(no subject)
This is a post about boring things I have done lately. No, really, I am going to talk about duct tape and vaccuuming and a trip to the grocery store. Sorry?
See, I tend to careen through life barely accomplishing the basics. I strongly resent the demands of daily existence. Eat lunch? But I just ate a meal four hours ago! Why am I hungry again?! The car needs to be washed? Yeah, RIGHT! I am Newton's First Law of Motion: an object at rest will stay at rest unless acted upon by an outside force. Yeah, there's also something in there about "an object in motion will stay in motion unless..." but that part doesn't so much apply to my life. Or, no! It does sorta, now that I think about it! But only in short spurts. For, lo, my personal gravity is great and will be the force that stops all motion.
I did have a minor burst of motion this morning. I needed things. Things like laundry quarters (I am completely out of clean clothes and today is my only day to achieve clean laundry before a solid, five-day work week.). Things like Diet Coke. (Note: I don't resent Diet Coke. I drink it on a daily basis, yes, but it transcends "daily existence"; it is the Nectar of Life!) Things like the prescriptions that I forgot to pick up on my way home from work yesterday (one of which should make my period stop - OMFG, two-and-a-half-week-long period! Energizer Bunny period! I especially really strongly resent daily existence when it is full of motherfucking cramps! *sob*) So I pulled on yesterday's clothes and set out IN MY CAR!
A word here on my car. I love having a car again. I figure I have two years free of guilt for destroying the planet by driving my car because of the previous two years I lived without one. Yeah, um, it doesn't bear close examination, that belief, but I would have been much more miserable (and less likely to accomplish the above named errands) taking the bus around this morning. It could have been done - I'm mentally reviewing the bus route in my head as I type this. But, oh, I would NOT have been a happy camper, especially with the cramps.
So, yeah, I went out and about and accomplished all of my objectives. At the grocery store, in addition to the Diet Coke, I purchased doughnuts (I shouldn't eat them, but...DOUGHNUTS!), salad dressing, and also walnuts and dried cranberries, also for salad. See I got a bag of local vegetables and not-so-local fruits from a thing at work. And now I have several nectarines, among other things. It occurred to me as I was trying to eat one yesterday that I didn't really like it. I didn't hate it, but I more disliked than liked eating it. But I thought I could probably consume a nectarine quite happily if it were sliced into a salad with walnuts and dried cranberries and possibly sliced apple. (I also have an apple and a big bunch of lettuce from the bag o' goodies.) Oh, and that would be better with blue cheese crumbles, wouldn't it? I forgot to purchase blue cheese. Well, it could be edible without. We'll see.
I also hit the cash machine at my bank near the grocery store. OK, there's an aspect of daily existence that I manage only intermittently: carrying cash. My bank does have Sunday hours at that location, but not until 11am, so I could not get quarters from them. That's OK, though, because the laundromat in my neighborhood opened at 7am, so I slipped in there with a twenty and slipped back out with lots of quarters.
And now I'm home again, with a load of laundry in the washer down in the basement, and, nice as it was outside (sunny and clear with a fantastic breeze off the lake), I am very pleased to be inside the newly air conditioned comfort of my apartment. You guys! I got an air conditioner! I may have mentioned here that I had ordered one. It did arrive on my day off on Thursday. What perfect timing, because if I'd missed the delivery it would have been early next week before I could get down to pick it up from UPS. Plus, that sucker was *heavy* and the box was falling apart. But, yeah, I got it and I moved it into place in the living room. It's a "portable" air conditioner, so it vents through a big exhaust hose to a window panel. (I could not cope with what might have been involved with getting the landlord and/or his handyman in to see about putting a window air conditioner in, so I sprang for the more expensive portable kind. The set up was even mostly compatible with the security locks that keep the window from being opened all the way. My apartment is on the first floor.)
Now, the installation was kind of a bitch. There are four "screws" that are supposed to somehow hold the vent connector thingy onto the window panel. Even after a call to customer service, I hadn't the faintest clue how they were supposed to work, so I said "Fuck it!" and duct taped the parts together. Magic stuff, that duct tape. And now I'm in business. I really needed the AC this summer. Unlike previous summers, I now have a full face mask (covers nose and mouth) that I use with my CPAP machine. And, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, how horrible that is to wear on your face on a sweltering, humid, summer night!
While preparing for the AC installation I visited my local hardware store after work on Friday. I had, um, mislaid my screwdriver, you see. And I also lost the roll of duct tape that I had picked up a month or two back. I hope they are very happy together on the other side of whatever dimensional portal they found amid the chaos of my apartment. While at the store, the very helpful dude who works there pointed me to some caulk to seal around the one end of the towel bar in my shower that pulled out of wall. I'll tell my landlord about it someday, but I really don't want to de-chaos the place enough to have someone come and fix it, especially as I don't really need it. However, I also don't want water to get in there and damage the wall. So...caulk! Which I could also use to seal the huge gap between the storm window frame and the wooden window frame that I discovered when I opened the living room window to install the window panel for the AC. OMG and ants were coming in there! I hadn't seen ants in the apartment away from the windowsill yet, but that was only a matter of time, so I tossed an ant trap in there. I also suddenly had ants in the bathroom window (on that same side of the building), so I tossed another trap in there before closing it up for my new life with AC.
In conclusion, daily existence is a chore and a half, so it is exciting when I work up enough motivation to actually DO anything towards it. These are the things I've done lately. Super bonus points for you if you actually made it all the way this post to the end. Bless you! Cheers!
