January

Well another month is almost past and like years as they pass it is good to look back and see what happened. It would be good to be able to say it has been a month of tremendous accomplishments. It has not. But it really would have been nice to be able to state that honestly. I have spent some time scanning my Grandmother's journals from about 1920 to about 1935 . I seem to lack some motivation to continue at this point. Over the last weekend I decided to do some finish work in the master bathroom. I never claimed to be a carpenter. I have three nail guns and can make rough work that is at best average. I decided that I would save some money and do some finish work. After all we have only lived here eight years. How hard can it be to cut some quarter round pine and fit it up a wall and along a shelf. It is simple geometry. Two 45 degree angles meet to make a 90 degree corner. If one piece is coming along parallel to the floor and the other piece is perpendicular to the floor it is still two 45's make a 90. How hard could that be? Well, for Jeff, impossible. I stopped counting incorrect cuts at 10. There were several more attempts after that resulted in additional failures. How many ways are there to cut that that do not join together? I don't know! Several of the failures were a result of me attempting three dimensional thought in my head. When those thoughts were transferred to the wood in the real three dimensional world it resulted in some actual three dimensional scrap. Kindling for the fireplace. It is like those thoughts you have in your youth about a beautiful woman and what sex would be like before you have actually had any. You realize when sex actually happens that you had no idea what you were doing and your thoughts were not matched by reality. Gee, comparing finish carpentry to sex, didn't see this blog entry going there. Maybe I should have just saved some typing on my part and some reading on yours by saying, " I fucked up a lot of good wood." You can apply that to my youth if you wish. So maybe finish carpenters are like hookers. If you want your wood to be finished in a professional manner then hire a professional. As for me I think I will just do the best I can with the abilities I have. If you butt two pieces of wood together at a 90 degree angle you still get a square corner. It may not be the work of a master carpenter but it will have to do. It is like Dirty Harry said: "A man's got to know his limitations." It is January's lesson to me. That and what the fuck, it's done and it looks better than it did when I started. DILLIGAF!