roughin it

>So, Otis?

Yeah.

>Haven't heard from you in a while.

Yeah.

>Tell us about your new apartment.

I'll tell you something about our apartment. Something that will make everything else you will hear just so much sauce.

>Okay

This morning I thought it would be funny to play "mile end" on our shitty speakers. Claire complained. I think it was too close to real and not enough close to joke.

>That bad?

All Chinese apartments are bad. Each has it's peculiar badnesses. We are just getting to know ours.

>Cockroaches?

Check.

>Plumbing?

The toilet came apart in my hands. We got it replaced, but the new one doesn't seem to, you know, work. We couldn't find a plunger at the grocery store.

>Electric?

Some sockets work sometimes. Some don't ever.

>Hot water heater?

It's either off or causing nerve damage.

>Dirt?

The landlady did not clean it before she gave it over. THere is a layer of dirt and grease on just about everything. The toilet installation guy took off after leaving a pile of rubble in the bathroom.

>Random junk?

A bonanza of it. Several hats, a toy model of the Hubble, bunches of maps of China (oh, THAT's where I live), mysterious jars of liquid and plenty of good old styrofoam. Oh, and a computer left over from the Qing dynasty.

>So you're pretty unhappy?

Oddly enough, no. An awful lot of time is going to be spent fighting with my apartment but I don't think it's as bad as all that.

Last night, for instance I tapped my laptop into the computer speakers, took a shot of baiju and put on The Clash. For some reason, I was really happy.

I'll have to get back to you on why. Right now, I just don't know.