sometimes the next step is going to be a burst. and it’s not the burst yet.  this is true in drywall.  it’s ok to sometimes just do a little bit of work.  but sometimes you have to not do that little bit of work so you can do a lot next time.

there is a commercial building, I think near the corner of montello and florida, that has a little tree growing out of the wall, and it has been living there for at least 2 years, growing out of the brick, I’m going to say 15 feet above a bare stretch of sidewalk, and 8 feet below the roof, more or less in the middle of a wide expanse of probably yellow brick with a few small bills or empty hangers, and it’s maybe three feet tall growing out of a one inch ledge that I suppose is a decoration or just division in the brick work, to divide the expanse of wall so there isn’t too much uninterrupted wall.  the extremes of cold I suppose unless perhaps there is a leak there with a bit of conditioned air coming out of the wall.  not much moisture much of the time but that ledge may slope just slightly toward the wall, catching a bit of water possibly along the entire wall and channelling it to the lowest place in the ledge.  though typically the builder would be careful to slope the ledge slightly down from the wall.  it’s possible there is a large animal in the attic that sleeps constantly and bleeds water.  that water follows its tail down to a crack in the plaster, and on out to the tree.

skinskins twice beat the giants in 2011, and both were solid wins: 28-14 and 23-10.  skinskins came close to beating the pats.  skinskins lost by one score to the 49ers, 19-11.  though the 49ers dominated in the 2nd half.  perhaps it was not as close as the score.  SF outrushed WSH, 138-52.

based on these results, it seems that the 49ers and ravens will meet in the super bowl.  it’s not an easy game to pick, mostly because the skins did not play the ravens in 2011.  ravens and skins last met during the regular season in Dec 2008, a 24-10 victory for the ravens.  but I don’t know if that game should impact our prediction for the super bowl.  I’m gonna say… 49ers over Ravens.  20-10.

of course I’m drawn to the room now that it’s closed up.  it’s a grey and white stomach.  it’s perhaps the warmest room in the house despite the vents being closed.

I think this is the 6th post since sunday morning.  crap I forgot to bring a drink up here.  tom sawyer came on shuffle a while ago.  the guitar solo is basically over.

I’m waiting to hear back about what would be a good contract.  that I didn’t hear anything today is either good, bad or neither.  but I actually prefer to think that it’s either good or bad.  oh, I just got an email.  so I did hear something.  they plan to meet first thing this week to decide.  that was his phrase.  his referring to the week in the future tense reminded me it’s MLK day.  I briefly knew that yesterday but hadn’t yet known it today.  I made it past 8:30 without knowing.

there are things one can do.  one can put on the wireless headphones and listen to something like stereolab and do some mud.  or some bands.

i know I SHOULdn’t eat black tea

but I want some sharpness

–

on the bed I was thinking about feeling good about things.  occasionally it occurs to me that feeling good about things is an option.  there are things to feel good about.  my eye itches.  I’m going to try water.  I’m back.  I splashed it with water a few times.  psychologically it helped.

as always in long-term home improvement one must maintain a degree of obliviousness about one’s place in the overall.  it helps the spirits to be near sighted most of the time.

and remember the finiteness.  there is a finite amount of drywall finishing to do.

the water in the eye helped somatically..

“I really don’t know what I’m doing here.” –Robert Smith

a day a day.

leads become cool.  other leads emerge.  lead.

by bits the seams fill with mud.

arnold sits on me.

the mind was a bit foggy.. sleepy.

I feel like the wall works.  sounds of power tools seem distant.  of course they may be distant.  they may be in anchorage.  I can’t see them.  but I feel like they were near — perhaps on the other side of the wall.. and yet seemed muffled.  such has been the totality of my effort that I am at peace regardless.  I know I did what could be done. whatever will be will be.  I left it all on the field.

a little more mud later.  march of the mud.  I am its person.  it persons me.

this morning was a long time ago.  I closed up the walls in the closet.   started mudding in there.  an interval of mudding begins.

watched some of those games.  burnt the soup.  sat at the park for a time.  that was around 11.  everything I’m wearing is brown.

nothing quite like closing up a wall.

dishwasher sounds and earbuds.

need some course discs.

potentially I could have the seams closed by tomorrow midnight.  never more to glimpse the sinews.

painting is out there.  it is plausible.  people scale sheer cliffs hundreds of feet with no ropes.  so for me to say that the room will one day be complete and painted is no great reach.  the small size of the room begins to help somewhat.

