Literally, actually, about the gloom - it's cold and drear as balls, kids.

Let's have some Real Life Updates!

Condo Flood Update: 

So, The Upstairses were trying to be frugal and do the insulation removal (and maybe installation?) by themselves to reduce the cost - which is showing me, again, that Ms. Upstairs is a bit of an idiot when it comes to thinking about short term costs for long term benefit. We are getting a Very Reduced Price on this project thru our state's Green Energy Home Improvements process - a price that was further because the whole building is doing the insulation update at the same time.  So, instead of allowing the Trained and Insured Professionals handle this part of their job, they decided to remove the insulation themselves, which caused them to uproot the elderly, dead end pipe that was in their attic, which caused the leak. Their plumber has fixed it and removed the dead end pipe and all looks well. 

So, with the Condo Trustees (aka, the four of us) having met, cordial relations have been restored, we have some things on our respective To Do Lists, and things are presumably fine for the upcoming Insulation Project (This Time With Fucking Professionals, Jeez).

The question remains unaddressed, tho: DID they have the right to be doing construction work in the attic without talking to the rest of the condo trustees (aka, US) first? My reading of the master deed suggest that they really, really did not - the boundaries of each unit's domain end at the upper finishing layer of the ceiling, and the attic seems like it falls under the unenumerated clause of the "Common Spaces and Facilities" clause of the deed - certainly the pipe they hit did, as well as the structures of the roof itself. 

I did not bring this up at the meeting because, why make it contentious if you don't have to? and, now, understanding that they were pulling up insulation that they'd been discussing with the contractor as part of the approved insulation project, I felt like they might have a reasonable case to make that this would have been pre-approved as it were. But I don't feel quite easy about how to address it for next time, and I feel like a legal reading would side with my interpretation of the attic being part of the common spaces. 

This is all made more complicated by the fact that there is an Improvements Clause, that allows each unit to improve spaces that are attached to only their unit "with the approval of 50% of the condo trustees", aka, with just that unit's owners approving it. Initially, this seems to have been written to allow people to enclose their porches, if they want to, but would potentially cause trouble on the issue of their DIY project. Ugh. Thus, I am opting to leave the whole thing alone unless they make another foray into Stupid Home Improvements. 

Little Women:
I had a truly lovely Saturday of lazing about with my Husbeast. We went to see Little Women, which was entirely new to him. I cried, he cried, I crowed about predicting him crying, we sang the praises of Greta Gerwig and had a lovely dinner out afterwards. 

On the film Little Women, I was moved and delighted. It was fasted paced and gorgeous.  I have only vague memories of the book and slightly more structured memories of the 90's adaptation with Winona Rider. I thought Saoirse Ronan was an excellent, focused Jo, who felt Some Kind of Queer to me (Ace? Lesbian? Genderqueer? Unknown and unimportant to pin down!). I think that Gerwig successfully transferred the Great Romance of Jo's life to her writing, and its culmination in her published novel,  and moved away from the idea that Jo's Great Romantic Focus should be Some Dude. Florence Pugh as Amy was deeply felt and wonderful and well rooted. Laurie the Dude was, as always, kind of a consolation prize of a person - if Amy had just won the lottery, I would have felt better for her. All in all, it felt like the very best of Fix-It Fic - rooted in love of the source material, and willing to break the letter of the adaptation to fit the spirit. 

Church Stuff: 
I have accepted a position on the board of my little church, which I have been gently prodded towards several times before. But this was a chaotic good move - it was rooted in a general oozing towards interest in being on the board that has come up over the last few years as the leadership of the board has gotten younger and queerer and better populated with people I know and respect.  So, now I am on the board and will have some voice and voting to do. 

Since it happened rather quickly, I am now playing catch-up with what the board meetings are actually going to be like - apparently dinner and conversation and prayer make up the first hour's business, which makes me vaguely infuriated but I suspect may be crucial in getting anything done. People are bad at handling their feelings - might as well give them space to do it. 

The weirdness of this choice started immediately - my exist from the annual meeting at which I joined the board immediately ended with several people coming up and thanking me and talking to me in a way that I have scrupulously avoided. We'll see how that goes, but it might just be that this is part of the So Now You're Helping Organize A Church. 

Knitting:
I have hit a metaphorical snag in my lace project - one section is Uncharted, with only written instructions, which I irritates me beyond all reason. Every other section of this lace sampler has a chart! They are BAD, but they EXIST. I have been able to find a chart online for this pattern and I will see if I can adapt it to the written instructions, but I am miffed. 

My dishcloth project, aka, excuses to use up my cotton yarn, is producing scrubbies for family now, so it's relaxing and generally not too challenging. 
 

Fannish and Bookish Updates

I have been stuck on Soldier's Heart by Alex51234 as my reading for a while now - the updates are regular and good, so it's not that the author's done anything to me on that front! But I am just finding the headspace the writing puts me in so entrancing that I find it hard to break away from it. I end up reading chapters multiple times, and I'm debating starting the fic over to read it from the top. But I think I should hold out on that for the last couple of chapters, so I get to finish the fic with it fresh in my mind. 

I have also been reading A Private Reason for This by Femme (femmequixotic) which might make it into a rec list one of these days. I'm having trouble finishing it because I keep getting to parts where a character (and they are well done characters!) has a thought about themselves that is a little Too Vulnerable and I feel I have to look away in victorian prudishness at the humanness on display. I don't think of myself as being in Harry Potter fandom, so I'm honestly really enjoying this primarily as a detective story, but some of the elements of a well plotted crime tv series that I love just fall flat for me on the page. I don't read detective novels really at all. 

Watching: Person of Interest, restarting from season one because I do not have a clear idea of when I stopped watching. I'm really enjoying it but I'm also surprised at just how expensive it seems - I usually like tv shows that are pretty low budget, so for a show that averages a fair number of car crashes per season, it's kind of surprising that I like it as much as I do. I'm experiencing a slight sympathetic neck cramp watching Harold's posture. Taraji Henson is a fucking amazing gift - just solid a Carter from the start.