crapping hell

I was all ready to write a cheerful account of recent events that made me feel all festive and nice and stuff. I can no longer do that, though, because this morning has resulted in trouble. All sorts of trouble.

While checking blogs this morning before my morning nap, I heard a weird rush of water in the pipes in the wall in my kitchen. There are often weird noises, so I listened for a couple seconds, checked the kitchen shelves for water, and went back to the computer. The water sound didn't stop, so a few minutes later I went back into the kitchen (the lights were all off) and stepped in water. Lots and lots of water. Panic ensued.

I called my landlord in a frenzy, who told me to go to the laundry room to turn off the water main for the building, and I rushed out to do that. Knocks on doors in the building went unanswered, so I came back to the apartment and called him again. He said he'd send someone over right away and would get someone to fix it. His daughter came over to survey the damage (just a couple inches, probably about 5 or 6 litres of slightly discoloured water), who told me to turn my heat on (it was on) and asked if she could help me mop up the water. Since I'd just used every towel I own, it was under control. When my landlord came over and realised I wasn't crazy when I said the water came from under the baseboards, he immediately went next door to talk to the girl in the adjacent suite. No idea what became of that.

Essentially, I've got no water, no idea what's going on or if I have to stay here, if the walls have to be torn out to fix the pipes, and I've got a day full of stuff to do. The Christmas shopping I planned to do this morning is out of the questions, the cookie party is up in the air, and I'm just hoping I can go to the solstice party I was invited to tonight so I can drink my troubles away while boys I know yell at the moon at midnight. Sigh.

I will tell you that the chocolate bourbon cake I made for yesterday's party was a hit. I was actually incredulous when someone cut a small sliver of it, took a bite, and said, "Wow, this cake is amazing!" I expected it to be dry because the top was cracked by the time I took it out of the oven, the knife easily coming out clean when tested. After that initial comment I just thought he was being nice, until another person quickly tried it and moaned. My friend took a bite, looked at me with an almost shocked look on his face and exclaimed, "It's so good! Honestly! It's so moist and..." shoving another bite into his mouth. I had a small piece and was greeted with the most chocolaty yet boozy bite of cake I can recall in recent memory. I was impressed with myself. So amazing. We ate a lot of it, only a small quarter left over. My friends promised to bring it tonight if they don't eat it today. I'll be surprised to see it later. I will make it again. Oh yes, I will.

More soon.