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	Underwear Soup (11-29-01) At my previous place of residence, the laundry room was on the opposite wall of the kitchen with an opening at the end, linking the two and the back door. Back by the washing machine was a big basin sink that the filthy, soapy wash water dumped into during rinse cycles. When it was working, the water would flood in through a black rubber hose and stop just before overflowing (usually) and then drain leaving a rich layer of soapy dirt and hair. Right next to it I kept all my surf gear; fins, suits, sandals and a stack of boards. I kept it neat and liked to hang out back there because it was essentially "my space", since no one had a reason to go back there except to do some occasional laundry. And, unofficially, when sharing the only bathroom with 4 people, that big scummy sink doubled as a nice urinal. But I digress. One day getting ready to go somewhere out the back door, I caught a whiff of the unambiguous smell of raw sewage. My nose doesn't work right so I have the joy of missing out on sweet smelling rose smells while enhancing the scents of all things disgusting. Needless to say, the sewage smell hit hard. But it wasn't constant and overwhelming. It sort of emanated from some unknown source. The hunt was now ON. I stuck my head in the trashcan. Nope. The kitchen sink. Not really there either. I then analyzed the laundry room sink and worried that they make sinks and urinals separate for a reason. I smelled the smell of a mini-waste water treatment facility but still wasn't convinced. I was now running out of ideas and recalled that I was supposed to go to work or something. I left with the mystery unsolved and very unsettling. Later, Ellie decided it was time to do some laundry. She walked into the laundry room (see "my space" above) and over to the washing machine, business as usual. She opens the lid and discovers the source of the raw sewage. My roommate had left his "whites" in the machine to soak and had promptly forgotten them for a few days. In the meantime, all the things that makes underwear need washing had multiplied a million-fold into a rich broth of underwear soup. Care for a taste? more stories >>