Somebody asked me about the five Padi Valley clans: the ones commonly listed are Taiben, Atageini, Ajuri, and Kadagidi—so what is the fortunate fifth? I repeat the answer here: “Dur does function as a fortunate fifth. The real fifth was Sheiji. When an association formed around the negotiations to let a railroad cross clan boundaries, it created the aishidi’tat. Shejidan became the capital of a rapidly more prosperous midlands, and became a neutral entity, claiming a special function. Dur currently, yes, functions as a fortunate fifth, but has held apart from Ajuri politics as if it were a plague carrier. Sheiji has ceased to be any separate lordship, and the Sheiji lord’s bloodline is many times diluted with marriages MOSTLY in the other Padi Valley clans. Viz, Damiri. And Tabini’s Taibeni mother.”
On the clans
by CJ | Jun 11, 2019 | Journal | 69 comments
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I feel sure I should recognize who and what are involved with clan Sheiji. The others, I recognize.
I’m unsuccessfully avoiding puns involving Viz-Ual Media and the further referential adventures of Lord or Lady Videlicet of Clan Viz, namely so. (I’ll just save time and clean the erasers now….)
Slightly off-topic, but this reminded me: I’ve always wondered, but never thought to ask, Is there any meaning ascribed to the names for Ana Ismehanan-min, Leia Nomestetur-jai, and Shoje Kesurinan, and the ships Aja Jin and Mahijiru? I’m asking because I could imagine -min and -jai have some meaning, grammatical or as titles or honorifics or ranks. “Ismehanan-min,” I have trouble not breaking that down into “is-me-han-an-min,” which feels almost like (but surely is not quite) “is my hani name;” and “Mahijiru” feels like “mah(a)-” + “iji/ijir” + “-u/-ru,” as if it might be roughly, “of the great Iji, Ijir.” Granted, those probably don’t work that way in mahen chiso, but I could see that being a behind-the-scenes authorial thought for those names. (Maha, of course, being Sanskrit for “great,” cf. Greek mega-, Latin maxi- or melior- or major-.) Ici and Ijir being grammatical forms for the planet Ijir. I had wondered if -min and -jai might be loosely inspired by “I, me, my, mine” and “ye, you, your, yours.” (Or le mien and j’ai, otherwise, from French.)
Also, I don’t recall Shoje Kesurinan as having a hyphen plus suffix, while both Ana and Leia do. That could be either due to seniority and captaincy, or being male and not female and involving family and kinship terms and patriarchy or matriarchy, or prestige in a hierarchy, or something like. Shoje is given as the first / executive officer, so she’s in some authority too.
After thinking some over the years, I wonder if (and sort of assumed that) Jik and Goldtooth (we never find out how Jik’s nickname connects to his full name) are probably privateer or outright navy captains or commodores / flotilla or fleet captains, senior captains capable of commanding a small fleet or force. Although I think it’s Jik who claims he’s just an honest merchant captain. (Ouch, now I need to reread, I’m mixing up the two and their full names versus their nicknames, but I think I still have it right for who’s the flashy, flamboyant one and who’s the more reserved, quiet one, though both back Pyanfar in their own way, even though she voices aggravation and displeasure for some of their risky tactics.
I still love the Chanur books. I keep wondering what happens next, and if and how things get messy again, since inevitably, humans would somehow put their foot in it again, or something else would happen within or outside Compact space, and within human space’s three governments. Plus, we don’t know who/what else might be out there besides. Hani life would have to get used to males and children and babies aboard ships, not just stations. And I always thought Tully’s trust of the hani over the mahendo’sat was because the mahen folks were too much like humans, whom he also didn’t trust much, due to familiiarity. Yet Tully’s an experienced space officer and isn’t too much bothered by the sudden (over months) encounter with several new alien species, when he winds up in the middle of things, at the start and as he learns about the mess he’s in.
I’m still very curious about the seven species in the Compact, all those interesting things we only got hints of or were never told. — And one or two small points in the books that didn’t get much touched upon: During the Battle for Anuurn and the Battle for Gaohn, or some point, Pyanfar makes a point to thank the team who carried her and the others down to Anuurn to the Chanur Estate in the middle of other troubles, to take care of the situation there. We get the idea that Chanur will throw some business and further alliance their way, to thank them for taking a big personal and clan-wide risk to their lives and business prospects, when they’re (if I remember right) in-system haulers or miners, not interstellar traders like Chanur. Then at another point, a clan from clear on the other side of the planet, a smallish clan, loses a ship in battle, and Py makes a special point again to say she wants Chanur clan to help them out, for having helped the Pride and the Pride’s sister ship. Besides this, she helps out Dur Tahar’s shipmates, as a matter of rescue of fellow hani, not exactly allied, but needing a safe haven after being put in jeopardy. We see what happens in Chanur’s Legacy, but we don’t see what happens with the two clans. (And somehow, the mention of Vrossaur or Vrossaru clan or person, in the com chatter of one of the big fights, intrigued me, has always stayed with me.)
We know hani come in gold and red-gold and bronze, but I wonder if they ever have black or white furred / skinned persons, or something like calico women/girls, or spotting / striping like with baby cougars or lions, or leopards or tigers. Just because there might be something interesting there, but unlikely, since we never hear of more than gold, bronze (dark), and red-gold. I’d guess “gold” might be light to medium, and “bronze” might be medium to dark, and then red-gold might be anywhere from light to dark, sort of like humans have blond, brunet, and redheads. Loosely speaking.
I also wonder if things would be different with male children / adolescents, like what happened to Hilfy’s junior cousin Dahan, who somehow didn’t fit in, got in the way of aggravated senior males, and was lost, much to Hilfy’s lament as an important point in why she and Pyanfar both change in their opinions of hani beliefs about males and about social roles for all hani.
So…gee, I didn’t mean to go into a whole digression on the Chanur books, but heck, those books are still so great.
Meanwhile, I need to reread them, reread Alliance Rising, and get back into Foreigner.
(And just because: Stranger Things season 3 airs July 4th on Netflix, about 3 weeks away now. Not that I’m excited or anything. 😉 )
I love that there is so much depth that I can still always find something new in any reread of your books.
About Foreigner, I’m still wondering what further may happen with Cullen and the other humans, with the Kyo, and of course with our associates. among the Atevi and the humans in-system.
After my latest reread of Merchanter’s Luck, I keep wondering what the kids from Dublin Again make of the Lucy’s computer system talking to Sandy. I keep thinking that once the Lucy is crewed up and fixed up, there could be interesting adventures there. I’m still partial to Fletcher’s cousin Jeremy on Finity.
