kbk

So, my neighbour plays this sleep-music. At least, I assume that's what it is, because I've been hearing it at night; and I only hear a bit of it, and it's only when it's quiet outside... but that's when I'm trying to sleep, and it bugs the crap out of me.

So I'm wondering if it would be politer to write a note or to knock on the door and attempt talking. Because maybe he's trying to drown me out and we're getting into an escalating situation; I mean, I doubt it, but maybe my music was a little loud earlier, I dunno.

Crap. Bugging. Bugging the crap. Part of the reason I stayed up horrendously late last night and so wound up sleeping all day today instead of going to Key. Agh.

*iz ded*

Got up at eight, which is an obscene time on a Sunday morning, to find toilet overflowing. Finally got the pipe working again around half-eleven, at which time dad arrived (it was kinda spooky, actually) and wanted to start work on the other pipe, so I hung around watching and fetched and carried. I have been up and down those stairs at least two dozen times today and I am TIRED. Yes, I know I am unfit, I plan to work on it, but this is not the way to do it. Also five of those trips were carrying a big bucket of water down to the drain in the road. Anyway. Dad left a bit after one, having unblocked that pipe as well, and bought me some more gas, which is good. I have poured warm salty water down the sinks. The bathroom still smells bad.

I am just back from the shop, because I was in dire need of caffeinated sweeteners (aka diet coke) and food with instructions on it. My legs are sore. I may take a nap now. Of course, a nap now could turn into sleep until tomorrow, but I am a bit incompetent without enough sleep. Last night I nearly gassed myself because I went downstairs and found the blowtorch not working because of cold, so I brought it back up, and forgot to actually turn it off until I smelled it. Sometimes I think if I was braver I'd totally have won a Darwin award by now, because I may be intelligent but that depends on me actually thinking about things.

Ohhhh my. It is cold. It is very cold. I just discovered I have ICE on the INSIDE of my front windows. Admittedly the heating has only just come on, but seriously. Ice. Inside. That's not fair.

Also not fair: I went out about nine this morning to go to Key, only to be told when I got there that they are not open. (Also, one of the staff called me 'petal', and I can think of very few women less petal-like than myself.) So then I came back via the shops, which is good because now I have money on the gas and more food. I did not fall over but there were a few slippy bits.

I have been out the last two days but that was in the afternoon, which was cold, but not quite as bitter as this morning, which was quite a shock to the system.

The drains are not working very well, so I emailed my landlord aka father and he as suggested I could go stay in their house until the weather improves. That would be warmer, but then so would the fiery pits of hell. Probably I will not tell him about the ice inside the windows as then he might try to insist and that could be unfortunate.

I am going to change my heating strategy. I have had it on full, only part of the time. I think it would be better to have it permanently on low, with more as and when. *nods*

I hope you are all warm.

I have curtains that block out the light! This is rather marvellous as I have streetlights right outside. I got the blackout material off ebay, picked it up from the house at the weekend (because I got it sent there by mistake through clicking through paypal too fast, sigh) and this morning I got up and I took the curtains down and I cut bits of material off the roll and then I took them all to Key and I sewed them together and it took like three hours but it got done. Also I now have a few metres spare blackout fabric. Anyone want?

I got a letter from the cooncil saying my housing benefit claim has been rejected because of a system error. I think it is that it is now a month since I first applied and no decision has been made, but that is because I don't have a doctor's letter yet, so once that arrives I will go to the office and go Argh at them.

Um. I'm pretty sure there was other stuff but nothing comes to mind, so.

ETA: I have done accumulated dishes, and put on a load of washing, and I was feeling all domestic and such and then I managed to dribble fruit tea all over the place. What's worse, it's pink. Sigh.

YEAH, BOYEE! OH YEAH! I have Internet in my flat!

The guy came around lunchtime, and the modem was connecting but internet wasn't happening, and he asked if I knew anyone who was good with computers and I said yes, since I do, and he told me to call them because he was ok but mostly he just has to plug stuff in and it works.

So, I faffed around a bit, tried the wifi thing, switched off the firewall, tried my old laptop (which I am on at the moment), switched things off and on again, went away for a bit and read stuff, then came back and tried again and finally it is working! I will want to set up the wi-fi and get my good laptop connected but right now I am totally satisfied with this.

Oh yeah. I'm back.

I came over to house last night and promptly got eaten by the internet; stayed up all night reading crap fic, slept all day, did not actually do half what I meant to; parentals have gone out both evenings; planned to get the bus back while they were out but failed and am now waiting for them to come back so I can get a lift.

