I was shot with a nail-gun, and it wasn't that bad

Today, as i was continuing to assist in the clintonSeeger's basement project, i was unexpectedly shot in the back. It had little to do with my aces over eights, Russ (my Jedi-Master-Contractor) assured me it was an accident. It hurt for a moment, didn't break the skin (it hit me flat - i was 5 yards away, or so). After being shot, verifying that the nail, in fact, didn't go in, and deciding i was alright, i started reflecting on my summer a bit.

During the past four weeks I have forgone (for the most part, sorry Lane, sorry Peter) my life of the mind in favor of a life of the hand... of the back. Familial obligation has dictated my summer, thus far, in a direction of hard labor... After flooding for the first time in 25 years, my parents' basement is going through a fundamental remodel. After installing a couple of sump pumps and a tile drainage system, the whole space is being re-created and I've been allowed to play along. I've framed walls (almost shooting a nail through my finger in the process), built soffits, and installed wiring. The day Rick shot a nail through Russ' finger (i know, it seems like a theme) i stood amazed as we neglected to call an ambulance or bring someone to the Emergency Room, and instead watched Russ tape paper towels around his finger with electrical tape and "call it good" (that night, he hit 4 home runs in his softball league).

This series of events got me to thinking about relative genetic makeups... (which might have brought me to a reminiscence of a certain trip to Alabama {not to mention a certain day of SeegerOlympic Events, which inexplicably occurred}, but that's the story for another day). I am, decidedly, not of 'tough breeding', but i think there is something to me that makes me a good sufferer (historically, some of the best sufferers i can think of {people who really don't seem to take it too bad when things go wrong} are Dave Wake, Walter Benjamin, and, well, i dunno, someone else.)

Clearly, my breed are not good sufferers, but somehow, i feel myself to be an adequate sufferer... not only in terms of actual suck-i-ness endured, but also the idea of physical pain... I'm not sure, but somehow, i feel myself 'greater than the sum of my parts.' I don't want it to seem arrogant, and i'm sure there are 'pain-factors' that will equalize this thinking, but just generally, when i picture myself in a time of true calling (any time other than now, other than a time of true reclination is a time of 'calling')...

I guess what i'm seeing is a lack of 'now' in anyone's time. Before now... there was always a possibility of something else... something that meant something... Nazis or Racists or... well... Communists... Now there are Terrorists... but they look like anyone (except they don't, right), but no longer are there real terrorists... as we know...

this is not a pipe

Yesterday i fixed a toilet. As a new homeowner i had my first minor freakout because the toilet was leaking... I started imagining the inevitable call to the plumber and the visit where he would find pipe after pipe that was suspect, eventually having to tear out and overhaul the entire system...

But, with a little encouragement from Brooke's dad, i took the project on myself, turned off the water to the entire house and removed a pipe from the wall & the toilet. I took said pipe to the hardware store where i found a piece that looked kind of similar, though not close enough to put my mind at ease, then reconnected the piece to the entire system. Very scary.

In the process of doing all this i purchased a pipe wrench (which it turned out i did not need) and a really big crescent wrench (which was much more expensive that i expected it to be). This is, in fact, the second DIY-y thing i've done to the house... Last weekend, again with Jim's help, i uninstalled & installed 2 light fixtures in the bedroom & bathroom. Touching electric wires, twisting them around each other, and screwing things into the ceiling. Very exciting.

After my repair project, i continued the ManDay theme by going outside and trying to move approximately 1000lbs of ice & water that had collected on my driveway. My efforts were barely enough to put a dent in the glacier that is the front walk, but it's a start and becoming a real man, man.

I Enjoy the People

It's another lovely evening in Wisconsin. I've given 4 hours of my life to Barber Shop related causes & spent the balance of my evening out in the boondocks near Brodhead, hanging out with most of my Wisco folk.

