it's a wonderful life

[the_siobhan]

Lately, when people ask me what's new in my life, I tell them, "I have a stove."

Well, that's nice, they respond. How's the jobhunt going.

No, no, you don't understand. I have a stove.

For the last year and half, we've been cooking with a hotplates and a toaster oven. In a room with one power outlet. Daily meals have been an exercise in figuring out how to time stuff to be all done at approximately the same time without half of it being cold or blowing the breakers six times. And meal size is restricted to what can fit in a toaster oven. You're having a potluck? Cool. Hope you like KFC.

But then 50_ft_queenie and mr_sharkey moved into their new digs[1] and it had more appliances than they could use, and in their generosity they shared their good fortune with their friends. And lo, there was much hauling and sweating and saying of the majikal four-letter words. And then we finally got somebody to come in and hook up the gas and a number of (equally majikal) small green pieces of paper were exchanged. And now... now, ladies and gentlemen, we can cook as much as we want, any time we want, and the room will not suddenly go dark if our reach o'ertakes our grasp.

As they say in the 'burbs where I spent my formative years[2], Fuckin' Aye.

So I'm blithering on at the_axel about how we have a stove dammit, probably about for the tenth time this week. And he points out to me that the last time I was this happy about something was when we got the windows and doors put on the house. Well d'uh, it was January. Windows without holes in them are a godsend in January.

And he tells me that he thinks we are a lot luckier than most of our friends because we can be made happy by doors and windows. I laugh at this, but I also remember a conversation I had with one of the women I work with. She was complaining that life was hard. Life is so hard! Don't you think life is hard?

And I said, "Actually I think my life is pretty good right now."

"You are lucky, then."

"Yeah, I am. I sleep indoors, I can eat whenever I want to, and nobody hits me."

I was mostly yanking her chain, but only mostly. As insanely angsty and navel-gazing as I might get sometimes, nobody hits me.[3] Do you have any idea how nice that is?

Which is really a long way of saying what disastrid put a lot more succinctly, Maybe it’s necessary for everyone to spend time as a mouse in a bag once in awhile to appreciate not being a mouse in a bag.

So I post this knowing that all day I felt like all my childhood Christmas wishes would have come true if I just had one semi-justifiable excuse to punch somebody square in the throat, and that tomorrow something else will probably happen that will royally piss me off. But for right now, I have doors and a stove and a clean kitchen, and that's all that I need to be happy.[4]

[1] Which needs a name.
[2] Scarborough.[5]
[3] Safeword-related stuff excluded for the purpose of this exercise.
[4] And a basement full of cheap home-brew wine nimus uh, two. [6]
[5] Which is right next to Whitby, to my huge amusement.
[6] Yes, Axel pointed out the typo, and I'm leaving it in there to further emphasize the fact that two of those bottles are now gone.

Comments

[kudzu.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on your stove! :-)

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Now here is somebody who can appreciate a good appliance!

(Have I ever mentioned how much I love that icon?)

[kudzu.livejournal.com]

Haha! Thanks. Also, we just got a new stove this year and so we know your excitement.

[ex-unagothae16.livejournal.com]

Hooray for stoves! Hooray for doors without holes and decent windows!
You haven't, by chance, been living in my apartment? ;)
I still grin when I see that door with no holes in it and it makes me feel good to open windows that do their job.

And nobody treats me like shit anymore.
Life IS pretty damn good isn't it :)

[griffen.livejournal.com]

I would like very much to metaquotes this:

I also remember a conversation I had with one of the women I work with. She was complaining that life was hard. Life is so hard! Don't you think life is hard?

And I said, "Actually I think my life is pretty good right now."

"You are lucky, then."

"Yeah, I am. I sleep indoors, I can eat whenever I want to, and nobody hits me."

I was mostly yanking her chain, but only mostly. As insanely angsty and navel-gazing as I might get sometimes, nobody hits me.


May I?

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

By all means. I'm flattered.

[griffen.livejournal.com]

Done. :)

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Psst -- you misspelled my userID.

[griffen.livejournal.com]

Arg. Silly Celtic spellings.

*corrects*

*sheepish look*

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

*laughs* No worries. They even spell it wrong on my paycheques.

[kest]

ooo, congrats on the stove!

[mandor1971.livejournal.com]

Stoves! Cooking is so nice...

No tears, no sympathy! No bad cooking!

Re: it's a wonderful life

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

nobody hits me. Do you have any idea how nice that is?

ghod, yes. i think my life is great, despite the crappy illness and all. it rocks. and i pretty much think that after feeding myself, having a roof over my head, and being safe from abuse by assholes with power over me is wonderful. anything else is a bonus.

STOVE! congrats!

[mandor1971.livejournal.com]

KFC in Japan, as a random note.... (I'm not alone and I'm not afraid and I'm not unhappy...)

