Dept. of First World Problems, Redux

Ave Microwave

Or rather, we will, as of Friday, ave microwave. We went out yesterday to a humongous appliance dealership, where we found a reasonable replacement for our current microwave, which, it has become clear,  is most probably unrepairable. We found it quickly, and paid, with the various add-on fees to the so-called sale price, too much (although I suspect it's not an above-market price), within 10 minutes. 

Until Friday, I'm reheating my coffee on the stove top. It's resulted in some overcooked and almost unpalatable coffee, but I can survive that for the next 3.5 days. 

Dept. of Birthdays

To A Mistress of Meta

Many happy returns of the almost completed day to elisi . I think I've said on many occasions how much I respect her fannish writing abilities, whether those are her fics - which are emotionally mature and rich with imagery - and her meticulous, observant, and sometimes breathtakingly daring metas.

All of that bears repeating, though. I believe that when we in fandom talk about how our world can seamlessly blend geeky passion with intellectual rigor, elisi 's the kind of writer to which we refer.  There may be times I disagree with her, and those few and far between, but I have never ever regretted reading anything she's written. Nor have I regretted engaging with her, and being inspired by her to be a better writer, a better observer, a more careful thinker. 

Outside of fandom, it's clear that she is simply a lovely person, and I feel very lucky to have made her acquaintance. So here's hoping you had a particularly good birthday with your family and friends, and may the rest of the year be equally fantastic.