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Happiness is Having a Book Actually Finished

I thought Rocky Start was finished so many times and then couldn’t leave it alone, but now it’s actually out so it’s done. Except we’ll still probably fix all the mistakes people find. Argh. But it’s a huge relieved happiness to have that done. And now Very Nice Funerals . . . .

What made you happy this week?

113 Responses

  1. A surplus of good books to read, the prospect of even more good books (like Rocky Start) to come out, makes me happy. And the last book I’ve just finished (Ari Baran’s latest, Home Ice Advantage), which was simply fantastic.
    Grown up MC that were able to communicate with each other, who had interesting personalities, and a shared passion for their job which informed their whole beings.
    Happy also that I have both ebook and audio – easier for my eyes – and that the audio way again brilliantly narrated.

  2. This Sunday, happiness as a reader is definitely getting to read your new book! Thanks Jenny and Bob!

  3. I am almost giddy with happiness… after being redundant, leaving my job in April and travelling through North America for a couple of months, I’m home and got the first job I applied for.

    I’m going to be a library supervisor! In a seaside town with excellent shops and a beautiful beach. The library itself has so much potential to grow and offer different services and I’m so, so excited.

    An added bonus is that my start date is *after* the Olympics finish so I can become a couch potato for those two weeks with only minimal guilt that I should be packing my worldly goods. That can wait.

      1. I will be very disappointed if this isn’t the case, I would love to be the heroine of a cozy mystery series. I even have a couple of hats that would suit Hannah As Detective.

    4. OMG, that sounds amazing! I want to live in a seaside town with excellent shops and a beautiful beach. And work in a library. So much yay.

      1. And just to think, Hannah started out here as a shy lurker who we’d never met, and now she’s a triumphal dragon, soaring into the future!

        So glad you joined this blog, Hannah!

        1. Why, thank you! I’m very glad I got over my ridiculousness and started posting. All of you are amazing people.

  4. Rocky Start is on my computer!!!

    I probably won’t read it until the paper copy comes — I just can’t read on a screen. But having it makes a world of difference to me.

    Thank you, Jenny! (And Bob: Thank you, too!)

    1. Yes. I just looked and ‘Rocky Start’ has been delivered to my kindle library. A thousand thanks, Jenny and Bob.

    2. Me too! I read books I really want to enjoy/ savor (like Rocky Start) in paper but I got the Kindle version too just ’cause.

    3. Mine, too! It’s causing me problems, though. I placed an order for groceries while reading, which included steaks and potatoes and sour cream (for twice-baking) and a lasagna dinner because lasagna is beyond my abilities.

      I have few problems reading on the 23″ screen of my All-in-1 confuser. When I do, I’ll shop for a 35″ screen.

  5. Happy Book Birthday! Can’t wait to read it.

    Happiness is time away from the day job. I have a long weekend, one more day, tomorrow to go. And there is so much I want to do and no possibility of getting it done.

    Friday I bought a massive amount of vintage clothing at a yard sale. That hasn’t happened to me before. Usually I find a piece here, a piece there, but this lady saved everything the ever bought from the 70s onwards. I was hyperventilating a little bit about how much I spent and there are piles everywhere waiting to be sorted, cleaned and or mended, photographed and listed. My husband has been very lovely and supportive, but I feel a little insane. Hopefully I can put a dent in it and at least tidy up our living space.

  6. Having Rocky Start land in my kindle and the PB arrive tomorrow has made my week very very happy. Thank you for bringing so much enjoyment into my life, can’t wait to get stuck into this….

  7. Waking up to Rocky Start in my Kindle! We have had a ROUGH weekend with Mom and the cancer treatments. I need the escape!

  8. A KJ Charles a few days ago, a Crusie/Mayer today, a Nalini Singh coming Tuesday. (Too bad I have a book I don’t love to finish before Monday evening’s book club. Luckily hoopla had it in audio and I can listen at top speed on Monday)

    It’s a really good reading week!

  9. Definitely happy book birthday! It’s on my Kindle and I’m very excited to read it!

    Plus we’ve finally got some great weather here at the cottage and I went out on the lake on the Seadoo yesterday. Best decision I ever made was to get my boat pilot license to drive it. Yes you really have to do all the pilot tests, nine hours I’ll never get back, feel free to call me Pilot Tammy or Sir. Totally worth it because now I’m not beholden to my husband AND I’ve unleashed my inner speed demon on the water.

