One Step Forward...

The painting has begun! Christi and I started by painting the ceiling in the master bedroom the other night. The walls were started a couple days ago. I am an experienced painter, so I figured the master bedroom would be a breeze to paint. It would be done in no time, right? Well, after the first coat of paint went on, a soft spot was discovered in one of the walls, so the drywall had to be pulled out and the area had to be patched.

Crap.

But at least it will be fixed properly now so I won't have to deal with it later. I decided to take the day off work tomorrow so that I could be at the house all day, painting and cleaning. Right now the focus is on getting the painting done. Since every surface except the hardwood floors is getting painted, there's a lot to do!

Anyway, tonight I went over and started priming some of the interior doors. They are unpainted wood, and I'm painting them all white. As I said, every surface except the floors! I'm hoping to have a different photo of the master bedroom for you soon, once it's all finished and flawless!

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Out With the Old...Carpet

I said I would post more photos, some showing the results of the work from yesterday. I know you've been on the edge of your seat. The highlights of the day were that the yucky carpet was torn out and the drapes came down. Maybe it doesn't sound like we got much done, but with all the staples we had to remove from the hardwood floors, it took quite awhile. I seriously think I sprouted a new gray hair every time I wrestled out a staple. Today was mostly about cleaning. I spent about two hours cleaning the mini-blinds in the master bedroom, which was exactly as exciting as it sounds.

Today was interesting in that I got a revelatory nugget of information - the electricity in certain parts of the house no longer works. No light in the bathroom, no working outlets in the bedrooms and part of the basement, no obvious cause, and no electrician skills to fix it. Sweet.

OK, so here are some more of the photos I took on Friday after I got the keys.

Here's a shot of the hallway. You can see the master bedroom also. The glass in the light fixture is currently held together with masking tape. It's clear the fixture has had a long life, but it is showing its age and needs to walk toward the 'bright light' to that final resting place in the sky.








This is the master bedroom. Thankfully, the drapes are now gone. I'll show you all an updated photo once it's painted and the carpet comes out. At least it's not pink.






Remember the "before" shot of the living room? Well, here it is again. So far, it has gone from this:









to this (Christi's sweeping pose is super):









to this (yay)!









Maybe there's been no exciting stuff yet, but have no fear, I'm working on it! I'm hoping to get the painting started tomorrow after work. I'll be posting photos of the kitchen and basement soon.

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Home Sweet Home

I finally bought a house. Finally. It's nothing fancy, but it's mine. I got the keys yesterday, and now the cleaning, painting, repairs, and home renovations will commence. I'm excited and relieved that this has actually happened; I hated renting, and have been ready to move into a house of my own for a while. But it's also overwhelming because there is a lot of work to be done. I will have my apartment until September 9, which means I have about a month to get a whole mess of stuff done at the house before moving my things in.

The house is in Catonsville, only a couple miles from my current apartment. It is a ranch-style house that was built in 1958, and has three bedrooms and one (very pink) bathroom. While it is actually in pretty great condition, there are A LOT of small repairs that need to be made, and there are quite a few changes I'd like to make as well (NO dishwasher?!?! This MUST change!).

I will be chronicling the changes to the house as progress is made, not because it will be especially exhilirating, but because I have had requests from friends and family from out-of-state who are interested (or are pretending to be interested) in seeing the house and what I am working on.

Here are some pictures I took yesterday; they show the house exactly as it was when I got the keys.

Here's the front of the house. There's a driveway to the right. The shrubbery will eventually have to be torn out and replaced with some more appropriately-sized plants. There is currently a battle between the shrubs and the walkway to the front door. The shrubs have won. For now.




Here's a dark shot of the living room, taken from the dining room/hallway area. The draperies in this house are overwhelming; they're heavy and multi-layered, and also pretty ugly.







This is the dining room. The chandelier is pretty horrible, and yes, the walls are pink. I don't know why. That's the back door; it leads out to the screened-in porch. You can also see the lovely orange-pink-beige-brown carpet. Fortunately, it was all ripped out earlier today.

And this is the fantastic pink bathroom! More pink! Can you tell how excited I am about the pink-ness?!

I'll post some more pictures tomorrow. And I'll have the first set of progress photos, which will show you the work we (Matt, Christi, Ted, and I) got done today. The drapes came down, and the carpet was removed (requiring the painstaking removal of hundreds of staples (thanks, Christi) and nails). I'm exhausted, my knuckles are swollen from plucking staples with pliers, and my back is in the throes of organizing a protest.

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Life is Strange

"Life sure is strange." An elderly woman said this to me in conversation yesterday. She's right; life is strange indeed. Things we're sure are going to be one way turn out to be another. The oddest of circumstances can turn into the most pleasant surprises. The people we put on pedestals eventually fall off and disappoint us. The places we thought we'd be in our lives are so very far away, so foreign. The thing about life is that there's just no predicting what will happen. There's no way to guarantee anything. Sometimes we find ourselves in bizarre situations that require us to make decisions we never thought we'd have to make. But in the end, all the little things are just part of the long, strange story.

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Favorite Cover Song

Normally I’m not a big fan of cover songs; there are few I actually like. But it just so happens that my favorite cover song is one that I really love. It’s not like I dubbed it my favorite just because it’s the least crappy of the options. I really do love this cover song (did I already mention that?). Not surprisingly, the original and cover artists are two of my favorite bands, Led Zeppelin and TOOL (yes, I intend to use all caps when referencing TOOL, they’re that awesome).

