me v that fucking floor

in

Left hand and inner forearm loaded up with its morning dose of "healing ointment": didn't count on falling asleep being such a bitch with Herbie jabbed in one side, a tender and awesomely inked arm on the other, and Beyonce's "Freedom" stuck in my head after Harris's amazing acceptance speech but thenagain it's been six years since I got my first tattoo (my wedding ring) which was, until yesterday, the only work I'd had done on my left arm. Time and healing ointment heals all wounds or at least makes you forget about them until you get a reminder like a curious German Shepherd. Ink therapy FTW, forever.

Exciting shift in project priorities, but to get there, I've decreed that I will get that fucking floor installed in NuSanctum this weekend so that, by next Wednesday, I can move full-time out there for work (solar install is Tuesday). Uplift desk arrived and is on the docket for assembly but only once that quote unquote fucking floor is installed.

ink therapy

in

After far too long - we finished the right sleeve just before the pandemic – I'm indulging in ink therapy / creative refresh/refuel with my favorite tattoo artist this afternoon. Starting the left sleeve, a few things I want on there, the rest I'm going to let her improvise. Arm as canvas for a favorite artist with a buzzy needle – a much more pleasant way to spend my afternoon than fighting with "quick-lok" flooring in NuSanctum. Quick-lok my ass: I'd've rather dealt with nailing the shit directly to the subfloor. Still, the laminate hardwood is a far cheaper – and more robust – alternative, especially when I'll have dogchildren running in and out through their dog door throughout my working / making hours. Expecting the arrival of my new standing desk – sprung for one of the L-shaped Uplift desks since 1/2 of my efforts at making my own fell apart – in many boxes while my left arm is under the therapeutic hum of Jess's buzzy needle. Quick-lok battle resumes tomorrow.

first day

in

First day of school for K – and for the local elementary kids moving to the "all-in-one" school outside of town – and the first of my slowdown mornings for me, timeshifted rituals and routines abound: reading first (John Rechy's CITY OF NIGHT, at present) with dogchildren and matcha instead of coffee – because reading tastes like matcha and working tastes like coffee (and the matcha buzz wears off after four hours, give or take, the verdict remaining out on whether I have my usual two cups of coffee while working or if I can drop down to one); then to yoga, breakfast, and the day's run. Then, The Work: Attendance Cards will, as always, be the start of the workday – only timeshifted a few hours because now I'm letting myself slow down and not cram the pieces of the day that refuel my self-respect into a few hours before the sun rises and spend the rest of the day draining that fuel with utmost consistency. Notions, even, of working – or, rather, tinkering – in the afternoon – though that will be more likely once NuSanctum is up and running. Might even get some more sleep / wouldn't it be nice.

So far, it's been a lovely experiment in temporal displacement – though it's apparent that I'll have to work out new running routes for the schooldaze as local schoolchildren gather at the old elementary school near me to be bussed out to the all-in-one and the sidewalks are now, between 0830 and 0900, overrun with frazzled parents and feral children (run away, run away / keep running) but, on the bright side, after that, it's gloriously, wondrously quiet around here.

tue/20240820

in

Chilly morning, pleasantly so; oh, Mother Nature, you incorrigible, pre-apocalyptic tease.

Now that I(think)'ve got more time for The Work throughout the day and the newsletter has shifted to a (far more workable) monthly schedule, a changeup inbound here. 50% of the way there today, full tilt tomorrow: shift this space into being less of a status-update thing and more of a status / thought synthesis thing, with these wordthings being the first things posted (end of the first chunk of the day, more or less), Attendance Cards the second (a way to bring me back into The Work, and a useful visual separation between days), approx midmorning, see you tomorrow – though once I'm working in NuSanctum (dogchild door successfully installed, with much rage and profanity, yesterday), that might shift to mid-morning for these, mid-afternoon for ACs, especially since I'll be able to move to a more sane schedule.

(All, as ever, subject to change.)

Kamala's raucous reception at her brief appearance at the DNC was moving: this is '08 all over again, not only in the candidate and running mate (Walz is nothing if not a more progressive Biden 20 years younger), but – save any shred of dignity and worthiness of respect – in the opponent, the oldest candidate ever to run for the office picking a young rising star (about to flame out) profoundly unfit to serve ice cream let alone step into the presidency (Palin, even, was more prepared than Vance – at least she was a governor, who could, we should remember, see Russia from her front porch).

Present quandary (other than standard perplexity in The Work at hand): why does the left option key on my Kinesis keyboard stop working at random times? Some key combo I press in my slop-type or a sign of diminished implemental capability?

(Nu)Sanctum, one month later

in

After spending the weekend building a porch and fighting with the eaves doors while K painted the outside trim and doors (right one still needs a second coat - she got rained out) white, I’ve done all I can until the solar install happens – floor and trim / corners being the final major bit of blood, sweat, and tears from my hand. After that, I move my office out there and start working “outside the house” for the first time in 15 years.

One more note here: the stark difference between the outside and inside is intentional: wanted to make it look like a typical garden shed from the outside while the inside is a wooden brain wonderland. Useful TARDIS-infused camouflage. For frame of reference, NuSanctum a month ago.