  10. Congratulations! I’m looking forward to reading Rocky Start, now that it’s on my phone.

    It’s been a good, family weekend, and now it’s quiet, except for some birds. A great time to read!

  11. Lots of happy this week. The new meds are definitely helping with my anxiety. My youngest brother and his wife arrived in town at the beginning of the week. I spent most of Tuesday with them and drove them to my SIL’s family cottage abut an hour away. My brother tested positive for Covid the next day which was a drag for him but I was happy I didn’t get it. My brother was very complimentary about my sourdough raisin bread – as he’s a professional baker, I consider this to be a big accomplishment.

    My nieces and nephew arrived later in the week. The girls live in the US, in different states, so it’s rare to see them together. We saw them all briefly on Friday and will spend more time with them later today.

    After a week’s absence. I worked on the flower farm. Working on the farm is great therapy. The humidity levels had dropped so it was a beautiful sunny, cool day. My boss decided to grow more vegetables this year so asked me to tackle the very overgrown tomatoes. Definitely one of my favourite tasks.

    My front garden is in full bloom, including the white balloon flower I planted last year. One of my amaryllis decided to bloom – the flowers don’t last as long in summer as they do in winter but it’s gorgeous.

    I bought locally grown corn and raspberries at the farmer’s market yesterday. A feast for the taste buds!

  12. Happy release day! I just went online and ordered the pb, so I’ll read it when it comes.

    Happiness that we’ve been getting rain, so it hasn’t been so hot. And the rain held off so that DH and I got some yard work in yesterday afternoon. And happy that I can concentrate on quilting today without guilt (about the yard being overgrown).

  13. Rocky Start being out makes me happy! Also, we got the kids to drive around with us and pick up food last night–can’t remember the last time we had everyone in the car together for a car conversation. I finally baked scones, so I have something nice waiting for me for breakfast this morning. And it’s not supposed to be too hot today, so we can take our time getting out the door for a hike. Almost have everything ready for our trip to the Channel Islands next weekend… can’t wait!!

  14. Rocky Start landed in my Kobo this morning, temps are down in Houston because of all the rain, house is clean because it’s on the market, new House of the Dragon tonight and Rings of Power trailer next week, fantastic WNBA AllStar game last night, and the Olympics start this Friday. Feels like it will be a productive week!

  15. Happy book birthday! Can’t wait for the next one. (No pressure. Well, except from Bob.)

    I’m happy because I just finished reading an amazing book, which swept me up and carried me away (so that now I’m late getting to everything else, but what the hell, it’s Sunday). The Rom-Commers, by Katherine Center. I love much of her writing, and like all of it, but this one was a real winner. I think someone mentioned on a recent Thursday that they didn’t think it was as good as some of her others, but I absolutely love, love, love it.

    Of course, now I’m also depressed because I know I’ll never be able to write anything as good, but that’s authors for you.

    I’m also so happy that the abnormal heat has broken and the tornado warnings have stopped, at least for now.

    2. Argh. My “wonderful” comment to Hannah’s post was duplicated here somehow. But I did want to tell you my library has the Rom-Commers so I am happy about that, even though it is a several months wait. And I feel you on the depressed after reading a great book, LOL. I know exactly what you mean.

      1. Thankfully, my library copy was available in a reasonable amount of time. Although now that I have read it, I might actually have to buy it.

        And hugs, yes indeed.

  16. I’m off for two weeks, and we are going camping where there is no cell service, so I will truly get to disconnect.

    I’m happy for the rain we get, even if it’s in the form of massive thunderstorms because it’s been so hot.

    And, of course, super happy to have a new book to read!

  17. ROCKY START is waiting on my Kobo. ❤️ But I can’t be the only one who puts off starting a long-anticipated book to ramp up the excitement. So I am just going to stare at the cover lovingly for a few days before I begin.

  18. After my walk, I opened my Kindle, and no Rocky Start. I had checked a couple of weeks ago, and I had two on pre-order, for some reason, so I deleted one, and today, I had none. Very weird. So I just bought it, and I’m excited to read the whole book, now! The parts you let us read before, really whetted my appetite.

