Apartment irks

Finally! Today the heat came on for the first time this winter, and I awoke with a painfully dry nose in a too-warm room. Equally uncomfortable was my roommate, whose bedroom heat is still broken/off/misconfigured. The temperature difference between our rooms can be felt on the skin.

To make "the heat is working!" an even more bittersweet semi-victory, we continue to have no hot water. On Monday some aspect of our formerly-fully-functional hot water system was replaced, and it has not yet heated and delivered water to our faucets since. Grr.


This post's theme word: rachmanism, "the exploitation and intimidation of tenants by landlords." I don't feel so much exploited as abused, avoided, and neglected. I miss being able to feel my hands after I wash dishes.

Ninja Assassin

We saw Ninja Assassin last week. It was the vapid, hand-to-hand combat-filled, mysterious, shadowy ninja flick that you'd exactly expect with a title like "Ninja Assassin." As the Ask A Ninja host points out, the title is redundant. Ninja. Assassin.

We all left with a clear idea of what the plot intended, though the execution made it unclear. (Yes, obviously there will be a ninja with a grudge against those who trained him. But what motivates that grudge? Who is the antagonist? Does it matter, as long as people fade in and out of shadows, and a suitable number of throwing stars and blood spatters are spread around?)


This post's theme word: hecatomb, "a large-scale slaughter."