Off-Off-Topic: Personal life is being up-and-down lately. I completed a stage with one typestyle / font-face, but that just means it’s ready to go to the next two stages of drawing yet more characters to be completed. (I just got the first 279 done, not yet kerned; another 200+ for the next stage, then another 400+ to get to the full 800-odd character set for the Pro + SC set. IIRC, that’s only Latin-based, not also the Greek and Cyrillic, but heck, I’d like to do those too. The three alphabets are so connected, why not?) Another related style is going well, but a ways away from completing the first stage. I need to go through and get other drafts through that first stage, and a couple are ready for the second stage. However, that does not yet get a font-family of roman and italic in several weights, ready to go out the door for consideration of publication and editorial review. So, progress, but not yet a big hurray or a done deal yet.
No progress as of yet towards getting a rent house or renovation done, but that still needs to happen if it’s going to. I’m now expecting to be in this apartment for 9 months to a year, since nothing has happened yet to get the other started. :-/ So this just pushes me to get fonts done and producing income to keep me going and to be able to do needed things for my future. Personal life is still, ehhh, just not happening much. I feel so in need getting stuff done, but am trying to keep going steadily and keep at it, so…nothing really happening personally / social life, still. Frustrating. I keep getting tired from computer work, especially eye strain with my low vision. — And dang it, I want to get time to go through the 3D slider puzzle that is the storage space, and get some things out of there if I can find them. Probably a hot, tedious, tiring day to do that, and to work around friends’schedules. But that’s entirely typical for me, lately especially.
I think tonight, I want some book-reading time. I have been pushing lately on font work and other stuff, to the exclusion of nearly all else, like reboxing and labelling so I know what in the apt. will go where, if and when I eventually get to move into a house again. Still just me and a senior but spry kitty. (He turns 13 at the end of October.)
Back to work until 6 or so. It’s now 2pm here. Where has the day gone so fast?
I think I feel a Foreigner re-read coming on, a read-up to Resurgence. Late fall and winter is a good time to snuggle up to a good reread. We’re about due for a hard winter, I think. Could be perfect timing. (I’m voting that Irene be groomed as Bren’s eventual successor.)
Thursday’s high 84 F/28.8 C, Friday’s high 98 F/36 C and in the 90’s F/ 33+ C for the rest of the 10-day forecast. So glad I got another pedistal fan — now I have one for each room, including the living room (which doesn’t have a ceiling fan) and especially my bedroom, which despite having a ceiling fan gets hot because of a sliding glass door on the south end of the house.
Saw the doc Monday about my knee. He was delighted at how clean the wound was and how much progress I’ve made. Cleared me to drive. Had my last in-home PT session today. Tomorrow I call the place to set up outpatient PT sessions, to which I will drive myself!
Hooray for the healing knee, and the improved mobility (automotive).
I agree on Irene!
and hurray for your healing knee!
Here in L.A. it’s been running in the high 90s in the afternoon. I keep reading stories about how the heat in the Bay Area is unprecedented – but I remember there was heat like this in 1961, when the church we attended was doing a very fast move to a new location, and part of the 30-day moving period involved getting a “temporary” building put in, including the foundation. They were pouring concrete in temps over 105F, where the concrete was setting almost as fast as it was being poured. (“Temporary” because it was there for all of 50 years before being replaced.)
This is wonderful news, WOL! Congratulations on your ongoing successful recovery; I’m sure it represents tons of hard work and effort. Well done 🙂 Finished knitting the lace and brioche shawl I’ve been working on, and my fingers are “itchy” for a new project … mulling over my stash of yarns and patterns to see what feels like a good fit … er, while I avoid blocking the brioche one.
Blocking? There’s always another week, month… year to get that blocking done! Just shove the old, “now-finished” project in a bag and start something glorious and new! I’m eying socks from one of my many skeins of sock yarns as I’m almost finished a Sontag (Victorian vest/shawl) for my goddaughter, but I’m also hearing the siren call of lace yarn and maybe a shawl, or maybe another Entrelac scarf, or….
Delighted to hear that the knee is doing so well, WOL! Keep up with that PT and you’ll be hiking mountains soon.
I have some nearly-finished projects that I need to finish, some that are partly done and not progressing, my sister is having the yard for four pairs of socks sent to me – her color choices aren’t necessarily mine, and it’s yarn she loves – and I just started another pair of socks for me, in Dragon Fibers “Admiral Benbow”: light and deep blues, rusty reds, old golds, and olive-ish greens. (I’m hoping that the SSRI I started week before last will help.)
“Whoever dies with the most projects, wins.”
Sorry, got the yarn name wrong: Dragon Sock, from Dragonfly Fibers. I think I got it via WEBS yarn.
Off-Topic: Fonts recommendation, not my work, but good!
Monark, by YX Type, is a new font-family now on sale for $22 US at FontSpring.com . It’s a “humanist slab serif” with Roman and Italic in all 4 weights, and a nice distribution from Light to Book to Medium to Bold. The fonts have a modern, Pro character set and Small Caps built-in, though not all word processors use all the built-in OpenType features, such as the small caps. This will probably be on sale for about a week or two, unless I’ve missed and it’s been there a while. A bargain if you want a good-looking, sturdy font for body-text as well as headings, with nice character/style.
That’s from a new designer with a sans-serif font available that also looks good, but didn’t send me quite as much, called Hua. Your mileage may vary, however.
BlueCatShip, thanks for the tip on those 2 fonts. Monark looks very useful, and I really like the Hua for the Italics renditions. Might see if I can get the old partners to fund those 2 for me. Considering I’m a retired “volunteer”, and I’ve done 3 brochure covers in the last few months, plus “fixed” inside contents of said brochures, and copy is ALWAYS an issue … I think a new one or 2 on my laptop at a bargain might be in order. Thanks!
New books delivering to the grandson’s porch tomorrow, the rest of a series a number of the kind people here recommended. This time, I splurged on the hardcover editions … handy when the device batteries die. Next week will be a new series in the Kindle Spanish editions … lol that may get a comment or 3, so I’m choosing a new series I think he won’t be able to resist, and I’ll add Book 1 in English as well, to lure him in. I think he can handle it, as we caught him smirking while evesdropping on the large family group at the picnic grove, having a lively birthday party. Thunderstorms were imminent, the cake needed lit, songs sung and retreat was critical, and apparently there were words used by the grownups that are on the list of “words in Spanish you can’t say in school”. He seems well schooled in not using those words; his mom knows them …
😀 sounds as if he will be fine!
You’re very welcome! FontSpring.com usually runs specials on newly released fonts, and sometimes (every few months) will have discounts on fonts that have been out for a while. So if you are patient, you can get a better bargain sometimes. FontSquirrel.com has a number of free fonts for commercial use, of good quality, mostly with full character sets, though not always. They’re connected to FontSpring.com. MyFonts.com also runs discounts, but of late, they have become more focused on the big foundries (they’re owned by one) and seeing samples is much less easy under their recent redesign. Still, they’re a good source when needed.
I’m continuing on toward font designs, and whenever I (finally) get something submitted or (yay) up for sale, I will be sure to let people know.
