Winding down -- Friday

Friday -- only the weekend left -- and then back to work:  ah well.


The usual morning thing:  make lunches, get people out the door, browse internet.


Took a nap from around 9:30am-10:30am.  Got up, had some food, watched Dark Mirror -- again!!!  Meant to catch the 11:30am showing of Stan and Laurel, but I lost track of time and didn't properly start getting ready until about 11:30:  even with the 10 minutes of ads, plus the trailer -- wasn't going to make it.  Okay, change of plans.


Considered going to visit a friend from work at his nursing home:  about half a year ago he had a mysterious brain issue -- like a stroke, but global -- so his brain is pretty much fried:  very sad.  I tried visiting him in the hospital on two occasions, but he was asleep both times -- even though I hung around for a chunk of a day.

But then, decided against it.  Maybe tomorrow.


Took the weights out of the vinegar bath, scrubbed them with a wire brush, rinsed them in a tub of water with a few shakes of baking soda, then rinsed.  Put them in the oven for about a half hour at 100C (to make them completely dry, plus to heat them up), then rubbed them with a candle (which melted upon contact) to seal the metal to prevent rust.

That description makes it sound shorter than it actually was.  I didn't check the time.


Somewhere in there, ate some food -- while watching Black Mirror.


Around 3:30pm I turned my attention to the cord that I'm using to shoot the property line.  Turns out that the cheap rope that I bought would've been fine if I'd completed the task in a timely manner -- but it's been several months, so the UV damage now makes the rope break at various spots.  Was also heating up some garlic bread.  At it -- while watching Black Mirror.

Around 4:15pm I decided to head to the hardware store to get more rope.   Starting to rain lightly.  At the store it took me a little time to figure out which of the many options I wanted.  The receipt says that I paid at 4:42pm. 


Came home, raining more heavily.  Went "eh" and re-strung some of the rope on the boundary line -- but then got really heavy, and also the lightning was getting closer -- so I went inside.


The Lady wasn't home yet, due to a school thing, so I played the drums (it annoys the family if I do it when they're at home):  had a grand time, and came up with some drum beats that I might use someday.  I'm not a good drummer -- but I'm un-schooled enough that I come up with my own way of doing things -- which sometimes converts into "originality".


Everyone came home.  A quick dinner.


For some reason, around 7pm I was fairly sleepy -- considered just going to bed.  But I wanted to get more things done, so I didn't.

Still raining like everything. 

Decided to log today's purchases; also logged various purchases from a pile that's been on the floor next to my desk for -- it turns out -- about a year (whoops). 

The pile of papers that I went through freed an African slit drum that my late paternal grandfather had made for use when we were kids.  Unfortunately, he had seen them, but didn't understand their functionality -- so the "tongues" weren't tuned, and therefore the drum was unusual for "real" music-making (fine for little kids to make noise, of course).

Over the last half year or so I've been getting into hand percussion -- so I turned it over and tried playing the back.  It actually sounds really good! 

So, that's how I'm going to use it:  on my lap, with the slits serving as sound holes.  


It's 10:25pm:  the rain has completely stopped, and I'm not sure when -- but probably in the last half hour.

Will play electric guitar through a "blues" overdrive pedal that was in a bag among the pile of papers I went through.  Depending on whether fatigue hits me or not, I'll play for a half hour or hour, then go to bed.  Or, play, then watch more Black Mirror -- maybe while playing the three-string acoustic guitar.

A pretty good day.  A shame that the rain prevented me from finishing running the new rope along the property line:  ah well; tomorrow.

Kind of funny that if I hadn't needed more rope, I would've spend the entire day without leaving my yard:  I'm okay with that.



--GG