What it mostly makes me recall is how much i love having friends about. I hate being in a city that everyone i know doesn't live in. I wish i was one of those people who knew only people that lived within golf-shot distance (golf-shot distance has become my favorite distance measure, because it's so arbitrary & really makes you seem like a better golfer than you are). And so we come again to my commune idea... Granted, the franchise commune plan that i've devised doesn't put everyone i know within a decent 3-iron, but it does surround myself with people i like & gives people the chance to do just what they like...

So, here's the plan, in summary. We (and by we, i so far just mean me, but also mean anyone who wants to join me) begin to accrue. While most communes are founded on left-y ideals of sharing and community (and ours will rather be, too) we have to start with building up the empire. So when one of us finds an old farmhouse or sweet house in the city (or perhaps we'll start with an RV) and buys it, it becomes the property, at least in practice, of the commune. And we spread out as we accrue more properties & people. So, for example, let's say i finally purchased that decked out 70s era RV that's been parked at the Greek restaurant in Millard for years & simultaneously, Lee buys an old house in Brookings (i believe Lee is really the only person vital to this whole plan working, at least of people that i know, because he can turn a pile of garbage into a moped & relocate doors at will). If Lee wants to take a vaca, he puts in for transfer to the RV & if i want to be in Brookville for a time, i take his spot there. We trade places & both get to experience a new life for a while.

Now, imagine this on a much larger scale, where there are tens or hundreds of folk moving around the world to the different places we own. Eventually, you'll be able to summer in Greece & spend a couple weeks a year at our condo in Playa del Carmen (right near where the guy makes the seashell lamps). It's going to be sweet, but so far, all i have is me & a mid-sized refrigerator box.

Hard at Work

In a truly Nebraksan turn of phrase i start this entry with:

Today i went over at my brother's place t'help him tear down his fence.

That's what i did today. I took a good bit of sun in the process & rather enjoyed myself. I am not an overly skilled laboror when it comes to building or repairing things, but in my mind i am one of the best at breaking them. My general method of destruction was to essentially walk through portions of the fence and tear it down by hand. Various neighbor men would wander over as we undertook the project offering advice and better tools - power screwdrivers, crowbars, hammers, and gloves - and offer neighborly help showing how to do the job better.

In addition to my unpaid work as of late (fence-breaking, paper-writing, and applying for PhD programs) i've actually been making some money as of late... quite the change for me, i know. In the last week or so i've been awarded monies (or future monies) for discussing my shaving habits, partaking in a bit of morphine, and selling books at the great green demon Barnes & Noble. While the pay at B&N is pretty bad i do get a pretty decent employee discount, plus the ability to "check out" books for a couple weeks for free. Hopefully, if i ever get any "actual" employment i can keep a few hours a week at B&N to hold on to the perks... Besides, the work isn't too bad, selling something i actually want people to buy, without having to hawk credit cards that people probably shouldn't get... The "orientation" was a little cult-ish "get more members, get more members!"...

At least someone is giving me money in exchange for some work, even if it's minimal (both the money and the work)...

I am a builder...

I make things. Things that come from a box. Today (and i guess tomorrow) i'm going to build this. It's going to be awesome. Right now it's just a pile of wood and screws (minus two necessary screws, because in the bag they were to have come in there was one screw broken in half and two screws short). However, the screws are somewhat ornamental - the top drawer - so i'm hoping to mostly finish.

I do have some IKEA building experience, having put together my bed, but this piece seems a bit more complicated.

Once i've finished it, though, i plan to carry on my building career by "making stairs" that go up to my front porch. Currently, i have a set of stairs that lead up to my porch, but they have large cracks in them and they bend severely when you step on them. I would prefer concrete steps that didn't bend, but the landlady seems incapable of hiring somebody to construct them, so i thought i would just go figure out how to build them myself.

Beyond these construction projects, i have no current plans, but possibilities include a back-yard half pipe, a device from which to hang curtains, or a really big bong. In the meantime, does anybody have an extra 100864 screw?