(I used to do desktop publishing / graphic design as part of a mom-and-son small business, and I did plenty of proofreading and copyediting and anything else. — I wish I could find the backups of some 1990’s font designs I did, if they are still anywhere to be found. — So you have my sympathies on doing volunteer and freelance work. — This, plus my erstwhile, colorful first run through college, haha, explains partly my love for books. Plus, I grew up with book-loving parents. Early on, I came across books on language and on the history of the alphabet and calligraphy, and had my first foreign language class in junior high. So there are multiple reasons I’m a fan of books and fonts and such.)
I’m chuckling at the vocabulary. This inevitably happens. But it can be important to know those words too. Oh, well. (In English, many of those words began as perfectly proper words from Saxons and Normans, but, ah, well, became something else.)
Good for him for getting more books and liking them. A new series? I hope he’ll enjoy the series.
@BCS, did I ever send you this link before?
It’s a free online course for learning Dutch on YouTube, for learnng the forst 1000 most common words.
https://youtu.be/k7t5HDxchqQ
I’ve seen something by this YouTube Dutch teacher before, but can’t remember if I alerted you to it’s existence.
I know fonts, and thinking about possibly moving, and probably refreshing your Spanish are more important right now, but maybe you can bookmark the course in case you might have time for it later.
@Hanneke, thank you! I’ve bookmarked that and subscribed on YouTube.
I’ve been concentrating on fonts lately, but I can only fiddle with Bézier points for so long before I need a break. Hours, I’m used to it, but still, I can’t do it non-stop. My brain needs breaks and other things to do.
I haven’t been doing language review diligently, although I check a few YouTube language enthusiasts’ videos regularly. I liked my exposure to Dutch, and I want to go forward with that. It was flexing language muscles that need that.
I’ve been reading a little more regularly, but I am still not back to my old regular habits. At least there’s improvement. This month and last, I’ve been seeing incremental improvements in my habits overall, which I’m taking as a good sign. I’m not yet back up to speed, but it’s better than it was. — I am still having to fight to motivate myself at times, or to get myself into a schedule beyond what either has to get done or what I want to get done, into, hey, this needs time devoted to it too. — That basic problem of not enough support from a network of local friends, and not enough social contact, is still there.
During the week, I get to call friends again to see if there’s been movement towards a house to renovate or to rent as-is within the next few months. I think I can still do this, and I think I’m building towards eventual font releases to build my income, which has to happen. — Hoping for good things there, but moving is likely going to be months away. I’m still estimating 9 months to a year, now, before I might get to move. If and when there’s a house definitely in development, I’ll update people here.
So I definitely need things to get me going and prioritize and progress. — Thanks, Hanneke.
Today, we’re getting intermittent rumbling of thunderstorms and a little rain, more building up to anything than actually doing much, so tonight and tomorrow may be rainy and stormy.
As borders are fluid, are clan associations also?
Yes, as Damiri could call herself Atageini or Ajuri, and Cajeiri COULD call himself either… if he were not Tabini’s appointed heir. As Tabini’s heir he is either identified as Taibeni (Tabini’s maternal clan) OR Shejji., which is the old designation of the ruling clan, which has not been (wisely enough) too prolific. They are all Ragi, which is their ethnic division. So it can be a 4-way choice, unless settled by the marriage contract of the parents.
And how does that relate to man’chi, which is both loyalty and association, and the desire to follow or be led, as opposed to the desire to lead, to be a leader.
I would think one has most clan-association or else man’chi to one’s own clan, then to closely related or closely associated clans and persons in clans…. Oops, hmm, that’s circular, sorry. I could see clan-associations changing priority or closeness (closer or farther), depending on what another person or clan does or says. Human feelings and degrees of connection can change for some, less so for others.
OK, that brings up at least three questions:
(1) Can a person’s clan-association towards one’s own clan change towards another clan, such that the person seeks to, or identifies with, some other clan rather than one’s own? In other words, if someone becomes dissatisfied or feels more strongly drawn towards another clan, can one invite oneself into that clan, join that clan, by some action? Or must one be invited in, adopted, fostered, something like that? — For example, from another story-universe, we have two sisters, who became so displeased for some reason with their own clan, such that they leave their clan and join a neighboring clan. (I think this was Geran and Chur Anify, rather than Haral and Tirun Araun.)
(2) What if someone lacks a clan, their clan membership is lost or taken away? That’s probably two different sets of circumstances; one where the clan is lost to them by accident or illness or some other separation; and another where the individual is removed from the clan, such as banishment or simply being placed elsewhere. This might be for some perceived wrong allegedly done by the person, or it might be a ruling that the clan did wrong but the person is blameless and therefore removed from whatever befalls the clan. So there might be cases where someone is “kicked out,” or where they feel compelled to “run away” (or simply leave, perhaps for safety, perhaps for personal satisfaction or beliefs); while others might need to be removed by law due to some infraction by the clan, in which matter the person is not at fault. (Hmm, that’s getting interesting, isn’t it?) This would also encompass concepts like being “unclan” or “unplanned” or “classless,” or being an outsider or a pariah for some reason. (Or a clan being declared so, as outlaws, for instance.)
(3) On a more pleasant note, what about adoptions and fosterings? Aside from cases in which a child might become orphaned (either motherless or fatherless, legitimate or illegitimate parentage), there might also be cases where, for education or for alliances, a clan member might be adopted, fostered, or given as a hostage(?) to another clan. That might include for marriages. — This brings to mind a side question: Can Atevi children be “illegitimate” in terms of parentage (father or mother)? Or would most atevi have a different concept of what is “illegitimate” parentage? For instance, in nearly all cases, the mother is known, unless a baby is switched or abandoned; while in human societies that rely on the father’s line, a child is illegitimate if the father is unknown or not married to the mother. But atevi might view this differently. (And personally, it just seems unfair to the child to treat him/her as having any less status or personhood for what was between the mother and father, no fault of the child.) (Or maybe I’m just contrarian enough to think being a bastard is not necessarily a bad thing. Haha.)
In former times, children might be sent to other families or to a craftsman or professional so that the child could apprentice or be trained in that profession, or for other reasons like alliances or safety. On the other hand, they might also be handed over as legal hostages in some feud or dispute, perhaps from a third-party, so that a legal ward might have a legal guardian, but the child (minor or of majority) might be held hostage, but with legal responsibilities against harm, on the part of the lord/lady/house/clan holding them, with the expectation that they’d be released back to their own family or feudal lord eventually.
I thought I was more onto something with the idea the person might themselves decide they wanted to leave their own clan and join another, and whether or how that might happen.
You can’t just arbitrarily join a clan: you can marry in, or you can be associated in by some strong attachment —but that is the clan lord’s choice, not your own.
Aha! Thank you. 😀
Linguistic Aside: I kept wondering lately why we have several different word forms: ( yon, yond, yonder ). How exactly were they connected and differentiated, because they all felt too interchangeable. So I looked it up. Oh, aha, OK, that made much more sense. So here’s the deal in English.
