Chaos in the homestead. Currently, our painter friend is removing the popcorn from our ceilings and repainting our dining and living room. That means all the furniture from said rooms is in our den.
I'm generally a grumpy guy when it comes to space and space issues. I like my stuff where my stuff is supposed to be. Now, I can barely squeeze past the sofa that's blocking the door to the carport.
This too shall pass, though. The painter's going to be finishing up today.
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By the way, I've gotten really good at installing drywall. Poets, if you need me to surround you in sheet rock, I'm your guy.
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Poetry? What's that? I've gotten so good at compartmentalizing my worlds, but I've left little room/time for it. Such a shame. Part of the issue is that I've been putting out small fires in my creative writing program. I suppose that's one of the occupational hazards. And with the baby coming . . . ruh roh.
A grad student passed by my office and gave me writing advice, which is funny, but informs me about my current state. He has an infant daughter and suggested waking up really early to get some writing done. Of course, that doesn't leave much room for sleep, but from what I've been told, I won't be getting much sleep anyway.
Poet parents, though, are a wonderful bunch. I've been getting all kinds of advice from both colleagues and friends from the poetry world.
I do know this much . . . something will have to get squeezed out and it can't be poetry for much longer. I've been taking inventory of my day and it's kind of frightening how much time I waste. I'm a highly functional human being in the morning. Much of my blog is composed then. I also frequent the gym either at mid morning or a little after noon on days that I'm not teaching. My teaching block's roughly five hours. But it's that time around 6PMish that I piss away. My brain's wiped from grading, teaching, etc.. My guess is that I'll need to retrain myself . . . break free of my current schedule.
Anyway, things are going to change. They have to.
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Been listening to Post Rock stuff lately. I didn't really know that the music had a category, but . . . there you go.
1 day ago
5 comments:
I am fascinated by all your rehab updates. You wanna come down to SF and drywall my garage!?! I've been here in this circa 1955 house for three years and I just got myself a new water heater. It was the thrill of February. I am still basking in all of its glorious, warm cylindricalness. More before and after photos, please!
Oooh! And congrats on the jr. coming along!
We've been remodeling since we bought the place. The former owners, in their defense, were older and had tastes that were still in the 70's. Lots of browns, yellows, dark woods, and paneling. So we've been slowly modernizing the place.
I think I've got some photos of the living room. The only visible feature that I think you'll see is the wood paneled wall that I covered in sheet rock and texture sprayed.
We chose to hire a painter for this job because it's far too much ground to cover, I don't want Meredith exposed to any potential nastiness from the acoustic ceiling, and neither of us really have the time.
Our friend gave us a great rate and he's moving faster than we ever could.
Anyway, pictures to come.
Kid = Change. Constantly.
And when you get used to having a baby, you suddenly have a toddler, and then a 10-year-old and then a teenager.
Getting up early might work for you, or it might work for two weeks and then you'll figure something else out. I do know that I've written more since my kids came along (that's an 18-year track record), and sometimes they give me these rascally ideas.
Have fun!
Have you read "No B.S.
Time Management for Entrepreneurs" by Dan Kennedy? Deb Agers recommended it some time ago for poets and it was really quite helpful. Also, your post reminds me of one of my favorite poems by Kenneth Koch - "You Want a Social Life with Friends". It's posted in my July 2007 blog archive if you're interested. :)
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