    I’m happy that the weather has been cool enough in the mornings that I was able to spread cutworm killer, and later, fertilizer, and some light rain came and watered both in, at the right time. My yard has been getting progressively bare, in many spots. I hope having rain well into July (more is coming) will help it recover. We had a drought at this time, last year.

    Kali continues to amaze me. I wrap her in a bath towel to dry off her fur and feet, if there is a lot of dew in the morning. I put the towel out near the door one morning, and she was careful to just barely get into the grass to do her business. She hates that towel! She did it again, the next morning! What a good girl!

  19. I had a delightful week which included trip to the new-to-me French pastry shop with dear sister and coworker (they mostly know each other through me, so it was fun to be in the same room – with great pastry) and lunch with cousins we see once a year at a fabulous Italian restaurant (more pastries and lasagna and gelato came home with us!) and sundry other good activities throughout the week. Planning to laze around today to complete the good energies.

  20. Rocky Start will be on my kindle when i switch my wireless back on, but I’ve a few other books to get through first.

    Happiness was a nice swim this morning with mild weather and a calm lake (though grey rather than sunny and mild (14C) rather than warm (in July we might like 20C!).

    Also feeling good as I’m sitting at my desk doing those admin jobs I’ve been avoiding. Raining outside, but I’ll be walking the dogs when I’ve done the 4 jobs on my list.

  21. Rocky Start loaded!  But when I started it while still in bed first thing in the morning, I decided it required too much thinking! I’m having a tired start to the day after an active week.  Maybe after a couple cups of coffee and some rehydration.  Scale shows my weight down two days in a row, and all of that can’t be honest loss.

    Mary Balogh’s Then Comes Seduction went back to the library.  I stalled out not too far in.  Too many clichés. I’ll eventually see if the library has something else of hers.

    Femi Kayode’s Gaslight went back because I’m out of renewals, but I plan to take out again.  (This is the book that I found because it was the only mystery set at a megachurch turned up by a casual google .  The church turned out to be in Nigeria.)  The novel sat around for a while, but then I started using it as my waiting-room book, and I’ve been in a lot of waiting rooms lately.  It’s set in Lagos, Nigeria.  I’m not sure if the author is Nigerian or from Namibia, where, per the jacket, he now lives.  Jacket bio says only that he trained as a clinical psychologist in Nigeria and has a creative writing degree from the University of East Anglia.  The protagonist is a Nigerian who has moved back to his homeland after 10 years in the US.  Jacket bio does not note any US experience for the author, but I’ve noticed no mistakes about America.  (Obviously,  if you’re aiming for the large US market, you may well choose a protagonist that Americans can identify with.)  The book will get a GBTh treatment when I finally finish.

    On Friday, I was supposed to get a callback about rescheduling a therapy session a week after.  Obviously the call didn’t come, what with the worldwide crash.  In the meantime I found dates farther out where I have conflicts (they gave me a list with tentative times and dates and told me to reschedule problem ones),  so I hope all is working by Monday when I call again.  I also had a therapy session on the Friday of the crash.  It was an odd experience.  At least half the clinic staff was not in sight.  I imagine that either they’d been sent home for lack of useful things to do or they were working elsewhere. (Of course, it was a Friday afternoon in summer and some absences may have been already scheduled.)  Fortunately, the computers associated with treatment were up and running.  It was just the appointment check-in, scheduling and billing that had gone down.  To my surprise, I think I got out of there only 15 minutes or so later than I normally would have, but it had required a lot of improvisation by the staff and quick adaptation by the patients.

    I have bills to pay online, so I hope systems for those are back. Kindle evidently had no problem charging me for Rocky Start.

    1. Good heavens, I left out an Oxford comma! Purely accidental—I’m not defecting to the Dark Side.

      1. Didn’t notice that omission. But, I don’t notice double spaces after periods either.

        1. I do those double spaces automatically, showing my age. No need these days, and sophisticated processors have routines to edit them out.

  22. I am excited about Rocky Start! How delightful to have it finished and out in the world.

    I am happy that my move is almost over! The kiddo and I spent yesterday cleaning, and we only have two more trips to consider it done. Also, I learned to spackle, so that was a win. And after going quite awhile with no car AC, it is going in the shop Monday to be fixed. Huzzah!

