Journal Entry: September 24, 2008

So, yeah, I think I mentioned it yesterday, but I’m going to Chicago next week. I’ll be leaving Sunday evening, around 6:00, and getting in the following Saturday at 11:00 am. T– will pick me up from the airport and we’ll drive straight up to Topeka for our friend Julie’s wedding (unless I can get my flight swapped out for one that takes me back to Wichita, anyway).

Yesterday I got home from work determined to really finish my painting project. I got the ladder out again, got out the white paint, and went up on the wall to paint over the blue from the trim that had dripped past my painter’s tape (there were three spots of that), and to paint over the spots where the ladder had damaged the initial coat of white when I leaned it up against the house.

And, of course, when I climbed back down to move the ladder, it tore the paint again. I’d have thought it would be fully dried by then. But at that point I was able to climb up on it as an A-frame and fix the new tears, and that sufficed for all the rest of the work that had to be done.

I also painted a few coats of white over the walkway post that I had test-sanded, so it looks nice again. It had been the one (out of about six or seven) in the worst shape, and sanding it had revealed the wood underneath in even more places, so it’s a major improvement to have a couple coats of white on top of that. From the curb, anyway, our facade looks really nice now.

After I put that away, T– went to pick up some pizzas and D– came over to eat them. We watched Monday’s How I Met Your Mother, and some King of the Hill, and then when AB went to bed, we pulled out Rock Band, and I got to drum for the first time in a week and a half. Needless to say, I overdid it, and by the end of the night I was late getting to bed and my shoulders were killing me. Fun, though. Lots of fun. I wasn’t too rusty. I can still sight-read just about anything they can throw at me on Medium, and I cleared a handful of (really easy) songs on Hard. I’m going to have to learn some really tough patterns that currently completely befuddle me, before I can fully make that transition.

This morning I went to the Physical Therapist for the last time. We agreed that all of the tension she found this morning came from the painting (and she did some really good work fixing it all), and I can address any further problems I have with just the home stretches and exercises she’s taught me, so that’s that. I feel so much better than I did six weeks ago. Or even two weeks ago. It’s been an amazing experience.

In general, things are good. I have two pretty significant items that probably need announced, but I’ve been waiting on both of them until I fully understand how they’ll impact my life. That, of course, could be decades in the discovering, but I’ll try to get the info to you before then.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.