Argh. Money issues etc continue, but I finally got my arse into gear and went and applied for housing benefit, which is a good step, and I phoned the gas company to change over the account (the electricity had an online thing and oddly enough got achieved like a month ago).

I have way too much stuff. I am now at the point (again?) of throwing my hands up and saying, jesus, too much, may as well just throw all this stuff out because I won't even notice 95% of it is gone. Which is not entirely true but it damn well feels like it.

I re-read 'The Fifth Child' by Doris Lessing, which was an odd experience. It is a book I did for Higher English; it creeped me out quite a lot at the time, which stuck with me through, christ, ten years. On re-reading, I managed to identify a few of the issues which freaked me out so badly, stuff about the destruction of the family, the danger of maternity (I have this whole irrational issue linking femininity to death) and suchlike. Also of course this was just after my mother died. Anyway, I re-read it from a more analytical perspective and hope that has helped; but it was odd because I must have read it a dozen times, and before I picked it up I couldn't have told you more than the bare outlines, but I kept recognising parts of it and feeling like I could have quoted them by heart.

Anyway, then I read the sequel, 'Ben, In The World' and I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's kind of odd, again, especially reading them in the same day, because in the first book Ben is basically your archetypal changeling/monster child, and then in the second he's the central sympathetic character. He's still depicted as being 'wrong' but it leads to him being taken advantage of, etc, and it's a very different perspective on the character. I guess that's part of what makes a Nobel-winning author.

Also I watched the Star Wars trilogy, again, and I realised something. The rebel base at the end of the first film, the outside is filmed at Tikal. Which I have visited. I have watched the films before and since, but I don't remember noticing before. I was just looking at it, just when they return from destroying the Death Star, I think, and thought, those bits of stone temple sticking up out of the trees, those look awfully familiar... So I have been to Yavin IV.

I am at the house, came over yesterday, am totally leaving tomorrow because with every day I spend in the flat - even failing to feed myself properly, lacking internet, having insufficient curtains and street noise and etc and more - even with all that, I am so much more relaxed and contented there than I am here. Even with internet. Not that I don't miss you all when I'm gone, but there are a couple of places in town with free wi-fi if I ever get really twitchy, and I am going to organise it for my flat very soon.

I own so much crap. I mean, so, so much stuff that I don't need, that I don't touch from one year to the next, but I don't throw it out because it might be useful, or, whatever. Ugh. Argh. Etc.

Flat is now basically ready for moving in, so that will happen gradually over the next week or two. This means I have to do something about the shite all over my room here. This is effort. Also I need car & driver for a trip to IKEA and a few trips to the flat.

Also everything is happening at once and I do not know how to deal with half of it and agh, stress.

*eats chocolate*

I am going to sleep at the flat tonight! which means I will not have internet (booooo). The cooker is getting delivered ridiculously early tomorrow (7-8.30, they claim) so, yeah. This afternoon I went smashy smashy with hammer on the ugly cupboard doors that I took down the other day, and then painty painty made hall ceiling yellow, and then tidied up, then some more painting, then played with goo (otherwise known as decorator's caulk, for filling up little gaps).

Carpet is supposedly getting delivered Thursday morning, so I may just stay over there tomorrow night as well. But lack of internet is a problem.

Breaking the doors was good fun, and I think did more for my mental health than talking to Mr Man earlier. He is OK, just I hate the whole therapy process which is not really helpful.

Hm. Things. I only have an hour or so left to fit in vital internets! I don't know what to do first!

I have been reading some of my old fic - for some reason a couple of people recently favourited one of my HP stories, which made me look in my feedback folder, and I looked at a couple of other things in there and one of them was for a story I did not remember in the slightest, so... Anyway, I really like some of them, mostly from a few years ago, once I had some experience. I can see odd things I've done wrong, or would like to do better, but I like them. Obviously they're tailored to my sense of humour, my idea of a good story, but I still think there's some genuine quality there, and it's really weird for me to think that about something I've done.

In other news, I now have a washing machine and a fridge in the flat, respectively bought from a charity shop and acquired from a colleague of Maureen's. Flooring is due at some point but I believe has been pushed back to next week sometime; painting is progressing but I want to do another coat in the front room, which apparently makes me a perfectionist. *shrugs*

And tomorrow I am going to take a look at a place which gets mental people making furniture and suchlike, and maybe I will start going there. And maybe I will manage to make a phone call. And, shit, I really have to get an appointment at the doctor's because I have now run out of drugs as well as pill.