The words ( yon, yond, yonder ) are analogous to the forms (that, (at/by) there, thither (to there), thence (from there) ). Likewise, (this, here, hither, hence) and (what, where, whither, whence). OK, that makes sense, and I knew already that “yon” in the sense of “way over yonder, over there” was the old form “beyond” (hey, related form again) in the this, that, yon group. We just don’t use “yon, yond, yonder” very much anymore, except poetically or colloquially from country dialects.
OK, but that left me with an obvious omission: we have ( whence, hence, thence ) but where’s the form for yon that matches those. I can’t recall at all if there’s anything like “yonce” or “yence” from Middle English or now-archaic Early Modern English (Shakespearean, King James, or Elizabethan era). My feeling is, the form would be “yonce” rather than “yence,” but I could guess it might come out as either one, in dialect back then. “Yonce” “feels” like it’s right and feels like I might have seen it before. But maybe “on the nonce” is what’s getting me there.
I tried googling for yonce and yence. All I got were contemporary urban slang references which I should’ve looked at, since I have never seen/heard those before. So no luck seeing if there was a “yonce” to match hence, thence, and whence. (And in passing, it seems almost odd not to spell it khence, given thence and whence, but then that makes me think there ought to be phence, phither, phere, and phit/phat/phot/phet/phut or some such word, and I have no idea what those (phose?) would mean. But my mind just had to go there…phere….
I feel almost certain there was a “yonce” form; I just can’t recall an attested instance.
But now I feel much better, knowing yon tree, (at) yond tree, (to) yonder tree, (from) yonce(?) tree.
Oh wait, but we do have, “Hark, what light from yonder window breaks?” as though younger had replaced yonce. I’m going to think there was a yonce in there before Shakespeare got to nosing around with Romeo and Juliet, or Cyrano was nosing around under his desired love’s balcony….
Huh, it just occurred to me: Those Montagues and Capulets really didn’t have much sense of scale or scope, did they, fitting the punishment to the crime? I mean, if one family’s young teenage son was sneaking around outside another family’s young teenage daughter’s upstairs bedroom window, and he’s out there on the lawn, into the bushes, trying to climb the trellis — Starting a city-wide feud between the two families is rather a bit much, isn’t it? Seems like the two dads could take turns spanking the boy or grounding him or something, to get across the idea that perhaps trying to play Peeping Tom, with the excuse of some moonlight serenade, might be a more appropriate and effective response. Or, y’know, send him off to camp or private school or some such. But then, the two families are portrayed as being rather headstrong and not necessarily so law-abiding, which reinforces the urban gang rivalry portrayal in that Bar Lurman movie version of Romeo and Juliet, with Leonardo DiCaprio. (I like that movie a lot for that take on it.)
Ah, be it noted, by the time I was a young teen, my parents had long since gone to grounding and lecturing and taking away privileges, rather than spankings, which ended when I was just old enough to remember it, preschool or Kindergarten age, somewhere in there. — A young, headstrong kid like Romeo (or Juliet, for that matter) are probably past spankings as effective anyway. But goodness, at all that fuss. — It would’ve been simpler to le them date and ally the two houses and avoid all that feuding. But hey, nobody asked me. 😀
(Aside: I would have been much more interested in one of my best (guy) friends at that age, anyway. But that’s me. Fine with Romeo and Juliet liking each other. But kids, cool it, would you? And that whole teen angst thing with the poison vials and daggers, just really, really not needed, kids. That’s no way to enjoy middle school or high school. Trust me, a prom date or a dance/ball date is not supposed to go that way!)
Yeah, nobody asked me. … Could wish one of my (guy) friends would’ve asked me or I could’ve asked him. But that’s a whole ‘nother thing. 😀
Yonce! — Hmm, I wonder: I think I have a copy of the Canterbury Tales on Kindle. If I ask it to search for “yonce” or maybe “younce” or “yence” …. — Well, if I do find it, I’ll report back. Otherwise, it’s just unattested, but I think it ought to be there.
Asked ic of divers editiones of Maister Chauceres booke, whether the Kindle did findeth the worde, “yonce” within hem bookes. Alas, ne find eth he not switch worde therein.
Mayhap hit searcheth not the book entire, but anely per chapitre eache? Ic kennae not.
——
Durig this, my keyboard, curse your sudden and inevitable betrayal, died the death of keyboards many, and spectacularly so. Had to reboot, then couldn’t get the keyboard to type in my password (!) then had to reboot again with an old spare keyboard, which may or may not have all its keys working anymore. Next stop is ordering a new one from that large southern continental river store….
Further aside, outside: I think some father (or would-be father) has had one too many cervezas. He was just pining in a rather lovesick voice for “¡Amooooor!” It sounds like he’s in no condition to get any, poor fellow. I can sympathize, but man, it’s early yet. Fortunately, there are other guys and ladies out there who can handle him if he gets out of hand. Sounds like it’s settling down. They are, however, having an above-average good time. No harm done, just more, ah, swerving and sing-song than usual. Heheh. I’m more amused than concerned about the proceedings. No one here has ever outdone the goings-on of the college crowd across the street from my dorm, back in the day. Nor would I want anyone to surpass that. I was lucky enough that drinking has never appealed to me to that extent; and I still have a lower tolerance, I think. No objection on principle, as long as it’s in moderation and nobody gets hurt. — One can, though, understand (from a distance) the appeal of a lively bar fight, although one might question the efficacy of same, particularly when the participants are hung over and recovering in the morning. Heh.
I’m still claiming there should be a matching yonce to complete the pattern. It feels like there should be a yonce. — What, why are you all looking at me like that? Hahahah.
(I can see I might as well relax the rest of the evening. Folks are going to be carousing for a while out there.)
I try to keep a couple of spare keyboards around at all times. My preferred model is the Kensington “Keyboard for Life” which is liquid resistant, lasts me about three years, and is relatively inexpensive (under $30 most places). Nice-sized keys.
Personally, I’m addicted to MicroSoftt’s Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000… It’s also fairly inexpensive, or at least it was the last time I bought 3 of them, having worn 2 others out…
https://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Natural-Ergonomic-Keyboard-4000/dp/B000A6PPOK
G
Things around Ye Olde homestead: Working on yet another baby quilt; the older sibling got a quilt, so I feel somewhat obliged to make one for the new addition. A friend on the mainland will also be getting a quilt for Xmas, so I need to get rolling on that.
The water heater developed a new quirk this morning, the water being too hot. Googling the problem indicates we may have a faulty thermostat, so off to the hardware store I go. Luckily the guy who redid all the questionable electricals in DH’s shop is available to check whether it it in fact the thermostat on the fritz, and will be by this afternoon to fix it if it is. Easier on him if I procure the parts in advance. This may be a prequel to getting an on demand tankless hot water heater instead of the old 30 gallon tank.
How did your upstairs renovations turn out? I’m old, can’t remember, if you said.
