not a plastic plunger, then.

There is a man here fixing our toilet, which was all backed up this morning. I expected a plunger or something similar; instead he's a got a long metal pole about twice my height, with a funny handle on one end & a bend on the other, & he's twisting it all around. ...and now apparently it's fixed. Huh. Wow. Now our apartment smells sort of...icky. Time to break out the smelly-candles...

In other news, I am sort of impressed at how much I learned this quarter in history without even realizing it. I did some reading & notetaking for my paper last night (I tried to go to bed at eleven & I couldn't, I was too used to going at one), & then I've done some more today, & once I get going on a subject I'm just typing out loads of stuff. It's all messy & disorganized right now, & I haven't got nearly enough; but I'm not really worried about it anymore. I think it's all in my head or my notes somewhere; I just have to find it & make some kind of structure out of it.

ETA 9:40pm: I've summed up queenship, I think, in all four countries:
In England—the balance becomes important (between queen and king). In France—queens are regents, but never ever rule in right. In Spain—queens are badass. In Germany—queens are…where?

...I'm tempted to just turn that in.