    My most favorite things this week were getting a happy kiddo back from his summer trip and talking to my dear friend for ages. We had a couple of lovely catch-ups over the phone, and it helped both of us see our lives more clearly (and to reframe a few things).

    1. PS – I started the Kdrama, Extraordinary Attorney Woo. It is delightful. Thanks to everyone who recommended it!

  23. I’m happy about the Rocky Start book drop and that that means the paper version is closer.
    My sister came for a surprise visit which is lovely on its own, but she also enjoys outside projects and she helped me finish my weekend list in just one day. Whee! We also had a lovely visit with the neighbors who host our neighbor garden. My community is growing and i feel so lucky for it.
    Sister was going to stay for a week but she had movement on the place she’s hoping to move into and needs to go back today. That slightly dimmed my glow but seeing her at all makes me happy.
    Also it rained overnight and everything needed it and the migraine that was threatening yesterday afternoon seems to have passed.
    Lots to be happy about today.

  24. Yay! For those of us who don’t have a kindle, when will the hardback/paperback be available?

    Happiness=Went to a great concert featuring some of my favorite 80’s bands.

    1. Carrie mentioned down thread that she ordered it so I went to Amazon and it’s now available!!

  25. I’m saving ROCKY START for next weekend, when we’re road tripping to a family picnic / reunion and back. DH will probably do most of the driving (because we’re taking his car, which I hate) so he’ll be falling asleep early so I’ll have a couple of hotel nights to read, read, read. 🙂

    Aside from that, happiness is looking around the yard and realizing that in under 7 years I’ve achieved my primary aim: creating some habitat in the midst of a paved-over, blighted, polluted, congested city.

  26. After coffee and hydration, my brain is halfway functional again. Looks like breakfast will be brunch today, though, a practice I try to avoid. I started the published Rocky Start and I see that it’s undergone considerable revision since the samples we saw, both on the site and at the end of the last Liz Danger. I’m not far enough in to judge the changes, except that it’s still very readable.

  28. This week I’m happy that the publication date for Rocky Start was moved to July – even though I was disappointed at the time. But if it was released earlier I would have blasted through and been impatient for Very Nice Funerals. Instead I have a much anticipated book and a lovely Sunday afternoon for reading. Very happy.

  29. I went to a wedding reception for the daughter of a college friend. I don’t really know the bride and was not surprised when the bride and groom looked slightly befuddled at our presence. After I introduced myself I told her that her only regency for me is I made the piglet quilt (which was made as her baby quilt)
    It was nice to see her whole face light up and talk about how much she loved it and how she carried it around with her when she was little.

    The backstory is her mom, my friend, loved the character Piglet from Winne the Pooh. I found some fabric with Piglet on it to make a baby quilt with. At the wedding I learned that Mom decided that the quilt belonged to her and used it in the nursery for all her kids. The bride said she used to sneak into the nursery and steal it back to sleep with. I reminded Mom that the quilt was made for the bride and she begrudgingly said she might gift it when the bride has her first child.

    I find it all very funny and am glad that it was so loved.

    This quilt was also the reason for the weirdest interaction I have ever had at a fabric store. When I picked out the coordinating fabrics, the owner told me that I picked colors inappropriate for a baby quilt, because baby quilts had to be either pastels or primary colors and everything else was just not done. I had a salmon pink, a sage green, a dark lavender, a soft mustard yellow, and a lighter delft blue, and I told her “well this would be the first one then” bought my stuff and left. Never went back to that store though.

    1. I’m really having trouble figuring out what word autocorrect turned into “regency” above. The appropriate preposition is “for,” so it wasn’t “relation (to) me”. This probably could be turned into a codified game.

  30. I’ve come out of my funk, thank goodness. Since Shanghai-ing a window cleaner on Tuesday, I’ve found a promising handyman (the guy who put my greenhouse together) and the prospect of getting some of the black cloud of challenging jobs done by someone else has spurred me to do others myself, which feels great. And summer’s returned, which makes everything more fun.

  32. So if “all our kids,” from context meaning all the ones in Rocky Start, go to school in Bearton TN, I would imagine that the NC ones are paying out-of-state tuition. Presumably not all the parents are paying out of pocket (or there would be some contrarian), so either NC has some arrangement to fund that (and I’m unaware of anything similar, except possibly some payments directly to parents to spend on education as they select, which I’ve never seen to be valid interstate except occasionally at the college level), or somehow the cost is picked up under the table, which would seem to call unwelcome attention throughout Bearton. Perhaps all will be made clear as I read on.

