I forgot to say that I also had a horrific headache half of Sunday and all-day Monday. I was trying to hold my head together so I could read. Painful! Why read? Well, it's not possible for me to not read.

This morning T, from the bottom of the house, rang me to say there was NO HOT WATER, and that I should call Mr. Landlord. If I'd known this was going to happen I wouldn't've stayed up until the middle of the night -- anyway I checked, and yes, we had no hot water. I rang Mr. L., but I was barely awake so he had to be patient with my incoherency. I did what he told me, then rang back two hours later and did as he told me again. So we're shifted to the electrical back-up system. Or maybe we'll just blow up because I didn't have enough sleep+coffee.


Elizabeth's birthday is 2 March, and "we" are meeting at the Mekong on Saturday. Even with many people bowing out we will still be a large party -- 14 or so. SWMNBMIMB has a Russian houseguest, and can't come -- but that's too bad. An Elvis-themed birthday extravaganza seems like it would be understandable to Russians.

Hey Flummel, if you run into Elizabeth you wouldn't scare her by saying, "Hello." She has a super-strong ego inherited from my father, and thinks it's perfectly normal for people to know her/be interested in her. Remember, when I told her the counter on her website was over a thousand she said, "I have a fan club!"