively speaking, a brand spanking new thing. However, people still wouldn't think 13-year olds could run their own households by any stretch of the imagination.

[suzycat.livejournal.com]

True. The reason my grandfather couldn't vote was lack of property, and Dad would have been in the same boat but for migration (and later civil rights movements where he came from). And for sure, my father worked from infancy, but he was kicked out of home to enter fulltime employment at 13 and was pretty much on his own, so it's not exactly what we classify as a "child" today.

It IS fair to say that many women of Trinity's age would have been married, running households and having kids in different eras, depending on class and culture.

[lliira (from livejournal.com)]

Every time LKH says anything about Jon, I cringe in second-hand embarrassment for both of them.

[grackles.livejournal.com]

You mean her husband, Jon?

[jessica collett (from livejournal.com)]

Jon, her husband? I HAD NO IDEA HER HUSBAND WAS JON. Her husband. Jon.

[cheeky-duckie.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'm not the most succinct writer, but...

"A pipe burst last night and shorted out our fire alarms at 4:30 am -- all's well after the initial terror! We took care of everything, and had our water back within 24 hours. It put a dent in my writing, but at least I got some notes down."

Boom. I don't think I missed anything vital to this story.

[suzycat.livejournal.com]

LKH was clearly so freaked out that she neglected to clarify who "Jon" is. I am so glad she remedied that in her second post.

[ramlatch.livejournal.com]

The way she treats her twitter and facebook like a diary really makes me wonder just how deeply lonely and insecure she is. I feel really bad for her.