  33. I ordered the paperback of Rocky Star today so that makes me happy. I may also buy the Kindle one in case I can’t wait until Thursday when the paper arrives. I did that with the others too.

  34. Re my earlier worry about electronic payments after the crash: I decided that despite my frazzled state, I should knock off the most urgent one today. A good thing, too. I’d misremembered the deadline. Not today, coming up faster than I thought. Payment went through with no problems, so that’s one item off the list.

  35. So many things to be happy about this week. 😀 Short story release (“The Alien Method” in FAMILIARS) on Monday. DRAGONS, CATS, & FORMIDABLE FEMMES came out on Tuesday, and I was an ARGH AUTHOR on Thursday. That would be enough right there. But I also finished Peter Beagle’s I’M AFRAID YOU HAVE DRAGONS, and it was wonderful and the perfect antidote to world news. I can’t recommend it enough, and unlike THE LAST UNICORN, the ending is glorious. 😀 And on Friday evening, I got to see the dress rehearsal of MEMPHIS at our local little theatre as part of King Street Cats annual fundraiser. I was stunned how good the production was. I’m used to seeing people’s moms and dads trying to dancing and covering my ears at the singing. This production was GOOD. 😀

    2. I saw your description of your book on Scalzi’s blog. I liked the way you discussed it there.

  36. My new cat made me happy! I had a lot of time to read this week and that made me happy. I woke up again and that made me happy. Lots of things made me happy.

  37. Yay a new Crusie book! Thank you.

    And another one coming that is too much excitement for one Sunday.

    I am beginning to see improvement from my roses that were/are strangled by bindweed/ morning glory from hell apparently they have 25 foot long roots.

    I just re-weeded them, I just think about the election and pull harder. Today’s news is scary but hopeful. 4 months to get it together, Ay Dios Mio!

      1. I feel the same way. I changed to an organic lawn company, but they don’t do roses, boo.

  38. Yay for Rocky Start. My order hasn’t dropped yet; but, I’ll give it a day or so. My Kindle library seems a bit wonky. I’ll be ordering the paperback soon.

    I’ve started doing some crocheting again. Nothing fancy just a couple of potholders. I needed to get out of my funk and that helps. And I actually pulled a weed today. That’s another task I need to back to. Hope the weather cooperates.

    Also happy President Biden has decided not to run again. Time to seize the momentum and win this.

  39. So depressed about Biden not running that I decided to start Rocky start today instead of waiting for the paperback which I have also ordered. Was glad to hear about the Peter Beagle book. Also the new Christine Dodd, A maid of Verona has a cliffhanger ending. I was so happy to find that out because I was hating the writing. so I took it off my Kindle

  40. I’m enjoying Rocky Start and taking it slowly for that reason. One what-I-think-is a typo, if you are collecting them. End of Ch. 16, three paragraphs before the end. “But I wouldn’t have put” – should that be “would”?

  41. I just got an email announcement on BookBub about Rocky Start saying it was available for a limited time till Aug 1. Are they maybe talking about a sale price? That is very weird.

  44. Wasn’t supposed to be reading today but once I sampled Rocky Start I couldn’t stop reading. Finished it. Loved it. Wrote my review.

    Mixed feelings about Biden stepping down. One good thing though, one Kamala Harris vs DJT debate is all it would take to showcase what an idiot DJT is. I think his team would discourage that but he’s not a team player and his arrogance might put him on the stage in her line of fire. If only…

  45. I wish Biden’s people had put more effort into putting Harris in the spotlight. I think several previous presidents did better with that for their VPs. Even if Biden had stayed on the ticket, having a visibly competent VP would have increased the value of the ticket. Assuming Harris gets the nomination, she’ll have ground to make up because of relatively low visibility.