See, I tend to careen through life barely accomplishing the basics. I strongly resent the demands of daily existence. Eat lunch? But I just ate a meal four hours ago! Why am I hungry again?! The car needs to be washed? Yeah, RIGHT! I am Newton's First Law of Motion: an object at rest will stay at rest unless acted upon by an outside force. Yeah, there's also something in there about "an object in motion will stay in motion unless..." but that part doesn't so much apply to my life. Or, no! It does sorta, now that I think about it! But only in short spurts. For, lo, my personal gravity is great and will be the force that stops all motion.
I did have a minor burst of motion this morning. I needed things. Things like laundry quarters (I am completely out of clean clothes and today is my only day to achieve clean laundry before a solid, five-day work week.). Things like Diet Coke. (Note: I don't resent Diet Coke. I drink it on a daily basis, yes, but it transcends "daily existence"; it is the Nectar of Life!) Things like the prescriptions that I forgot to pick up on my way home from work yesterday (one of which should make my period stop - OMFG, two-and-a-half-week-long period! Energizer Bunny period! I especially really strongly resent daily existence when it is full of motherfucking cramps! *sob*) So I pulled on yesterday's clothes and set out IN MY CAR!
A word here on my car. I love having a car again. I figure I have two years free of guilt for destroying the planet by driving my car because of the previous two years I lived without one. Yeah, um, it doesn't bear close examination, that belief, but I would have been much more miserable (and less likely to accomplish the above named errands) taking the bus around this morning. It could have been done - I'm mentally reviewing the bus route in my head as I type this. But, oh, I would NOT have been a happy camper, especially with the cramps.
So, yeah, I went out and about and accomplished all of my objectives. At the grocery store, in addition to the Diet Coke, I purchased doughnuts (I shouldn't eat them, but...DOUGHNUTS!), salad dressing, and also walnuts and dried cranberries, also for salad. See I got a bag of local vegetables and not-so-local fruits from a thing at work. And now I have several nectarines, among other things. It occurred to me as I was trying to eat one yesterday that I didn't really like it. I didn't hate it, but I more disliked than liked eating it. But I thought I could probably consume a nectarine quite happily if it were sliced into a salad with walnuts and dried cranberries and possibly sliced apple. (I also have an apple and a big bunch of lettuce from the bag o' goodies.) Oh, and that would be better with blue cheese crumbles, wouldn't it? I forgot to purchase blue cheese. Well, it could be edible without. We'll see.
I also hit the cash machine at my bank near the grocery store. OK, there's an aspect of daily existence that I manage only intermittently: carrying cash. My bank does have Sunday hours at that location, but not until 11am, so I could not get quarters from them. That's OK, though, because the laundromat in my neighborhood opened at 7am, so I slipped in there with a twenty and slipped back out with lots of quarters.
And now I'm home again, with a load of laundry in the washer down in the basement, and, nice as it was outside (sunny and clear with a fantastic breeze off the lake), I am very pleased to be inside the newly air conditioned comfort of my apartment. You guys! I got an air conditioner! I may have mentioned here that I had ordered one. It did arrive on my day off on Thursday. What perfect timing, because if I'd missed the delivery it would have been early next week before I could get down to pick it up from UPS. Plus, that sucker was *heavy* and the box was falling apart. But, yeah, I got it and I moved it into place in the living room. It's a "portable" air conditioner, so it vents through a big exhaust hose to a window panel. (I could not cope with what might have been involved with getting the landlord and/or his handyman in to see about putting a window air conditioner in, so I sprang for the more expensive portable kind. The set up was even mostly compatible with the security locks that keep the window from being opened all the way. My apartment is on the first floor.)
Now, the installation was kind of a bitch. There are four "screws" that are supposed to somehow hold the vent connector thingy onto the window panel. Even after a call to customer service, I hadn't the faintest clue how they were supposed to work, so I said "Fuck it!" and duct taped the parts together. Magic stuff, that duct tape. And now I'm in business. I really needed the AC this summer. Unlike previous summers, I now have a full face mask (covers nose and mouth) that I use with my CPAP machine. And, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, how horrible that is to wear on your face on a sweltering, humid, summer night!
While preparing for the AC installation I visited my local hardware store after work on Friday. I had, um, mislaid my screwdriver, you see. And I also lost the roll of duct tape that I had picked up a month or two back. I hope they are very happy together on the other side of whatever dimensional portal they found amid the chaos of my apartment. While at the store, the very helpful dude who works there pointed me to some caulk to seal around the one end of the towel bar in my shower that pulled out of wall. I'll tell my landlord about it someday, but I really don't want to de-chaos the place enough to have someone come and fix it, especially as I don't really need it. However, I also don't want water to get in there and damage the wall. So...caulk! Which I could also use to seal the huge gap between the storm window frame and the wooden window frame that I discovered when I opened the living room window to install the window panel for the AC. OMG and ants were coming in there! I hadn't seen ants in the apartment away from the windowsill yet, but that was only a matter of time, so I tossed an ant trap in there. I also suddenly had ants in the bathroom window (on that same side of the building), so I tossed another trap in there before closing it up for my new life with AC.
In conclusion, daily existence is a chore and a half, so it is exciting when I work up enough motivation to actually DO anything towards it. These are the things I've done lately. Super bonus points for you if you actually made it all the way this post to the end. Bless you! Cheers!