paloma's journal

not that much to say today. it's been hot and very humid. thunder rolled by but not much rain, it was just a tease. the air continues to hang heavy.

the puppy at work was super hyper today. it was kind of cute though.

i put some polyurethane on the parts of the kitchen stools i sanded yesterday. (i removed the backs with an oscillating multi tool, which is a neat device.) i also put up a shelf that will hold one of the speakers in the new audio setup. i still want to let the coating cure more before i actually place anything on it. in this weather, everything feels sticky.

i forgot to write in this journal yesterday, but i had a nice day. got my check engine code read at the auto parts store, it was just a loose gas cap (i replaced it in case the seal on the old one was going bad). went to guilford, an archetypically new-englandy town, to meet up with someone named aude who our mutual friends connected me with. we met at a cafe that is in a quonset hut, and had a long and interesting conversation.

later on, i finished applying finishes to some shelves and the speaker stands. they came out great! i want to let them cure a few more days before i use them since it's so humid out. i also made some almond flour muffins to augment my lunches for the work week.

today, at my job, we did a bit more work on the shed, and also started a new painting on the gantry (a mechanical device that we use to make very controlled sine-wave stripe patterns with paint). after work i went to the gym and exercised the hardest i have yet since joining the gym. now i'm back home and sweating in my humid apartment.

i started reading a new book, but the writing style is kind of annoying, so i'm not sure how much more of it i'll read.

we went to a party at andrei's sister's house, which is right next to a lake. they have two children, so there were a lot of kids at the party, all running around underfoot, as well as a lot of dogs. everyone went swimming and ate pizza which was constantly being cranked out of the wood fired oven in their backyard. i didn't think to bring a bathing suit, so i borrowed a somewhat ill-fitting one which was quite loose around the chest so i had to be careful to not let it slip off and flash everyone. there was also a prodigious amount of desserts (possibly like 10 different types of cake and cookies).

on the way there, we went to the post office and visited kit (whose garden we will be watering over the next week while he is out of town), and on the way back, we got groceries. also on the way back, my check engine light came on, so i will need to get the code read tomorrow.

i finally got to work on my woodworking projects - finished and attached the new tabletop (it came out amazing), assembled and coated 2 speaker stands, and worked on 2 wooden shelves. andrei is back but has been very tired from the trip.

we watched a silly comedy movie, and heard lots of fireworks being set off outside because it is the fourth of july. (it is also our 7 year anniversary.)

today, i was very responsible and did 3 important, time-sensitive things that i needed to do, which were all relatively time consuming so i had been putting them off. i really wanted to finish sanding and install my new tabletop, but i resisted the urge. now i can do that tomorrow with a clear conscience.

andrei is coming back tonight! very excited to see them again after their trip of over a week. it's been kind of fun having the house to myself but i am quite ready to wrap up my bachelor lifestyle for now.

it started raining and thundering and got very windy suddenly in the late afternoon. it was quite dramatic. i hope that my tiny shrub outside got a good drink.

i tidied my office (it seems like less of an office and more of a studio these days, but i have been mildly averse to calling it my studio lately for some reason, it feels oddly self-aggrandizing or something.) i have been using a tear-out pad instead of a regular notebook because it encourages me to make more quick, scrappy notes. i tossed a few in the recycling today that were no longer relevant, but i took photos of them because they provide a pretty accurate snapshot of what's been on my mind lately: weird furniture designs and woodworking projects, signal chains for audiovisual performance, and random home improvement ideas.

i went to the makerspace wood shop today, got my "certificate" to operate the important saws i needed to use, and cut all of the wood for my speaker stands and shelves that i wanted to make. i am quite pleased! i actually like the facility there better than the wood shop at work because they have a panel saw, which makes cutting down big heavy chunks of plywood way easier. compared to the basement wood shop i wanted to set up, it's a much better option, so in a way i'm actually glad that that plan didn't work out because it pushed me to pursue the makerspace certification. i have a tendency towards preferring to work alone in my own space vs. communal facilities, but sometimes pushing back on the introversion is a good thing.

after that, i went straight to yoga class. my legs were already tired from various things, but the yoga class seemed to be the last straw, because i basically have no choice but to be horizontal for an indefinite period of time now. (i feel like i say i'm tired in almost every journal entry, and part of that is probably because i tend to write in here while lying around in the evening after my energy runs out for the day...)

update: i had a second wind, and thankfully, my legs stopped hurting so much, after i lay on the futon and watched a movie. it's a good thing too that i was able to move again because the house was an absolute mess. so now i'm going to bed late, but with a clean house. this is a compromise i can accept.

due to an ill-advised extremely late bedtime last night, i started off the day very tired. but i managed to make some very beautiful pancakes that gave me some energy.