I almost opened a second carton of OJ.

it’s not as if I didn’t have any of the soup before I burnt it.  there is more celery at the store.  the whole house smells like the burnt soup.  it will probably be gone by tomorrow.

that was quite an aggressive interval in the room in recent weeks.

I went into the renovation.  I had been complaining to them about some holes in the firewall.  the ones I found when I removed the drywall in the closet.  today my tone became a bit more urgent and minutes thereafter the project manager guy said he was headed over and we would take a look together.  so we went in there and had a look with their brick guy.  the place was quite full of drywall workers and the music was just south of loud.

the first floor not surprisingly is a wide open floor plan as these renovations almost always are.  the 2nd floor over there has 2 bathrooms.  it has a bathroom in the same location as the one over here, and also has a 3/4 bathroom in between the master BR and 2nd BR.  the 3/4 bathroom has direct doors from the bedroom on either side.  it doesn’t open onto the hall.

as a result of the extra bathroom, each of those two bedrooms is smaller than the comparable one over here.  the master BR over there is maybe 2/3 the size of the one over here.

it’s still skeletal over there, with no drywall on most of the walls.

the brick damage over there was not as severe as on my side.  just gaps in mortar and maybe 2 missing bricks, whereas over here I think about 15 were missing.

I cleaned my office today.  it’s nice up here.  I haven’t used it much since the summer. it was crammed full of stuff.

any day when I apply to two j/obs is a good day.  though I will need to get a little better at it.  I suppose I applied to three but one was a web form and I didn’t submit a cover letter, so I barely applied to that one.

first just go through some actual motions of searching and second get a little sharper about it.  first make sure you’re doing something, without burning too much turf with crappy applications.  I suppose one of the things I applied to was a temporary freelance thing.

the orbital sander takes the popcorn off.  the discs don’t last long.  need courser discs.

I went grocery shopping.

wall is closed.  and so we celebrate the little things.

mud tmw evening, after a hearty day of profesh like activities.

I guess I did all the insulation and all the drywall today, and the outlets.

the closet is still a mysterious unconditioned space that peers through slits at the neighboring renovation.  they have told me they will fix the brickwork on their side.  I will see.  LITERALLY.  and only then will I close the few gaps I have left in the mortar for the sole purpose of verifying their work.

and then a little frame, insulation and drywall in the closet.

the ceiling in the room will take some doing.  I have put myself in a situation where I have to scrape off the popcorn.  the ceiling is 2/3 popcorn and 1/3 new drywall.  I’ve scraped off some.  it can be done.  around 70 sq ft.  I will then have to skim the whole ceiling more or less but it’s not a big ceiling.  it’s a pleasant task compared to the brick and insulation work.  every successive task now gets easier.  towards painting.  then I will likely put a floor in the room so the room is finished entirely.  that will be a small floor buy and will give me a chance to live with it for a while before deciding on the rest of the house.

I went into the little park down the street for the first time since it opened.  it’s an odd park, not quite in the style of any other dc park, containing a larger quantity of colorful climbing structures than most, and also an oddly mid-sized sort of playing field with artificial turf.   maybe 3/5 the size of a soccer field.  the ground is a bit higher up there than I expected so the view of the street is different than I expected, especially from atop the picnic tables.

the park almost seems as though it were designed by children who couldn’t resist including more and more features, more walking paths, more jungle gyms, and a playing field, and some exaggerated topography, and a lot of stairs.  like a child’s drawing crammed with more goings on than would ever likely occur in any natural or man made space.  still, it’s an oddly pleasant place to sit.

since you asked, the wall now has insulation and a couple sheets of drywall are up.  two sheets to go.  probably do that tonight.

a long walk earlier.

you couldn’t ask for better unemployment weather.  though I have at times in the last day or two been tired of unemployment.  bit of a dullness setting in at times, and uhh, too much subjectivity, but it will get better as I ramp up the search activities somewhat.  there are plenty of things to apply to.   I could just about spend 40 hours applying to jobs and not run out.