Upstairs at the shop (hereafter known as the Second Story) turned out very nicely. Spent 2 months removing previous tenant’s awful jerrybuilt walls. Pergo floors, repainted ugly, ugly walls with a white/light gray/dark gray trim color scheme. Built a custom table that can fit 14; good for both conference and gaming group. New uber a/c unit, necessary for the climate, plus new overhead lights and ceiling fans. Walkin storage closet for 3d printer, video conferencing and gaming supplies. Trying to rent it out for meeting space, but few nibbles so far. Considering RPG group usage, ‘Second Story’ not an inappropriate name 🙂
HandyKevin came by yesterday and installed the replacement thermostats on the water heater. At least now we can adjust the heat some, and it doesn’t immediately flash to steam on coming out of the faucet 😛
Sounds pretty good!
A couple possible life-bearing Earth-sized planets have been discovered around Teegarden’s star, which certainly sounds a pleasant place. Teegarden’s star is “only” about 12 ly away, and it’s a red dwarf with no flaring, a star with billions of years more lifespan than the Sun.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/19/us/planets-life-habitable-space-nearby-star-trnd/index.html
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I have a cheap ($26) large print backlighted keyboard that’s 6 years old, I think. I hated the KB that came with this computer; but I tend to prefer cheap keyboards–heaven forbid I have to use a clicky mechanical keyboard. The color backlight is nice. Though it always starts out in blue, it clicks through red and purple; and you can hold down the button to turn off the backlight, but that makes the legends a little hard to see. They have other models with more colors. The kickstand tilt arms have broken off, but I’m pretty rough with keyboards.
https://www.amazon.com/Azio-Tri-Color-Backlit-Keyboard-KB505U/dp/B008CXTX7S/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=color%2Bkeyboard%2Bazio&qid=1560962644&s=gateway&sr=8-5&th=1
Also a nice article on Europa:
https://www.cnn.com/2017/04/13/us/nasa-europa-enceladus-ocean-worlds-announcement-trnd/index.html
ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS – EXCEPT EUROPA.
ATTEMPT NO LANDINGS THERE.
Teagarden’s Star is a class M6 red dwarf, very old, so out of it’s active flare-star stage common in red dwarfs, but both planets must surely be tidally locked, much like “Darkover”.
Darkover did (does?) orbit a red sun, but isn’t tidally locked.
Wikipedia’s Darkover article says it’s a red giant, but I don’t recall having that impression from “Darkover Landfall”. It had indigenous life forms, and red giants are not very hospitable for life, in contrast to, generally elderly, red dwarfs. Red dwarfs will long outlive Sol, providing a long time for life and evolution, and there are so many more of them, e.g. 50 of the 60 stars nearest Sol. (Variously estimated at 2/3 to 3/4 of all stars.) Cottman’s Star must be somewhere “near” Sol. 😉
c.v. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_giant
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_dwarf
I thought that the Bloody Sun was only perceptually giant, due to Darkover’s close proximity.
It would be, of course. The two planets just discovered at Teegarden’s Star have “years” of 5 and 11.4 days. (Mercury is 88 days.) It’s an M7 class star, 8% the mass of Sol, 0.073% the luminosity–that’s dim! But it’s believed to be more than 8 billion years old, round about twice as old as Sol, “elderly”.
When I was a kid, and nothing was PC, I was told. “White man build big fire, sit far back. Indian build small fire, sit up close.” It’s like that with habitability zones.
Often “tidally locked” is presented as some sort of impediment to life. I don’t see it. Think about all that plants and animals, too, have to do to adapt to the day/night and seasonal cycles. No folding up your flowers or needing shelter, no steering your leaves, the sun in a reliable direction, less chaotic weather patterns, ….
That much may be true, but with tidal locking also comes thermal differences between dayside and nightside. This would setup tremendous circulation patterns in the atmosphere, since we’re talking about habitability, and seas if it were a water-world. The other thing about being so close to be tidally locked, is stellar variability. Red dwarfs, being small especially the smaller, spin very fast in their early life, giving them horrendous magnetic fields, and that gives rise to being flare stars, e.g. Proxima Centauri, and variable. When that close, any little hiccup can ruing one’s whole day! They’ll slow down because of the “friction” of “frame drag” against space-time, but they’ve plenty of time to do that and evolve life, if it will. We’d want an elderly red dwarf.
So it isn’t so much the tidal locking that’s entirely the cause for concern, but everything that comes with it.
What If the Moon Didn’t Exist? A very interesting book (title from memory). I called the author to thank him for the book, and asked one question that seemed avoided in the book: How much of Earth’s internal heat is from initial compression heating, radioactivity, and tidal friction? Answer: they don’t know.
However, it’s a pretty good bet that most of Io’s heat is from tidal forces from Jupiter. I expect the same would be true of a tidally locked planet close around a star. The star’s luminescence could be minor. Io seems too warm or too volcanic for anything beyond microbial life, even if it were big enough to hold an atmosphere.
But clearly there’s a Goldilocks size and distance where tidal heating makes the dark side comfortable. Infrared vision, low light vision, and sonar are all possible as human vision replacements.
Even in a total ocean world, given a few extra billion years, which Teegarden’s Star has apparently had, even octopuses might become a technological civilization, though I rather imagine fire would come rather late in their tech tree.
We have this myopic view of the “life zone” that’s totally based on the luminescence of the local star, yet if you use that to measure Io, you get the answer that it’s too cold, when it’s really too hot. My point is that we have to put aside geocentric and heliocentric ideas and look at all of the energy available to life on a planet.
Maybe we have to throw up our hands and say we can’t tell, but I think that better than saying some planet is or is not habitable when we really don’t know. Every time we discover a super-Jovian planet, I wonder how many habitable worlds could be around it.
Since red dwarfs (M class) are 5/6 of the stellar population and orange stars (K) another big percent, I can imagine the Federated Civilizations just deciding it’s not worth bothering with yellow stars (G) at all–they just don’t last long enough for sapient life to arise. As for variable Gs like the Sun–pfft!
Current analyses agree about Io, and I agree many people assume too much about habitability zone calculations.
It seems to me likewise there’s a lot assumed about what “the search for life” means. We’ve found life around the deep ocean geothermal vents. The tubeworms and crabs are obviously emigrees but the sulfur-using bacteria might evolve on other water-worlds. We’ve found bacteria living deep within the Earth’s crust. But note: these are highly evolved life, not at all “primitive”.
People want “interesting life”. For that I go back to basic Chemistry. You want liquid water as the universal solvent. Carbon as the basic “building block”. Oxygen atmosphere as the oxidizer. (Fortunately, nucleogenesis makes carbon and oxygen aplenty.) ATP, chlorophyl and hemoglobin for energy. Life on Earth evolved this way because it has found the optimum chemistry to use–not because it’s Earth but because it’s Chemistry and that’s known to be the same everywhere. Silicon, chlorine, and cyanoglobin just don’t physically work as well.
Imagination is a great thing, but some of it is fantasy. Not everything that can be imagined will work in the real world.
Intelligent species without access to combustion would probably find other ways of heating things, either chemical or by utilizing induction or even just the heat of volcanic seafloor vents. There’s also, speaking of chemistry, some mad science going on around those vents, which might lead to some crazy bioengineering instead of metallurgy. Grow your spacecraft hulls and parts from metal-laced kelp or shells, engineered to integrate it as part of its growth.