I fell in love with Led Zeppelin when I was 11 years old. There was no courting period; it wasn't necessary - it was truly love at first listen. I was totally hooked, and have been ever since. During middle school and high school I always had trouble falling asleep at night, so I would lie in bed and listen to music through headphones for hours in the dark. It was during those nightly rendezvous that I became enamored with the many different compositions by the rock n’ roll heroes of a past generation. I listened to the songs so many times that I memorized every note and nuance, and even learned exactly where the slightest background studio noises occurred in the recordings.

I fell in love with TOOL just a couple years later. TOOL’s sound is described most often as progressive or industrial rock. I loved the band’s sound, loved their use of interesting time signatures, and loved Danny Carey’s unique and masterful drumming. But mostly I fell head over heels (instantly) for Maynard James Keenan’s voice. It bursts with emotion, and when I hear him sing I am impressed and inspired by his ability to so successfully communicate sentiment.

When I found out that TOOL had recorded a cover version of Led Zeppelin’s No Quarter, I was a little nervous (check out Led Zeppelin's recorded version and TOOL's recorded cover version). I loved both bands and the song so much that I was afraid I’d be hugely disappointed if the cover version didn’t meet my expectations. I would have been really bummed if one of my favorite bands had totally screwed up their cover of one of my favorite Led Zeppelin songs. Not that the world would have stopped turning, but I would have been disillusioned by a No Quarter cover that was less than impressive, especially when I admire TOOL’s ability and have such high expectations of them.

Led Zeppelin and TOOL have decidedly different styles and sounds. But it’s amazing how TOOL was able to accurately capture the timbre and mood of the song while also imprinting it with their unique style. The piano and keyboards that aid in creating a psychedelic feel in the original are replaced by acoustic and electric guitars in the cover. At the beginning of TOOL’s version, effects are used on both the guitar and Keenan’s voice to mimic the synthesized instrumentation of the original version. The vital role of dynamics is beautifully reflected in the cover. TOOL also made some lyrical changes that I believe are in keeping with their comparably more intense style. Robert Plant’s lyrics, “Close the door, put out the light” are changed by Keenan to “Lock the door, kill the light.” Yet the cover version shows great reverence to the original, respecting its beauty and scope. I liked TOOL’s version the first time I heard it, but it took multiple listens before I was able to fully appreciate just how good it is.

I think TOOL’s version of this Led Zeppelin classic is the best-executed cover I have ever heard. I strongly recommend that you listen to both versions the way I listened to the original when I was 11 – in the dark, through headphones.

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Mean Girl

I am opinionated. I say what’s on my mind. Sometimes, when I feel the situation warrants it, I am blunt. Does this make me seem like a mean person? Does it cause people to perceive me as ‘less feminine’? Apparently, it does.

Since when does being outspoken equal being mean? I’ve seen and heard things over the past few months that indicate that some people view me as a mean person. And I’m starting to get the impression that because of my outspokenness people see me as not being very feminine. I’ve always been a tomboy, but this is different. It’s like my perceived femininity directly corresponds to what I say. It's not like I walk around spewing obscenities and rude criticism, though. I think it's a similar phenomenon to people viewing strong or successful women as cold.

While I try very hard not to judge others, I’m not afraid to call a spade a spade, and I would expect others to do the same to me. If someone is trying to sell me a load of BS, then of course I'm going to call them on it. It’s not about being mean; it’s about observation and interpretation. It’s about having a brain and using it. It’s about seeing beneath the surface, and seeing through the smoke. It’s about having an opinion and being unafraid to share it, even though someone may not agree.

I understand that perceptions are unique; I know I may not see things in myself that others see. I also may come across differently to others than I intend. However, I really don’t believe that I am a mean person; I’m actually very caring, and I think I’m pretty nice. So does having an opinion (and not being afraid to be honest and sometimes blunt) mean that I can’t also be a nice person?

Does this stem from some culturally ingrained notion that women are better seen than heard, and that a “nice” woman is one who smiles and keeps her mouth shut? Because if that’s the case, I suppose can accept being viewed as mean.

Contrary to (apparently) popular belief, I am indeed capable of keeping my opinions to myself. I would never say something to a friend if I thought it would hurt his/her feelings. If someone specifically asked for my honesty, I would be as gentle as possible when sharing any potentially hurtful information. It’s not like I completely lack a filter. But I hate it when people are so afraid to state how they feel that you never really know what they’re thinking.

I guess maybe it’s human nature to view other people as ‘nice’ when they never say anything with which you might disagree.

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Matters of the Heart

When I was 19 or 20, I went on record and stated my belief that I would have a heart attack before I turn 30. I have repeated my prediction many times since then. For a long time now, I've had this sense that I'd be one of those people who seem perfectly fine and then suddenly die from some completely random ailment. There are a bunch of reasons I originally felt likely to have a heart attack. Stress is the biggest reason. And I am a worrier; I worry about other people's problems much more than I should. I take on way too much responsibility, and feel overwhelmed a lot of the time.

This November will usher in my 30th birthday, so I've got almost 8 months left 'til the big day. We'll see what happens. If I don't end up face-down in a plate of spaghetti, I'll be proved wrong. Keep your fingers crossed for me, will you?

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