kingdom of nuisance, pop. 3

if you don't like complaints, skip this post please and return on another day when i'll write about something else.

my upstairs neighbor, the undisputed queen of passive agressive*, just caught up with me in the hallway to say that someone must come into my apartment on tuesday to stick their head out the back window and no, not shout 'i'm mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore,' but to put cement on the back of the building with a long pole rather than using a ladder to ascend, or some such ill-conceived effort at maintenance. and so i have to move things away from the window lest they get dirty. and this can't wait until we tenants are gone? geez-us!

i didn't bother to tell the queen that i have a new place i'm moving to, cause i'm a servant in the royal court of indirect. and cause she indicated to me that apartment dealings should be with the landlady, not her, even though the landlady deputized her to be the on-site go-to person.

the nice thing that happened today is that i got an email yesterday from a writer whose book i reviewed about six years ago. and the writer said she had just reread my review and had been meaning to write me all this time to say thanks for my understanding and good review. and i wrote her to say, what a kind and decent note to write me, it made my day, which is true, and yesterday was a tough day. and then she wrote me back today to say she had googled me and that she really liked my writing and i should really write a book. isn't that nice? i think i should write a book too. but i don't quite have a topic. and fiction isn't really my thing. so if you have topics to suggest, pls do share them.

*here's the best example of my upstairs neighbor's way: once upon a time i had a very big new years party. and i put up a notice to neighbors that it was coming and they are invited. none of them came. the party was loud. it was crowded, it was late. and, for crissakes, it was new years eve. it ended, mostly around 2, with some stragglers staying on quite a bit later. and the next day i ran into her in the hall and wished her a happy new year and that i'd hoped it wasn't too loud. and she said, 'oh, well, i just went to bed at midnight and put a pillow over my head.' i don't think i replied to that cause what can you say? what would you say?