Exactly. Carbon fiber and such might come long before steel. And while their ships would be heavier from the water “atmosphere”, they could take extreme gee forces without discomfort, after the pressures of living in an ocean.
So solve the engineering problem: what’s the mass, thus escape velocity, of the planet you’re trying to get a water (“A pint’s a pound, the world around.”) filled crew capsule into space from, what fuel are you going to use, how big arocket will you need?
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jpallan/4633000725
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_propellant#Current_types
Being oceanic, 2H2+O2 to water would seem natural. These hypothetical aliens don’t need the acceleration couches of Apollo, but we have no reason to estimate a particular body size or the weight of instrumentation they would need.
In WWII, I think, kamikazi pidgeons were considered as missile pilots. African Grey parrots are seemingly far more intelligent. The problem is neither have free limbs to evolve into manipulators. Octopuses do, but little ones? Big ones? Ones that sense with lateral lines? Sonar? Vision?
And there’s no telling where their tech tree would go. They might have a far better understanding of gravity–even how to manipulate it–than we had when we first saw the stars.
It’s an interesting hypothetical, but it can’t really be nailed down without a ridiculous number of assumptions.
Is there an SF writer in the house? 😉
“Kamikaze Pigeons” — That’s either the next hit anime / manga or the next hot punk band name. 😀
@Grognard — Right on… Is much better than left off.
One problem those ocean-dwelling lifeforms have is how to lift all that water (for breathing atmosphere and maybe for other senses, mobility, and some other purpose) into orbit and beyond. Also, just because we air-breathers realized we had to build things airtight, would a water-breathing species realize that right away?
Radial or bilateral symmetry, or something more odd? Base 8 might be natural for them, but alien octopus-like critters wouldn’t be guaranteed to have 8 arms, or for all those to remain “arms” or “digits” (fingers, or prehensile). (Personally, I’d think base 16 would be more useful.) Or base 12 (dozens or duodecimal). — I wonder if any aliens would possibly find base 7 their best choice, or maybe base 14.
Note both octopi and cuttlefish have “chromatophores” the aid in camouflage and possibly indicate emotion and communication (language, maybe, if they were advanced / intelligent enough), cells in the skin surface that control pigment and intensity. Sort of “living e-ink.” (Great, you mean some squid-boy or squid-girl could have an animated tattoo, “Eat at Joe’s Crab Shack” or “I <3 Flipper" or "Finney 4ever — Go Team!" Or the like? Hahaha.
Huh…animated tattoos. Now there's a cyberpunk thing somebody should've thought of already. Seems like it would belong in Blade Runner.
Logan’s Run comes close.
Walt, also to PJ Evans and Grognard, thanks for your keyboard recommendations. I’d ordered one and will try Walt’s large print, backlit keyboard too.
Heh, I looked for an action figure earlier this week, to see if they were available (no, or not yet) — and had to laugh at the irony of a recommendation for a “Monolith action figure.” Not much visible action going on in that figure, but the apes seemed more active!
Obviously, Walt’s 2010 movie Europa comment reminded me.
Right-oh…
Major UUGGHHHH! Yesterday the a/c went off at the library first thing in the morning. By noon, temperature and relative humidity were both in the 80s and both staff and patrons were frazzled. We got permission to shut down early, and staff went home, mostly to marinate in cold baths and their own a/c. This morning, a tech came by to reboot the a/c, but within 2 hours it had cut out again. Temperature (and tempers) are rising again. Why can’t we have an a/c system that works? It was just overhauled about 5 years ago, and hasn’t worked right since. Part of that is probably because admin can’t agree on a maintenance contract, which is like buying a new car, but never changing the oil. After some time, you WILL have problems.
Wildly off topic:
My youngest daughter gave cesarean birth to ‘momo’ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoamniotic_) twins daughters on the 19th in Canberra. They hope to have them off the ventilators tomorrow. They were 3lbs 1oz and 3lbs 12oz. Imagine the relief of all concerned at their survival. My daughter and her wife were allowed to hold them for the first time yesterday.
That sounds wonderful, may they all thrive!
Amen! Congratulations, and thank heavens all are well!
Health and Happiness to your new grandchildren and the entire family, Tommie!
Tommie, congratulations! I hope the babies and mom continue to improve, and her spouse as well. (And oh, I had not realized: wife. OK, cool, good to know.)
I was smaller / earlier than that, though a single baby. Three pounds and some ounces is still a “wee bairn,” and so I’ll be thinking of them.
Best Wishes!
Tommie, congratulations on the safe arrival of your new granddaughters! I hope all continues to go well with them and your daughter and her wife.
Congrats, Tommie.
What a wonderful piece of news, Tommie! Congratulations to the new parents and the grandmother, too!
Joy and all the very best congratulations to the baby twins, proud mamas, and their gama.
Now the adventure begins! 💥
Totally off-topic, but I need to put together a recipe for a cold pasta salad, and could use some advice.
I’m on holiday with dad and brother on Texel, and there’s a heatwave. No onions, garlic, spicy peppers, mayonnaise or mustard allowed.
I tried to recreate last year’s potato salad but had forgotten what exactly I put in except green asparagus, sugarsnaps, a few radishes, smoked chicken and some smoked cheese; I made a dressing with a bit of goat yoghurt, some honey and lemon juice and they liked it OK tonight.
Now I need to think up a pasta-based one for tomorrow.
I’ve got whole grain penne pasta.
Maybe put in watercress or rocket?
Combine with shredded smoked salmon, or a tin of tuna? Mozzarella or feta or goat’s cheese?
Pasta + salad greens + cheese and/or a bit of fish (my brother doesn’t like fish much) still seems too light on the vegetables, so what else would combine with any of the abovementioned possible ingredients?
Cherry tomatoes? Red and yellow bell peppers? Sweet corn? A tart-sweet juicy apple?
And what combination would work with my lemon juice and/or yoghurt for a dressing?
I’m not a very good cook, and find it hard to imagine how the flavors will combine, and if a combination might work out well or not (especially for salads); but recipes I find online always contain stuff I can’t eat…
I don’t know how accessible the ingredients are to you where you are, but I found a very good simple salad recipe: a cup of salsa (you can work around the hot stuff by chopping up tomatoes and adding in cilantro and/or sweet corn), a cup of precooked black beans (I don’t see why you couldn’t use any other type of beans too), and one chopped up ripe avocado. Adding in some penne pasta would stretch it nicely, just mix the ingredients and chill.
Good idea, avocado.
Salsa I can’t eat, even the mild ones are too spicy for me, and they generally contain forbidden chopped onions as well as the too-hot peppers.
I ended up with whole meal penne pasta, lamb’s ear lettuce, shredded smoked salmon and mini mozzarellas, avocado, cherry tomatoes, sweet corn and pomegranate seeds.