i made some very nice improvements to the living room raspberry pi media player, which pleased me greatly. watched some videos about the saws in the wood shop at the makerspace, so i will go there tomorrow to complete the process that will give me access to them. and finally, i did a final re-organization of the basement (while wearing a high level of PPE). anything that i left down there is in "cold storage," and anything that i wanted to access more often was brought outside and wiped down to remove any potential lead paint dust before coming into the house. it started raining while i was doing that, which actually wasn't a bad thing since it made it easier to wipe everything down. free water!

now i'm back to being super tired, which is good because it's a reasonable time to get ready for bed. hopefully i can get my sleep schedule back on track now!

i am staying up late again... vacation times. i know it will be annoying to re-adjust for work, but it's fun to stay up late working on projects (in this case, working on the living room raspberry pi media player setup.)

i didn't actually do many of the things i planned to do, but i did go to the hardware store, thrift store, and grocery store. i also sorted through some stuff to get rid of, to make room for tools i need to access often, and gave away a mattress topper to a random person on the internet. (the "free stuff exchange" economy is strong these days.)

tomorrow, it's supposed to rain, but we'll see how much it actually does, or if i can sneak in some outdoor sanding around the weather. (or perhaps, i can just do it in the garage, now that there's space in there from the wall removal.)

a laptop i got for free and installed linux on last week has stopped booting. i was gonna try to fix it but then i decided not to. when chatting about it with a friend they said "the computer will still be broken tomorrow." i think i want to get that engraved on something. the funny thing is that it's probably going to remain true whether i actually attempt to fix it or not.

i guess i'm just hopping between projects, which seems like a good way to spend my week off. i'm also looking forward to andrei returning from wisconsin on thursday; it's fun to fall into rabbit holes, but it's also good to have someone around who keeps you a bit more grounded most of the time.

speaking of which, it's bedtime.

biked over to meet up with a friend and go to the farmers' market this morning. i got some veggies and fish. then went home, ate lunch, and went to an art opening at the ely center, a local art space. the group exhibit was called "body's first architecture" and included lovid, an artist duo based across the sound in long island, who i've been doing some freelance website work for. i said hi to them and it was cool that they came to town for the show.

when i got back home, the lead paint test swabs had arrived, so i used them to test the basement walls. bummer — there was lead paint in almost every area, powdery and chipping away. that has fully put the damper on using that space for any type of workshop (since the landlord will likely not do anything about the lead hazards, and it's not worth it for me as a renter to take on). oh well... i will refocus my efforts on getting badged on the necessary tools at the makerspace and work on my projects there instead. i can also sometimes use the saws at the studio where i work, but it will be good to have options.

i probably don't have enough of a need to justify having my own woodworking space, and the improvements i did so far in the basement were probably for the best anyway... but it's still frustrating. i thought i could at least store some stuff down there, but now i feel paranoid that i already exposed myself to lead from the small amount of cleaning i did so far, and i just want to get all of my stuff out and never go down there again. i guess i could take this all as a lesson. i'm fine to clean up gross messy stuff, but when it comes to neurotoxins, i am not willing to fuck around.

i'm pretty tired out now, so i guess i will just chill out for the evening. perhaps i will make some of that fish for dinner...

the title of this post refers to a literal wall i removed, but it seems like it should be a metaphor for something, too.

i was just planning to sweep some crumbing drywall out of my garage, but i ended up removing all of the drywall because part of it fell off when i was cleaning. (it was kind of rotting since the garage has no door so it was basically outside. who decided to put drywall there in the first place? another mystery of my strange, neglected apartment building.)

then once i had done that, i noticed the framing of the wall was also kind of rotting and was barely even attached to anything (definitely not load bearing). so i just took the whole wall apart and stacked the wood outside and put up a free wood listing on craigslist. (i already have a bunch of random 2x4s so i definitely don't need it.) apparently lots of people want wood because i already got five messages.

that pretty much took up my whole day, and was a lot of work. it was quite humid and warm (though still not bad at all compared to the heat wave) so i got super sweaty and dirty in the process.

it occurred to me that the basement might have lead paint, since the building is from 1900, so i am pausing the basement cleanup until i am able to get a test kit and do some testing down there. if there is a lot of lead paint, i may need to rethink the entire plan. but either way, i could probably use a break from physical labor.

someone is lighting fireworks in the street, i can see it from where i'm sitting.

it's 8:31 pm and i'm sitting near an open window. here is what i hear:

• a weed whacker
• a child crying
• car doors slamming
• music (mostly just the bass and kick drum)
• distant fireworks
• neighbors chatting and laughing
• the whoosh of my window fan
• engine sound of a passing car

it's getting close to the fourth of july and people are definitely starting to have barbecues and such. meanwhile, i am having a quiet evening at home alone (andrei is still in wisconsin).

i had a nice, chill day off. i finally did the thing i needed to do for zine club (sorry for being vague, but i have a policy of keeping the mystery objects a surprise — not that i really expect anyone to read this but me, hah). it was finally a reasonable temperature and humidity out, so i was able to sand my new countertop in the backyard. i think it's looking pretty good. i also coated the bottom, so it will still be a while before it's ready for me to put it into the kitchen.

i also did some more basement fix-up stuff. applied more putty to the sink drain, and finally, i see no dripping at all underneath. i moved the neighbor's dryer vent duct so it actually vents outside, instead of venting into a boarded-up windowsill and getting lint all over the walls. (what went through the mind of whoever put it in that way is so beyond me that i can't think about it for too long or my brain might break.)

unfortunately, i sort of tripped on the stairs that lead from the basement to the backyard, and skinned my shin on the metal frame of the trapdoor. it didn't get scraped enough to bleed, but i might have some nasty bruises. that doorway is a bit awkward, but also i was walking carelessly while holding a container of liquid in each hand, so it was kind of my own fault. (i didn't spill any though!)

on the docket for tonight: another coat of poly on the table, dinner, and perhaps i will seek out some entertainment if i have time before bed...

the weather finally cooled off. i am not sure if i've ever appreciated cool, gray, slightly rainy weather before in my life.

today was my last day of work for over a week. i am enjoying my new job, but i am also excited to have a solid chunk of days to work on my own stuff. this is the first time in quite a while where i'm off work and don't need to be searching for my next job or freelance gig!

after work, i went to the gym. my abdominal strain seems to be improving, but it's not back to normal yet, so what i can do is still somewhat limited, but i definitely succeeded in tiring myself out. since i got home afterwards, i basically have had no energy. it's only 10pm right now but i might just go to bed anyway. it's not like i'm going to be able to do much else.

so, last night i did indeed do 1 of the 2 urgent things i needed to do. i'm settling in for the evening now, so i will hopefully finish the other one tonight (it's making something for zine club!)

according to the weather report, today is supposed to be the last super hot day of this heat wave. i am looking forward to more reasonable temperatures and being able to work outside again tomorrow.

after work today, i went to the yoga studio and worked the front desk, but i didn't participate in the class because i still have pain from my strain at the gym yesterday.

then i came back home and did a tiny bit more work on the basement cleaning project. it's slowly becoming a slightly less horribly disgusting situation down there. there is still a lot to do to make it a usable space, but i'm pretty sure that i've put a stop to all the active water damage, so that seems like it will help a lot.

another scorching hot day, with a high temperature of 99 degrees fahrenheit, mostly spent inside. i did some more tutorials in rhino, the 3D modeling program, and played around with making some fun shapes. i really like the program; compared to the other 3D programs i have used (blender and sketchup), i find it so much easier, more precise, and oddly satisfying. i had to admit that, after playing with it for a while, doing more would have been mostly for fun since i had already quickly picked up the basics. but i am thinking of using it for some home woodworking projects.

i also played with the dog more. he was much better at not peeing on the floor today, seemingly because he was mostly crated while indoors, but brought outside to the yard often. he mostly napped while i was organizing paint buckets and it was very cute to watch him being comfy and lazy. i also remembered to take a photo of him today. (i try not to use my phone much while at work so i forgot yesterday.)

after work, i went to the gym. i did some lat pull downs, but then when i went to do an upside-down sit-up i strained something in my abdominals and had to stop completely and recover. after that i just went on the treadmill and worked up my pace extremely gradually to make sure i didn't trigger it again. a bit disappointing since i didn't really get much exercise. i have yoga tomorrow so i hope my weird strain goes away by then.

now i'm back home, and i am definitely going to do the things i have been supposed to do for a while but didn't because i was obsessed with my basement project. (right? yes. definitely...)

so, it turns out that the artist couple i work for did indeed get a puppy over the weekend. his name is thor and he doesn't yet know that peeing on the floor is not considered polite, but he is very adorable. i enjoyed taking him out for walks and playing with him.

the heat wave continues to hang heavily over the new haven area. i have mostly been working inside so thankfully it hasn't been a huge problem, but even at night it's hot enough that many fans are needed.

i spent some more time this evening working on the basement, although i probably should have prioritized other things. it is hard to convey how truly filthy it is down there. but the shop vac seems to be able to handle most of it fairly well. i also took a closer look at a leaking drainpipe which i will try to seal with putty.

i am actually ready for bed at a decent hour this time.