(no subject)

[the_rck]

Last night, someone from the other Ingress faction came through the area and hit most of the portals. I’m kind of puzzled by the three that didn’t get hit because they’re not hard to get to and because, in going from the science and nature center to the stuff on the other side of the school, they would have had to pass one or the other of the two churches. They don’t seem to have attacked either. For most of the portals they took, they only put one or two resonators on, so I’m quite sure they don’t expect to hold onto the portals.

I had been thinking that I wanted a walk today, so maybe I’ll go to the science and nature center. There’s a steep hill both ways, but it’s the most portals for the distance involved, and Scott is pretty possessive about those portals. He’s going to be cranky about the person who came through, not so much because they captured the portals as because they did it after midnight when the park closes officially at 11 p.m. He tells off people from either team who go there after closing. The thing is that the sign showing the closing time isn’t lit and isn’t easy to read if one’s in a car rather than on foot even when there’s light. They don’t lock the park or anything, so it’s not readily apparent that the place is closed. I think all the parks in the city technically close at 11 p.m., but there’s no way on earth to enforce that. I think it reflects an assumption that nobody would be out that late for good/legal reasons.

I need to call Book Bound. A couple of weeks ago, I emailed them to order some books for Cordelia’s birthday (which is Tuesday). I’ve ordered stuff by email before without problem, but I haven’t heard anything from them at all, and I’m wondering if the message got lost. I should have called sooner, but the last two weeks have been so utterly awful that I only remembered at times when Cordelia was home. Basically, I need to find out if the books are coming at all and if they’ll arrive Tuesday. If they won’t arrive by Tuesday, I’ll have to go to Amazon. I’d rather buy from Book Bound, but we’ve got Amazon Prime, so if I order today, the books ought to arrive in time.

I’m trying to pick up some of the stuff I’ve dropped over the last couple of months. I have unanswered messages. I have books I need to sort through and other books I need to pack for shipping.

Finding someone to fix the loveseat and chair in the basement ought not take long and would go a long way toward making sitting down there in hot weather more feasible. I have the phone number of one furniture repair company who might be willing to do it, but I’m kind of thinking I should be looking at handymen. The repairs needed are very simple— If my hands were steady enough to wield tools safely, I could probably do it— and ought not take more than half an hour once the necessary supplies are in hand. Basically, the support straps underneath the seats have stretched and gotten brittle and no longer offer any support at all. Anyone who sits on either piece of furniture falls through.

I can tell that Scott’s not used to reading fic because, when browsing an archive, it never occurs to him to check whether or not the story he clicks on is complete. He found a long fic last night that he fell in love with before he realized that it was a WIP. We’re both hopeful that it will be finished because it’s listed as having 32/34 chapters posted or something similar. My general experience with fics that long is that, when authors know how many chapters are left and are that close to done, fics like that tend to get finished.

I finally figured out why the movie night Cordelia went to two weeks ago didn’t include them ordering pizza. That was April 29th, and Passover ran the 22nd through the 30th. The hosting family is Jewish. I’m not sure why they didn’t do something else for the kids for dinner, though. 5:30 to 9:00 really ought to include more than popcorn and chocolate in the way of food. I wonder if explaining Passover to Cordelia would make her more interested in pizza at the movie night she’s hosting tonight? I’m pretty sure she’s against it because her friend didn’t offer it.

Comments

[brunettepet.livejournal.com]

It makes me smile that Scott is a) possessive of certain portals and b) reading fic. He won't make the WIP mistake again.

[the_rck]

I think it's bothering Scott to leave those portals until I'm able to get over there. We don't quite feel comfortable leaving five 7th graders alone in our house, so we can't go until after dark.

Scott goes through cycles with fic. He'll read several that he likes and then get distracted and not read any for months. He's mostly into gen.

[hamsterwoman]

That was April 29th, and Passover ran the 22nd through the 30th. The hosting family is Jewish.

That sounds very likely! I suspect the reason they didn't offer another option is that Passover is pretty limiting for "regular" sort of food one would offer to kids -- burgers or sandwiches or hot dogs or any sort of crackers even, in addition to pizza, obviously, and I would guess that if the parents suggested something that would be OK and their daughter said, "Ew, no, that would be WEIRD! we'll just eat popcorn" :P

(Moreover, if one is following the rules properly, not only can you not EAT this stuff, you can't even have it in the house for the duration of Passover, so offering sandwiches or whatever to the non-Jewish guests would not have been an option.)

[the_rck]

I was thinking that matzo pizza might have worked, but I could see a thirteen year old thinking that her friends would find that weird.

I remember, during my freshman year in college, a woman who lived down the hall from me in the dorm either giving me or selling me (for a nominal amount) all of the food she needed out of her room for Passover. That was 1986 so the details are hazy.

My last year in college, I shared an apartment with three other people, two of whom were (and still are) Jewish. I think that, for Passover, we compromised by designating which parts of the kitchen belonged to which of us. It's possible that Mary and I even took the transgressing foods into our rooms rather than leave them in the common space. It's been almost thirty years, so details are extremely hazy.

I don't remember what we did about the refrigerator. Possibly, we kept that clear of stuff that wasn't kosher for Passover. I may have had a mini fridge in my room (I don't remember when I got rid of it), and I think we could have used that if we absolutely had to have something needing refrigeration on hand.

We normally bought and cooked communally, but the guys didn't want to ask us to keep the Passover dietary restrictions with them, so for that time, we kept a strict separation. The other woman and I tried to be good about what we ate and cooked and where and when we did it.

[hamsterwoman]

Yeah, all of that sounds about right. You do have some flexibility for how you define your "house" for purposes of getting rid of chametz (the transgressing foods :). I know my friend banishes it to the garage/storage area downstairs of her house, where nobody is living, and they call that good. (We're not observant enough to banish it anywhere, and L and I keep eating leavened bread throughout Passover, although O and B do not.)

It's not preferred, but you could probably just designate a fridge shelf "kosher for Passover" in shared living conditions. (Mostly the affected things don't need refrigeration anyway, unless you were storing, like, cooked spaghetti, so it was probably not a big deal.)

[evalerie.livejournal.com]

It's pretty common for Jewish people to pick and choose which rules they are going to follow, or re-interpret them in a way that works for them. So it's possible that your long-ago housemates were doing something creative instead of following the official ruleset.