When I was in Japan (2002), there was a KFC near work. The menu was in Japanese with photos. The 5' tall statue of Col.Sanders was kinda weird. The workers there spoke no useful english, which makes sense, as it is JAPAN and not the US. KFC had four options for lunch (in Japan, time off for lunch means getting it and going back to work). I used my really bad Japanese for chicken meal.

The sandwich option was folded up in grease-proof wrap. And taped shut.

The french fries (a total of 5) were put into a grease-proof sleeve, and taped shut.

The soda, a small 8oz soda, less than half a can (350mL) of soda, was filled, with ice, and had a lid put on it. And the lid was taped to the container.

The sandwich was put into a bag/sack. And taped to the inside of the bag/sack. On top of having been taped shut.

Same with the french fries and the soda. And a small bag consisting of salt, pepper, and one small sachet of ketchup. They were all taped closed and taped to the inside of the sack/bag.

Then the sack/bag was taped shut.

One does not drink or eat in public in Japan. I know this. But KFC (which is more popular than McD's)'s making sure of it was... culture shock.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Stoves are keen, anyway. It's a good thing to be happy about.

[melete.livejournal.com]

woot! I would have cracked long before you without the stove. But yay!

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

It's amazing what you can get used to.

I have a whole series of recipes written out for making really simple food with directions on what to have sitting where ready to be switched on the second something else is finished cooking.

[holmes365.livejournal.com]

congrats! Stoves are a Good Thing (tm). Learning to recognize grace and to be thankful for it is precious (geez, that sounds preachy, but, really that's what works for me).

[individuation.livejournal.com]

hooray!!! Now you can feed us when we take over your house!!!! :P

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Now I just have to learn how to cook.

We've been talking about doing a big pig roast[1] as part of the next bbq party, and making everybody wear hawaiian shirts and drink fruity drinks with umbrellas.


[1] Pig roast with auxilliary grill going for those who are vegetarians or who don't eat pork.

[individuation.livejournal.com]

terrifying... head and all?

but i'm all over the fruity drinks and possible auxilliary grills. Hooray for summer!

[the_axel]

We want to have a Hawaiian style pig roast. I'm not sure that's going to be practical but we'll figure something out.

That reminds me - time for the offical announcement.

[melete.livejournal.com]

everybody wear hawaiian shirts and drink fruity drinks with with umbrellas

Even better. I'm grinning just thinking about it.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

The waiters at one of the restaurants in Puerto Rico had the most fantastic black shirts with tiki god faces all over them. I was unsuccessful in pursuading one of the staff to part with one.

[elusis.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the sobering reminder that it's good to have some perspective on what "okay" really is.

[hellsop.livejournal.com]

I can identify; though it was my own stubbornness that lead to months without a functioning oven. The first frozen pizza was bliss.

[i-am-that-is.livejournal.com]

Here from metaquotes, and I must say congratulations on your stove! That's really awesome! I'm not being sarcastic, I seriously am rather envious. I live in a dorm right now, and microwaves are a bit limiting as to the cooking you can do with them. It's not quite the same situation, but it's still sweet you now have a stove.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Most microwavable meals are expensive, too.

Get yourself a hotplate. Being able to throw some beans into a pot and make chili saved our lives.

They're illegal in most dorms because drunk students put food on it and then fall asleep, but if you can keep it hidden they're great.

[i-am-that-is.livejournal.com]

Hmm, that may be a good idea. Hurrah for creative cookery :) Although, I have managed to make toffee in the microwave, much to my delight.

[50-ft-queenie.livejournal.com]

1) So glad you like the stove. You were the first people we thought of when we realized we had excess appliances. I grok the appliance happiness thing, cause I'm still thrilled that our house came with a washer and dryer.

2) Yes, I know our place has no name. M and I have been remarkably uninspired in that area. Whenever we discuss it, M keeps wanting to name it something from Blade Runner.

3) You've gone way beyond being as bad as Axel with footnotes. You're worse. ;)

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

M keeps wanting to name it something from Blade Runner.

Tanhauser Gate

[mr-sharkey.livejournal.com]

The Bradbury Hotel. Given the level of kipplization, I think it's only appropriate.

Steph hasn't quailed at my latest suggestion - S&M's Tortured Palace. However, I'm not so keen on it because it's not S&M's, it's S&M&J's, and we already have one palace - yours.



M.

[eciklb.livejournal.com]

Yay, a stove!

And gas...that'll be great for stir frying, especially.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Oh yah. I love gas for cooking.

[inulro.livejournal.com]

Gas being the default cooking method is one of the good things about living in England.

Congrats on the stove, BTW. I was stove-less for a week, and that was bad enough (given that we were also hotplate-, microwave- and toaster oven- less at the time. The kicker was the two days without a fridge though. Never again).

Also, like you, although I bitch and moan about my life all the time, I'm acutely aware that things could be *a lot* worse, thus my impatience with people who moan about the little things and actually mean it.

[50-ft-queenie.livejournal.com]

It's been over three months since we moved, and I _still_ do a little happy dance every time I turn on the stove.