Schreiber

I said I was going to post about my car adventures; and since we had to jump-start roommate E's car yesterday, it's been on my mind. [I delayed posting this, though, 'cause I wanted to get Squigamunk's permission before posting a bunch of conversation extracts.]

So. On Friday, I'd been persuaded by Squigamunk that it might, in fact, be the battery, and had located a Napa Auto Parts near me that said that yep, they could provide me with a battery.

I neglected to ask whether they could install it.


(Me, on the phone to roommate M., 11:20, Saturday) "Uh, hi, [M]... can you come rescue me?"
[She did]

Text Conversation with Squig (Excerpts): ( Read more... )

Wow, I have been really bad about posting recently. Partly because a lot of stuff has been going on; partly because I keep wanting to write something eloquent and in-depth about various topics. Sp instead, you're getting the executive summary, so that I actually get this onto pixels...

- Work's been busy. I feel like it shouldn't be kicking my ass this much - despite last week, where I screwed up in various different directions, and Monday, where all of that came home to roost, in some cases for the second time, this job is objectively better than my last full time job, and takes up less of my day. Somehow, it still manages to leave me with less energy or spare time.

- Naturally, after disappearing for most of a year when I was usually underemployed and broke, my client from Germany reappeared. So I've been copy-editing his latest website, snatching an hour of this evening, an hour and a half of that Saturday: slow going, and not many hours, but it means I have like no down time, at least after you factor in all the parenting and fun stuff, e.g.:

- Ringing; which has been good, despite having to spend two successive practices doing emergency repairs on a rope. (It held, though! After my third time to try to get it spliced!)

- I've been dealing with some health stuff, where by health stuff I mean springtime allergies plus suddenly developing acid reflux. Badly enough (the first time) that I took myself to the hospital to make sure I wasn't having the world's weirdest heart attack. (Hint: No.) And the heartburn's better now, although "better" in this case means "less bad" rather than "cured". This is probably gonna be permanent, or at least really long-term. I'm keeping baking soda everywhere I go, and I'm working on weaning myself off coffee, since that's the only really clear trigger.

- G's schedule means I've been seeing a lot more of Peter than I usually have been (but see below): she's been taking some sort of class in Lexington, so I've been giving him dinner and entertainment every Sunday that I'm actually in town (see below), plus having him stay for a couple extra weekends when G. is in Seattle/northern New Hampshire/wheretheheckeverIcan'tkeeptrack.

- Practically every OTHER weekend for the last month, and for about a month after this, I've been out of town, or had some similar commitment that ate the weekend. Last weekend, was up in Maine to see Squig. and partner. Partner was off at a friend's birthday LAN party for a chunk of the time. Squig and I went on adventures, which mostly turned out to involve osprey/castle hunting (on the Maine coast as a sort of late birthday present to her.

(These factors combined mean that trying to do any extra socializing/house-type projects, or even cook anything elaborate, has been HAHAHA NO.)

- And the big announcement: G. and Peter are moving to Montreal. EXACTLY what this is gonna mean for the whole seeing Peter business is unclear. I have a lot of feels about it, but I'm going to save that for a separate post.

Open letter to Squigamunk:
I thought of you yesterday, as Ricky and I took turns trying to lie under the tenor bell at Old North, like mechanics under a really low-slung car. We were once again trying to replace a staple bolt, which is the thing that holds the clapper to the bell;* this time, in stark contrast to last time, Ricky got the nylock nuts came off the old one in no time flat while I was trying to get into the tower (past most of a cruise ship's worth of tourists), but getting the whole assemblage back in took multiple tries and balancing it on bricks. I guess last time I just had sheer dumb luck with that...
But anyway, I thought of you, because I'm sure you've been under cars on a good many occasions. And I imagine you would have been fascinated by the process. And yes, we could also have used an extra person to hand us wrenches...

--Schreiber

PS: I have eaten waaaayyy too many Lindt balls in the past two weeks. I blame you for everything. OK, that's actually not true, but I wish I could.
---

(Actual practice yesterday featured me ringing "inside" on a method - Basto - for the first time. That made no sense to anyone but me? OK, I accomplished a thing!)

Meantime, the Dean of York has apparently locked the Minster's ringers out of the tower. WTF.

Anyway. I'm once again going to blow off actual housework in favor of jogging and spending more time in church (Evensong, possibly with Nineweaving, in this case.) This is how I roll, I guess.

* Strictly, the staple bolt holds the hinge-like jobbie to which the clapper is attached (via the clapper bolt, which is a different thing again) to the headstock... but close enough.