The exercise:
Today brings us: dirty work.
We bought a new kitchen sink, kitchen faucet, and five light fixtures today for the grand total of $3.58. Hurray for using Air Miles on gift certificates!
NaNoWriMo, I hear you ask? Here is day eighteen.
Mine:
This evening I went down to the cabin with Kat's dad to work on getting the fireplace installed upstairs and to learn how to caulk. I only had time to do a small section but the difference was amazing.
It is messy stuff, but that didn't stop me from enjoying using it. It's a very simple, quick way to cover up gaps and I'm looking forward to hopefully finishing up what needs to be done tomorrow. Things are really coming together now. There's painting to be done and cupboard doors to be put up, the kitchen counter and sink need to be installed, and the laminate needs to go in. Several other jobs as well that I'm forgetting at the moment. But I feel like the end is almost in sight.
And then I shall celebrate the day we move in by burning my work jeans.
Wow that's really economical! And that's an excellent writing as usual :)
ReplyDelete@Heather - yup that's me. :)
Dirty work
"It's already 2pm and where is the plumper? Didn't you schedule it to arrive before two?" she shrug off with a sigh and great frustration was slowly building up in her mind. Her pace of talking soon went in the way of exponential until she finally lost it. "What the f*** is keeping up with the god damn plumper! it's already 4pm! A total waste of my time, i could've went out to catch a movie with him or something." she went further with pointing her middle finger at her brother.
He went over to her with an intention to talk and understand more about where that frustration actually came from. He prepare two glasses of warm tea in the kitchen and then he ask her to sit down on the crouch.
"take a seat, let's have a little conversation" he said that with very fatherly tone but the fact is that they had no father to begin with. They're orphan and grew up with the help of the orphan volunteer.
"Alright, tell me what's going on with you lately" he said that in a very polite manner.
"why do you even care? You hardly even take care of the chores when you're around anyway." she cross her arms across her breast and slowly blink her eyes while turning her head away from him.
"Alright, I get it... Leave all the dirty work to me next time. I promise that I'll help out. Is that fair enough? Quit getting all worked up like that the next time alright? He said that across to her bluntly.
There it goes again... Their weekly quarrel starts again...
@Zhongming: that's a great slice of everyday life! It's got a sense of realism about it as well; are you writing from experience? One small typo for you though: I think you mean plumber, not plumper!
ReplyDelete@Marc: hah, I suspect your work jeans will be fireproof by the time you're done! They may even have a life of their own, and call the fire brigade on you :-P
The cabin's sounding pretty fantastic as you describe it; I'm looking forward to the next picture of it you care to post.
Dirty Work
Between the Doric columns
Of the marble temple
Dedicated to Pallas Athena,
More as a snub to the vanquished
Than to honor the Goddess in truth,
Men gathered, ostensibly to praise Caesar,
As he strode, triumphant, from the senate.
He would remember the colour of the sky,
A never-ending blue, gravid with the promise
Of a lifetime still to run
As he lay dying on the marble steps
Watching his blood, red as claret,
Pool and sparkle in the midday sun.
In truth it was dirty work,
Best done in darkened rooms, corners
Known only to night-scurrying rats,
But there was no time,
And they called themselves his friends,
So they knifed him swiftly, and like cats
Slunk back to the comfort of their homes.
marc, i am so into the jester's journey. it actually reminds me of a radio show we used to listen to on friday nights, when i was small girl back in the old country, about kings and knights and jesters and princes and princesses. and dragons, of course. and always there was a moral to the story at the end of the one-hour program. stories that shaped my youth, eh?
ReplyDeletegreg, i was laughing out loud (at the office of all places) reading about your "fire brigade" comment to marc, probably because i was thinking of something similar. that was precious! and your russian isn't rusty at all, the pretty russian girl at the office said so. your story - i like it when a story sets such vivid pictures in my mind. splendido!
zhongming, is your story an autobiography perhaps? and i wandered over to your blog last night and saw your pic. it confirmed the image i had of you in my mind.
greg and marc, the library let me keep the bracelet. but i can't remember anymore the title of the book that i found the bracelet in. i do remember it's one of those large hardbound TIME/LIFE books with glossy pages and it was about the history of the middle east countries. that was about 14 or so years ago.