  46. Back from the Scandinavian Heritage Rose tour and once more ensconced in daily life. Only took a week for everyday rhythm to resume. Evaluating the tour: presentations were largely disappointing, gardens fabulous–and Linnaeus showed up in Sweden! My photograph with the dear man is to feature in my obituary. We ditched a rain-sodden overnight tour to a university garden filled with genetic rose stock to explore the delights of Kalmar, Sweden. Our hotel offered a room with waterfront deck, complimentary extravagant breakfast buffet, cake-and-coffee hour, and dinner buffet. (Patrick, note the Oxford comma I put in solely for you. The magazine I write for eschews its use.) Kalmar is charming. John found the Gant shop, a brand of clothes he wore in high school, and, Reader, he bought. Turns out the brand retreated from the U.S. back to its country of origin. The charity shop across the street won my custom. And, of course, there was ice cream. Does anyone here know the heritage rosa ”Lykkefund? A rambler with long arched canes bearing strongly fragrant, pale creamy yellow flowers touched with pink, fading to white. The sweet scent lifts and wafts across the garden. Crazy about it, and I’m going on a hunt…

    1. A photograph of you and Linneaus? A statue ? And didn’t he live in Sweden?

      My dad was an elected member of the Linnean society and was deeply proud of it—wore their tie to all our weddings and other big events—he was otherwise a very modest man.

      1. An actor impersonated Linneaus and recounted stories from the time. Photographs on offer during coffee breaks. The conference was held in Kalmar, Sweden. Started in Copenhagen, Denmark and finished in Bergen, Norway.

  47. It’s been a hard week, and then I opened up Rocky Start, and there in chapter 4 is a llama. Since I am the person who googled llama farms for Jenny I am delighted.

    I also had three very long calls with DS.

    That’s pretty much it .

  48. My internist finally looked at my chest x-rays and ordered a CT scan (5 days later). I’m supposed to cat sit next week in the suburbs so I didn’t schedule it until after I return. And my sister from New York is coming to town 2 days after I have the CT scan. Maybe I will call the hospital and see if they have any earlier slots that I didn’t choose because I didn’t want to cancel my standing PT and therapy appointments. I will have to talk to the Youngs tomorrow and ask them what they want to do. This is so aggravating because these people do not lock in their plane tickets until they confirm the dates with me. ARRGH!!!!! It is so unfair!!
    I’m still not coughing all that much, but I am starting to get more fatigued. And I don’t want to take a chance on infecting my friends. I hope I can get a CT scan in the next day or 2.

  49. Happiness yesterday was coffee by the lake followed by a day of mostly doing nothing and talking to nobody. I read. I watched a movie. I ate leftover spring rolls.

    As an introvert who’s been “home on vacation” (otherwise known as non-stop visiting people), I’m getting a little cranky from lack of alone-time.

    Today I feel ready to work on my short story again. It’s 6K words and will need editing, but I’d like to get this 2nd draft out of me today. (First draft was HANDWRITTEN. Not my norm.)

    Glad to hear about ROCKY START!

  50. Well, Rocky Start is making me very happy to read, for one!
    Somebody asked me “How are you?” and they really wanted to know, and that was great. Bee Balm and Hummingbirds are still a great combination for free entertainment.

  51. I am enjoying Rocky Start and can hardly wait for the next in line. I would like to ask if there is any way of getting a copy of your “Glittery HooHa” you wrote about years ago? My daughter in law is very ill and needs cheering up. On top of several serious conditions she strained her hamstring and can’t walk. She loves (and has) your books and I remember being hysterical when I read it all those years ago. Looking to bring some laughter to brighten her up.

    2. That was in Dogs and Goddesses, I believe. That and the heroine locking herself in a microwave so the hero saves her. And he doesn’t care about how dumb she is because she has a glittery hooha.

  54. After an exhausting three days of work—I didn’t even check in here after I got home yesterday—I looked at the library again this morning and Rocky Start was there, and I instantly checked it out. Yesterday it was not. I guess someone had to push a button. Happy they did that.

  55. Just finished Rocky Start, I LOVED it. My favourite book in ages, well done Jenny and Bob, tight plotting, funny dialogue and great characters. Cannot wait for the next one!

About the Author

Jennifer Crusie is the New York Times, USA Today, and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author and co-author of twenty-three novels, one book of literary criticism, miscellaneous articles, essays, novellas, and short stories, and the editor of three essay anthologies. She lives in a cottage in Pennsylvania, where she often stares at the ceiling and counts her blessings.

Find out more about Jenny’s published works by visiting JennyCrusie.com

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