Same lemon juice, yoghurt and honey dressing as last night, and it all tasted fine together, and different enough from last night to not be boring.
I find it’s fun to experiment with these cold dinner-salad dishes now I’ve got more than one person to cook for. Usually, for just myself, I don’t try as these salads don’t freeze well, and the amount of ingredients even in the small servings sizes one has to buy to make nice combinations are enough that I’d be eating the same thing for 4 days (which I really dislike doing).
Tomorrow we’re eating out for mom and dad’s wedding day, but if it’s still hot on Thursday I’ll try one more. Maybe fresh spinach leaves (uncooked) with goat’s cheese and hazelnuts, walnuts or pecans.
Maybe roasted bell peppers or sundried tomatoes (except I don’t like the oil they’re kept in), and what else? Fresh peaches or pear? Pine nuts?
Or use fresh yellow and red bell peppers, but I’m not sure if those would combine well with the fresh spinach leaves; maybe in that case I should blanch the spinach?
At least I’ve got a day to think of something new.
Spinach leaves, blue cheese/gorgonzola, nuts of any variety, including pine, pear or sour cherries, maybe spearmint or water cress, and finely chopped water chestnut/jicama/carrot. Good bread and butter go well with this type of thing.
Oohh! spinach with diced fresh pear, feta cheese, and balsamic vinaigrette dressing!
I ran into a recipe for a cole slaw (cabbage salad) this morning with a fruit-based dressing. It sounds very tasty.
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/This-colorful-slaw-is-the-gem-that-will-brighten-14056451.php
The salsa idea is good. Mmm. And that often contains the bell peppers, tomatoes, and corn you mentioned as possible ingredients. You could add sour cream or use the cheese ideas you had, and that would reduce any apparent heat from the commercially available salsas. I am not big on hot/spicy chili or peppers, (bell peppers are fine), but I can do fine with a medium or mild salsa. Sour cream or cheese are often used in Latino dishes to mask or reduce the heat from any peppers. Avocado is very nice with vinegar and/or lemon or lime juice (I usually use lemon or lime) in salads you’re going to use up quickly., such as guacamole.
Do you have oranges or tangerines? Those could work with the tuna or salmon and combine well with the lemon juice.
Chondrite mentioned black beans and that reminded me I put on about a cup or two of black beans to soak last night, and forgot! So I now have the pot cooking, adding water as it cooks and soaks / evaporates. A carton of chicken stock is going in (I found I’m out of veg. stock) and tomato paste will go in once the beans are cooked down, along with a bag of frozen veggies, for final cooking.
It sounds like you have the makings of a good pasta salad there with what you’d described. What about some zucchini or yellow squash, raw or cooked, chopped in and served with the other salad ingredients? Do you have tomato paste or maybe marinara or other sauce available (canned or frozen pouch) you could add in and microwave, to blend and cook a bit, then perhaps chill the salad or serve warm or room temperature.
I don’t know what you have nearby and presume you don’t want to do much more than what you have. But just about any veggies would work to extend that and give it some body.
If they don’t want the tuna or salmon, is cooked chicken or turkey a possibility? Over here, you can get a rotisserie chicken pre-cooked from most supermarkets, or canned chicken. Maybe sausage? Or some beef? Hamburger? — Go with what’s quick and cheap, since you’re on vacation. 🙂
(Now I wish I remember what you’d said you’d used in that salad before. I don’t know if I’d copied the description you gave.)
Likely, I’ll fix a stir-fry, but it may be cut-up pork chops or hamburger, with stir-fry veggies and the rice and so on. I’ll order groceries at the end of the week or early next week. I cooked rice yesterday.
Another salad I just remembered today: diced cucumber with yogurt. (About one cucumber per 250g of plain yogurt – you want it kind of thick. Maybe more yogurt, if you want it thinner. (It’s like tzatziki, but thicker.) Seasonings that can be added: dillweed, or mint, and a little salt and pepper.
Bean salad works, too: three kinds of beans is traditional, and a vinaigrette dressing. (The usual in the US is red kidney beans, cut-up green beans, and cut-up yellow beans, all generally available canned and needing only to be rinsed.) I’ve been known to add more canned veggies: sliced mushrooms, sliced water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, sliced black olives, baby corn. (Refrigerate before eating.)
My version is a 4-bean salad, with chickpeas/garbanzo beans, and some coarsly chopped pepperoncini and some of the pepperoncini pickling liquid use in place of some vinegar in the dressing, sof just a little bit of spice.
On Earth, we have examples of current lifeforms that use copper-based blood, not as efficient, but they exist, in invertebrates, crustaceans, IIRC, maybe others.
Also on Earth, besides green bacteria and plants which use chlorophyl, there are blue-green bacteria (cyanobacteria) and reddish-purple bacteria (similar to the purples seen in many plants), and IIRC, also reddish-brown bacteria. I don’t recall the scientific names for those latter two groups. But the idea being, for some reason, we either have plants that incorporate those purples (the energy-producing components that make those bacteria purple), or or else our plants don’t include those for some reason, and the purple coloration is from other pigments plants commonly make. Whether the red-brown (erythro- ?) bacteria’s capabilities exist in higher forms like algae and higher plants, I don’t know. But this tells us that life on Earth found other things besides chlorophyll that were useful for sustaining life in different forms.
There are also closely symbiotic, interconnected creatures like slime-molds and organisms that cooperate symbiotically between fungi and plants and are motile. So odd things can and do happen on earth, which means we could see similar things elsewhere on habitable moons or planets.
Some o those Permian and Cambrian / Pre-Cambrian animals were pretty odd too, and got wiped out in a mass extinction.
The octopus and cuttlefish examples are really good for what might evolve underwater, and it might gain land-based ability like the amphibians, and into reptiles, mammals, or some other development. (After all, if it arose from something like an octopus or cuttlefish, it would be drastically different from our kinds of vertebrates somehow, anyway.)
And…including here on Earth, life could branch off in another direction from anywhere on the taxonomic tree of life. Just because on present-day Earth we have the vertebrates, it doesn’t mean something else couldn’t appear in a few million years from anywhere in the multicellular invertebrates, or a new branch out of vertebrates, or some odd kind of single-celled life might flip the switches that lead to another multicellular branch. Or more symbioses. Or who-knows-what. We don’t know and probably can’t imagine it until it gets here.
Side point: Suppose a new species began to appear from higher animals (or plants or fungi) or from primates, or even humans. Would we be so biased that we, as a species, would try to prevent it spreading? Or is it possible that it would start appearing so often, or in some remote / inconvenient way or location, that we couldn’t prevent a new species from emerging?
Another side question: cetaceans have that “melon” and echolocation sonar. — Would that work on land? What would be necessary for that to adapt to work on land? — Then again, bats have a form of that too, but a different biological mechanism.
We just don’t know enough yet what is possible out there elsewhere in the universe. I agree that there are things that are far more likely to be common. But the more we learn, the more we find things we didn’t know were possible, but that do exist.