-o0o-
dirty work
The office Christmas party is well underway, some are already half-drunk, when Delores arrives.
“Finally, Delores, you came. Solo, yet again. What’s your excuse this time for not bringing your husband with you?” Mike, the Managing Partner, asks.
“We couldn’t find a babysitter, the little one has bronchitis,” Delores replies.
Mike rolls his eyes and clucks his tongue. “I think there is no husband. I think the pictures in your office are fake.”
Delores swoops a glass of champagne from the tray of a waiter passing by. How can she explain to Mike and the rest of the office that she is actually embarrassed for Carlo to accompany her to office events. Although he owns a lucrative business, he mostly does all the dirty work. Sometimes she’s pretty sure he even smells like his work that is why she demands he takes a bath every night before coming to bed. She imagines her co-workers reading his business cards and snorting as they walk away, just like she’s seen it happen so many times:
THE ANSEWER TO YOUR PROBLEMS: we clean your sewers, and we clean it good!
Zhongming - that's a well told vignette, though the plumper/plumber mix up made me laugh :)
ReplyDeleteGreg - either that or they'll go up like dry grass. I imagine the fumes will be rather spectacular.
That was a great retelling of that scene, and I particularly liked the final stanza with the rats/cats.
Summerfield - I'm so glad you're enjoying it :)
Yeah, with a business like that, you need a really clever card that maybe doesn't explicitly say what it is you do.
I can't think of how to do it at the moment, but you've given me an idea for a future prompt :)
Marc- Remodeling is never a clean thing. We have one room left to do in our house and I am not sure it will ever be done.
ReplyDeleteI started mine with a very different idea in mind, was interrupted repeatedly and then started again. I couldn't get the two halves to go together, so it ends kind of abruptly. C'est la vie!
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Cinderella stood in the window, looking over the vast castle gardens. Below, she saw several men clearing dead branches and yellowed stalks for that evenings party. She remembered how dirty that work was and made a mental note to stay out of the area until her husband summoned her for the party. "Your Majesty," came an older woman's voice, "another of your ladies is here to help with the corset. If you are ready madam, we can lace you in."
Together, the women worked to reign in the aging queen's spreading girth. Once the strained ribbon was tied into place, they helped place the heavy velvet robes over Cinderella's frame. The older woman silently buttoned the tiny pearls from the small of the queen's back to the nape of her neck. The young girl fetched appropriate accessories at Cinderella's command. Both received their daily ration of subtle abuse.
Cinderella stood in the window, looking over the vast castle gardens. Below, she saw several men clearing dead branches and yellowed stalks for that evenings party. She remembered how dirty that work was and made a mental note to stay out of the area until her husband summoned her for the party. "Your Majesty," came an older woman's voice, "another of your ladies is here to help with the corset. If you are ready madam, we can lace you in."
Together, the women worked to reign in the aging queen's spreading girth. Once the strained ribbon was tied into place, they helped place the heavy velvet robes over Cinderella's frame. The older woman silently buttoned the tiny pearls from the small of the queen's back to the nape of her neck. The young girl fetched appropriate accessories at Cinderella's command. Both received their daily ration of subtle abuse.
@Greg - thanks for the great feedback! I think I've benefited a lot from it! I'm not sure if I am writing from experience or not but initially I had this plumber idea for the dirty work and it turns out to be like that, quite different from what I wanted to write but well... Oh ya, thanks for pointing out "plumber", I think It's not typo.. I got it mixed up, silly me :)
ReplyDelete@Summerfield - I'm not sure that's an autobiography, I just write from images that forms up in my mind. In real life, fortunately that has not come true yet. And yeah thanks for dropping by my blog (pretty humble small blog though, hope you don't mind). Well, about my pic... It's self-taken using my iPhone few days ago. I wonder how did the image of myself formed up in your mind? I think I had two feature: 1) chubby cheek (many said so) 2) small bright eyes :)
@Marc - thanks for commenting! lol, I am laughing at it too.. I think I need to brush up my vocabulary. The reason I use simple wording in my writing is also due to that.. Time to brush up!
@Heather - great stuff, I've always like the sequencing of your story and the romantic part about it. Thanks for sharing!
Heather - I like the different take on Cinderella. Feels like it has lots of possibilities :)
ReplyDelete