Weekend update
Weekend update
Another drumcircle come and gone, a three-day mostly consumed. I’m on call for the next week, so in some ways my weekend kinda over..
I kept thinking that I needed to mow the lawn before the drumming, but as usual I didn’t get it done. Saturday morning came too soon and I didn’t get started until 9:30. Well, the lawn mower wouldn’t start, so I wasted most of the morning between struggling to get it going. It would start if I pumped it full of starter fluid, but it would die after a puff of smoke came out of it. Probably the big rains we got a few weeks ago were to blame. The lawn mower was outside during the deluge, mainly because my garage had become near-useless because of all the crap there.
So… we took some time to clean out the garage. My dumpster is now full, and there are a number of things that are still sitting out on the unmowed lawn, but I was able to set up a rather nice lounge for some of guests of the drumcircle using furniture that had been stored there “for a few months” almost three years ago. I’ve learned my lesson: if someone wants to store their stuff in my garage while they’re in transit, the answer needs to be “no”.
Of course, not all the stuff in the garage was from someone storing their stuff.. another batch of things were given to me by folks moving out of town and just wanting to get rid of stuff. I’m a sucker for free stuff, especially if it seems useful. A couple of shelves are now sitting in the middle of the basement awaiting a final useful place. We found a couple of boxes of stuff which was similarly acquired a year or two ago as other friends moved back east. Camping cookware, some miscellaneous kitchen stuff.. some found its way into the house, some other mouse-eaten stuff found its way into the dumpster.
Another piece of friend-moving bric-a-brac came to roost in the garage this weekend: the kiln that decided to stop moving from place to place. I’m pretty excited about the promise of this new toy, but so far it doesn’t work. Plug it, light comes on, but no heat from the heater elements. It’s probably not that surprising, I don’t know what it’s working condition was before Isha got it, but after being moved half a dozen times in a dozen years it’s not surprising. Michelle’s employer makes custom ceramic thingies and knows a place that will come out, pick the thing up, fix it, and deliver it again. I know that will cost me some money, but hopefully at the tail end - I plan to call those folks this week and get them on the case as soon as possible. I’m really getting excited about the idea of kiln casting, and specifically I am interested in melting down bottles into objets d’art. For some reason, i like the phrase “beer bottle buddhas” as I am thinking of making a cast of a buddha figurine as a test subject for this new enterprise.
Before the drumming, the same friend who delivered the kiln also was able to make some progress with a couple of used propane tanks I’d had laying around. The plan here is to make some “hank” drums, which are supposed to sound much like the very coveted (and spendy) hang drums. Do a search for either (hang drum or hank drum) on youtube to hear the result. These are supposed to be made out of brand new propane tanks for safety, but I’ve got several old-school tanks that aren’t supposed to be refilled any more and I just can’t stand the idea of them being completely useless. I now have three valve-less tanks which I am cleaning out to get rid of the propane smell. I’d never really thought much about what happens in propane tank: the propane gets poured in, the gas comes out, what would be left? I figured that once the valve was removed the liquid would finish evaporating and it would be clean, right? Well, no, there is something left. I guess it’s a bit like the water that collects in an air compressor, the use of a propane tank leaves less-volatile oils behind. We’ll have to see about how this works out, I think I’ll be using cutting rather than grinding tools on these things. Anyways, I have these tanks one step closer still to being useful, having removed the ring on the bottom of the tank by just bending the weld back and forth until it broke.
The drumming went well. It was a bit smaller than usual, but there were a number of people for whom it was the first, or the first in a long time. I spent much of the evening socializing, but got a couple of nice drum sets in. Once more and we’re done for the year. Part of the reason for the smallness was the fact that it was labor day weekend - lost of people have things to do. It’s also burning man weekend, and I am sure that some folks were there. It was also an odd time to have it, since we usually have the drummings on the 4th saturday.
I did have some interesting experiences working with people’s chronic pains. One thing I’ve been curious about this effect surprised me. it seems like sometimes I have to do some kind of pain mgt with michelle daily, but it seems that the first treatment I give people lasts quite a bit longer. My therapist had noticed an overall lessening of pain that lasted 4 weeks. Others have told me that they feel effects for a few weeks, as well. Makes me more confident knowing that this is not just a quick fix like taking aspirin and the pain’s back, and it gives me hope that there’s really something to this. One person I worked with Saturday evening felt her back popping as her muscles let go of long-standing tension, and she could suddenly breath more freely. It’s hard to argue with results like that.
Another project, that of building a yurt that I might live in (assuming i can get a wood burning stove) to escape the expensive heating costs of oil this winter, seems ready for some progress. THe hardest part of building a yurt is the center ring, and I have been thinking i wanted to build this out of the last of my colleciton of Colorado Group signs. My garage cleaning binge found several signs that I had forgotten I had, so I think I’ll be cutting some pieces this week to get that going.
Spent much of today watching tv and relaxing. I think that I am over the idea of drinking my afternoon away starting before noon. I don’t like the “been drunk all day and it’s only 8:00 PM and I’m ready to crash” feeling. Substituting vices are not always really equivalent, and my favorite vices really don’t have a good exchange.
I was gonna stop smoking cigs today, but that didn’t happen. I did get a tip about some good aids in that, speciflcally an amino acid called L-theanine, which I will be reading about and probably getting. Problem is, it’s not the chemical thing that always brings me back, it’s the social aspect, and the biological imperative to go and take a break.
I went looking for news about the new new orleans armageddon, but apparently it hasn’t happened yet. Too bad about the republican convention having a pall over it. Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of folks. :P
Well, I hope everyone’s having a great weekend.