Thursday

[clevermanka]

I watched Bai Yu eating noodles for about ten minutes. Archery. Yes, I would like to Feel It.

Zhu Yilong Tongue Alert.

Fanart: Forehead kisses then and now. Happy kiss.

My favorite Zhao Yunlan coat (I call it his Final Girl Coat) won the ZYL side of the Guardian Clothes Off. Of all of Zhao Yunlan's many wonderful jackets, that is hands-down the one I'd most like to own. I love it.

I was added to someone I don't know's Twitter list titled "amusements" and I haven't felt so validated in a long time.

Someone I do know mentioned the hell of laundromats recently and I realized something kinda disappointing. During ~all this~ that's been going on lately I'd been playing seriously with the idea of living in a big city for the first time in my life. I want to feel surrounded by humanity and bustle, even if I'm not always participating in it. But there's no way I can afford an apartment with washer/dryer hookups in a big city (if one was even findable) and that's all it took to wipe that dream out of my possible futures. I barely have the energy to carry my laundry the 20ft from my dryer to the bedroom. There's no way I'm ever going to have the ability to haul stuff to and from a laundromat.

I don't have the sensory issues that others do, and I actually have quite fond memories of laundromats. One of my earliest memories is of the weekly trips to the laundromat where my mom would buy us a pack of peanut M&Ms and a red creme soda from the vending machine. She'd put me on her lap and read (usually the Oz books or one from the Little House on the Prairie series), running her finger below the words and that's how I learned to read at a 3rd-grade level before I started school. But other than the occasional trip to run my duvet through the mega-size washer, they're not an option for me.

Sigh.

This week's dump on cm.net.

Comments

[naye]

The forehead kisses do things to my HEART.

And I am so glad the Final Girl Coat won!! I love it on him. ♥ (And you would look fab in it, too!)

[clevermanka]

I'm such a sucker for forehead kisses! Augh! *clutches heart*

*high-fives over Final Girl Coat win*

I would rock that coat! (I also want Z1L's Coat of Many Holes)

[seascribble]

I know a few people in big citie (Boston, Chicago, even Halifax) who have door to door or drop off laundry services, which might be something that could revive that dream. There's an institution in Halifax that's run by an immigrant family and it's a lovely place to go do laundry.

[clevermanka]

Hmmm! Do you have any idea how much that sort of thing runs?

[seascribble]

I don't, the place in Halifax that does it doesn't have prices listed and I never used it (plus, Canada anyway). I imagine the drop off service isn't that much, though. Most places seem to have it, worth a call to see.

[clevermanka]

Hmm. Looks like the cheapest one here (where everything is cheaper than in a city) is $1.30/lb. That would get pricey, fast. But maybe if I moved somewhere warm so I didn't have to layer as often and did a lot of handwashing...

[seascribble]

I have no idea how to estimate clothing weights. /o/ I am also wondering about those little portable washers you hook up to your sink. I've heard mixed things, but it seems that if you can do small frequent loads, they are a viable alternative. Just things to think about before fully Giving Up the dream.

[clevermanka]

Thanks, bb!

[solo]

I love seascribble's suggestion but also there is this:
https://alltoptenreviews.com/best-shopping-carts/
Who needs to carry these days?

Oh and ETA I voted against that coat all the fucking way. AUGH! ;p

[clevermanka]

To be honest I could probably use one of those just to get my laundry down the hallway. 😆

LOL sorry your least-fave coat made it!

[goss]

*g* I often used one of those folding cart things just to go from elevator to basement whenever I did laundry in my apartment building off campus. I have weakling arms, so being able to conveniently cart things around on my own (esp. in winter) was a lifesaver.

It's such a useful item - I even bought one off amazon for my mother for whenever she visits the farmer's market. Everyone hauling multiple bags around is always like, Where did you get that?? *g*

[clevermanka]

I see them a lot in cities, people carting their groceries on the subway from the store. They've always looked very ~cosmopolitan~ to me because of that association. 😄

[solo]

My sister swears by this one: https://www.amazon.de/Reisenthel-Carrycruiser-Liters-Baroque-OE7027/dp/B07KC3LWDL/ref=sr_1_10?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&dchild=1&keywords=trolly&qid=1616091841&sr=8-10&th=1

[trobadora]

Thank you for sharing those links! ♥

A washing machine is important! Yeah, definitely don't move anywhere where you'd have to rely on laundromats unless you have a lot of cope to spare. *pulls blanket over head*

[clevermanka]

I already wear anything not right next to my skin multiple times before washing so I only have to do laundry once every couple weeks. Adding more of a burden to that chore isn't an option. Damn I'd love to be able to afford the laundry service mentioned above, though!

[nnozomi]

I love your laundromat memories; the combination of sweets and books at an early age really sticks.
(Many years ago when I lived in NYC, it was not uncommon to have communal (I think coin-operated) washers and dryers in the basement of apartment buildings, so if you had one of those little wheeled carts and an elevator it might be doable. Don't know how this setup stands now or in other cities...).

[clevermanka]

the combination of sweets and books at an early age really sticks
It does! I haven't had a red cream soda in years. They don't sell them this far north.

An elevator would certainly help!

[umadoshi]

All three apartment buildings I've lived in had on-site laundry, at least--nothing like having it in the actual unit, but I never actually stayed in the laundry rooms while my things were being washed, just went back and forth a couple of times to put things in the drier and pick them up. (One of the several excellent features of our Toronto apartment building was that there was a main laundry area for the building somewhere, but I think I literally never laid eyes on it because each floor also had a pair of washers and a drier, and I got by just fine with those.)

I feel like some flats (which I use to mean "apartments that a house has been carved into", in case that's regional) also have a situation where there's one set of washer/drier available for the residents of all the flats in it to use, but I have no idea how common that actually is.

All of which is just to say that I'm pretty sure laundromat use is not a required condition of living in a big city, although avoiding it would restrict your options; that said, I realize the situations I mentioned would still require more carrying of laundry than in-unit facilities and might still not work. :/

[clevermanka]

Also something I forgot but happened today while I was doing towels, is sometimes I run out of energy and have have to leave the stuff in the dryer overnight. Not an option when you're sharing a machine. =\

[tinny]

Zhu Yilong Tongue Alert.

Awesome. Even more awesome if you can imagine that it's a look of pure sexiness and not him feeling intensely uncomfortable on stage. The poor guy always looks tortured during his live appearances. Ah well.

But there's no way I can afford an apartment with washer/dryer hookups in a big city

It is weird (and sad) that those aren't set up for that. :(

[clevermanka]

To be fair, most of the places I'd prefer to live in big cities were built before in-apartment w/d hookups were common, so... *shrug* It just wasn't something I'd considered! That's what a lifetime spent in small-to-mid-size Midwestern towns will do for you, I guess.