Working on a new, large painting. Soon after moving into our neighborhood, I was walking up the street when I heard someone shouting for help. I ran to find a man named George, who was probably then in his early 80s, stuck in between the rungs of a ladder, trying to get into his second window. His brother had accidentally locked him out, and he was afraid to move and cause the ladder to slip. I helped him down, got the window open, then walked downstairs and opened his front door. I recall the house was packed with books and things. George and I talked a while, and he explained that he used to work for Pfizer in town, giving dogs coronal ligations (artificial heart blockage), and they were testing the drug that eventually became Viagra on them. It was a funny story. George owned several properties in the neighborhood. Since then, I gathered that George was somewhat of a property baron, and was a neighborhood personality. George passed away a couple of weeks ago, and just today I saw a crew filling dumpsters at his house.
I like the feel of the new painting... it's got that early autumn vibe... my favorite time of year. Sorry that George's house is being emptied into dumpsters. My wife is a professional organizer and works with people to find new homes for almost everything in a house, rather than just dumping it all in a landfill. Makes me sad to see stuff just getting dumped that could be useful.
Last week most of the remaining restrictions were lifted. On Sunday I watched my home team play soccer in a sold out stadium for the first time in 583 days. It felt like magic, the whole neighborhood leaving the bars and marching with drums, flags and flares through the streets to the stadium. During the pandemic I've almost forgotten why I enjoy living here. Not anymore. For my birthday in February of 2020 my brother gave me tickets for the season premiere, which never happened. Since then he's moved away, but hopefully we can go together next year.
Pretty fucking certain I'm going to take a day off next week and go skiing in them mountains...
Wait it's going to be negative ten degrees (F) where I want to ski. Hmm.
Wait it's going to be negative ten degrees (F) where I want to ski. Hmm.
My wife is making a sudden trip back home to (possibly) say goodbye to her mother... and that is exactly as fraught with complexity and baggage as you are thinking... This morning I turned on the lights in my rec room (where my office is) and ... no lights. I recently rewired all the fixtures from florescent tubes to LED fixtures... and something has gone wrong. I am not looking forward to moving all the furniture again, and spending a bunch of time on a ladder (with a bum knee) trying to figure out what is wrong overhead. I set off a smoke bomb in the back yard to test the remote firing mechanism... and instead of grabbing the little wussy 30 second one, I accidentally set off one of the THREE MINUTE ones I have on hand... and now my ENTIRE neighborhood is full of white smoke... and rain... so I called the fire dept which is about 3 blocks away and sheepishly said, "Sorry. That was me." Started PT for my knee problems yesterday. Everything is much improved, and we are working on strengthening and flexibility, so help my knee last for as long as possible, with as little pain as possible. No reason for surgery yet, thankfully. My beloved old boss has left. I meet with my new boss next week. So this week I'm just kinda idling and clearing the email box, getting ready for the new manager and role... Last night I went out into public for the first time since Feb 2020, and saw Front 242 play here in Seattle. Had to show vax card at the door. Pretty great show, honestly. I have an affection for industrial music, but beyond the requisite Ministry and Einsturzende Neubauten discs from the 1980s/90s, I haven't owned much industrial stuff. But this show was great. Crowd was fun, too. Ran into people I knew from way back at Burningman and had fun chatting about that. Anyway, I think my two upcoming vacations are going to be VERY important. I am so listless/lifeless right now. Just exhausted for no particular reason. (Well, except the global pandemic and stress and all that.)
My pacemaker has started throwing error codes. I now have an appointment for 8am monday Battery will be changed within the next two weeks if possible. If all goes according to plan full extraction of all my existing hardware, then implant a newer, less invasive model of generator.