It would be stunning if it turns out there’s life around Io or Europa or elsewhere, or on Mars in someplace we haven’t noticed yet. If we find that, even fossilized life, it will expand our understanding by a huge amount.
We’re still very early on in detecting exoplanets and guessing about habitability or those planets’ characteristics.
(Note: I’m still on a balky temporary keyboard. It’s dropping letters periodically. So any typos I mis, much more likey these days, are unintended.)
I’ve read – don’t remember where – that vanadium would be a better metal than copper, for some purposes. It would be green under some conditions, at least.
Gah! — It’s 2019. You’d think a major company’s website login and my Mac’s Safari browser would not get their wires crossed and argue about name, username, password, and other data they use to establish and verify a login process for an account. But it just did. On a new policy, and informs me it’s locked and I need to call to get it unlocked and reset. Did so. The young lady’s headset kept going in and out so we couldn’t easily hear each other, and of course, since it’s a new policy, it’s not yet registering in her system, even though it should be the same system that was supposed to give me the login so I could electronically sign the document starting it off. And (of course) now the local rep is out to lunch on a conference call, expected back after 2:00pm. The lady at the call center said it could take 24 to 48 hours to get to their system. — I know it’s in the local agent’s system and was submitted to the website’s system so it could assign a PIN and a login. — And I fully expect the thing to want to argue again over what it thinks it should do with a name, PIN, and other data. It seems to be trying to confuse the name and PIN with being a username and password, and the busybody browser was trying to insist, oh, that’s not a secure enough pair, it wanted to assign another. I said no, it appeared to take it, and then wouldn’t let me sign back in with what I just submitted. And was kind enough to lock me out, because surely that was too many tries and I must be up to no good, even though I’m not doing a dang thing wrong.
I am going to ask the agent if perhaps he could mail me a copy with a return envelope, or simply come out and do it in person. You know, the old-fashioned, face-to-face way. Oh, I am all in favor of efficient computer access. But it needs to be way more foolproof than that. Heh, and now I’m delayed however many days or hours, on what could have taken less than 15 minutes, and did, with a different company’s document signing process. Ugh.
—–
The apartment complex issued written notices yesterday to all residents, and rather than taped or affixed to my door, it was simply lying there on the ground and hadn’t yet blow away in the wind, a wonder. We’d had rain earlier too. — They will be doing inspections today and for the next two days, and didn’t give more notice than that. Well, OK, fine. — I still have the dryer vent issue and I am sure I still have insects, and if any pest control was done back in Januar, I sure never saw it. (So much for the professional cleaning fee.) — I took care of the bathroom and part of the hall yesterday and swept, and will mop this evening, then vacuum the two bedrooms probably tomorrow morning. — I feel sure I will get some static about it. I maintain, hey, I asked for work to e done and it wasn’t done, and I asked last month for someone from the office to come by and escort me over to sign papers, which they did not. I am sure they’ll insist they’re in the right anyway as the landlord’s agents. Uh-huh, OK, but just get it done so we’ll both be happy. Please. (I do intend to be more friendly than that, but I am also tired of things going like this. It isn’t my fault if I never see/hear from anyone when I report and ask for something and there isn’t a follow-through. But I also don’t always want to call and nag repeatedly, like I had to last time, either. Sigh.
I’m going to try to reach that friend again about the rent-to-own / house renovation possibility. Be it noted, that has not happened yet, so it’s still 6 to 9 months from whenever that starts. But at this point, oh, do I want that, while I still have a chance to afford it.
Meanwhile, I will go back to font work this afternoon, because income has to happen. I keep working at it. It will happen, but dang, I wish it already was in place and giving me a steady, sustainable living. So frustrating.
And with that, I think I’ve also convinced myself to do the sweeping, mopping, and vacuuming now, rather than this evening and tomorrow. Once that’s done, I’ll have things about as ship-shape as they can be for a while, and I can give some more time to re-boxing things, reducing whatever can be gotten rid of, and so on. And the slow laundry process.
Maybe, just maybe, the inspector will hear me out and we can get the ball rolling — with actual follow-through on things, have me and official documents and signatures all meet so everything and everyone is happy (such as a release form so they get the dryer vent line (inside the apartment walls) fixed as it should be, or else determine it’s actually my dryer at fault somehow and not the lines. (I am going to get a _new_ washer and dryer at some point. I’ve had it with used ones not working right.)
So…. Well, as long as the inspection doesn’t try to give me grief over things, it’s not really too bad. Just, I am irritated at all this little stuff that should be easy to resolve, instead of lingering on. And surely I can’t be the only one who’s experiencing things like this. — I still maintain it’s an above-average complex. Yet I think they are under-staffed for maintenance and tend to avoid little stuff to save money, while putting it on the tenants. The pool needs maintenance again and hasn’t had it, with the July 4th holiday coming up and people (kids especially) surely wanting to swim to get relief from the heat.
I’ll get groceries at the end of this week or the start of next week. Probably the latter, so I have plenty of room, though I am out of a few things and just _want_ things because…I’ve got cabin fever, I think.
July 4th, I fully intend to binge-watch Stranger Things 3, with some form of bbq and so on.
I hope things go well with the inspection and I can have a peaceful, non-stressful week next week. Phooey.
(The place needed a good cleaning anyway. I am not irritated about needing to do that, and I _might_ be sneaking up on former good habits there. At least the last housecleaning effort was more recent than the one before it. I am taking this as a good sign. That’s how far down I still am.)
At least Goober will appreciate having the place clean. Would be nice if anyone else would too. :-/
Well, yay, my lease is renewed and I have a work order with slgned release form sent n so that, oh bright hope, the dryer vent line might get cleared within about a week, maybe. The apartment still hasn’t been inspected, and they are (unsurprisingly) behind schedule, but working on it. Employee turnover for apt. leasing offices must be high; that was another new employee.
And good Lord, the legalese has proliferated: Now I have nearly 60 pages, US Legal size, worth of small print. Sheesh. More pages than last time. I discovered I don’t have 10×15 envelopes, so have ordered same to file the thing. You’d think I’d entered into some grand endeavo(u)r. It’s just a normal-sized apartment.
Goober has endured sitting in his carrier once this morning while I was out for the signing, and will have to put up with it again (sorry, buddy) this afternoon or whenever the inspector checks the apt. Poor Goober did fine, but it reminded me that the last time I had a cat in a carrier, it was Smokey. I still am reminded regularly that I feel bad or having given him away, and still hope he’s OK and loved with some new person / family.
Font stuff is still proceeding, with good progress on the latest ideas, so that one of thee is almost ready for the next stage.
Nope, I still don’t have a house lined up, so the year’s lease renewal is good. — I checked also about early termination, in case I can get something sooner than a year, and the terms were OK there, 60 days’ notice, and 85% of the last month’s rent, but further months are waived. So this is fine, essentially a moving cost I’ll have to absorb. If the timing is right, I’ll get the benefit of that last month, so the cost will be as OK as it can be. So I am here until at least June of next year.