DIY

This morning I had a particularly good thought session. It started in the shower when I was thinking about how I had used OKCupid for nearly 10 years and yet had only met three, soon to be four people through it. Thinking these thoughts now though, it’s not as interesting as it was this morning. I realized and remembered that in these thought sessions I often tell myself about my life as if I’m a stranger, in a way to present aspects of my life in a certain light. I remembered enjoying my thoughts all the way until I got to school, but I don’t remember any of if except that I was hoping I would arrive on time (I did).

Ah, I remembered a little bit. I was thinking about how little I get emotionally attached. There were two girls that I liked in my teens that made me feel exhilarated sometimes and depressed others, but since then I’ve hardly felt that, despite having a girlfriend and seriously pursuing other girls. I suppose I did feel exhilarated once or twice with E, but since there was little sign that she felt the same way I don’t think I ever got my hopes high enough for them to drop.

Anyway, today the class observations by the school official ended successfully. The fourth class didn’t go very well as usual, but I wonder if part of it isn’t my attitude. I really try hard in that class, and do my best to elicit a reaction for the first fifteen minutes, but I tend to give up after that because I rarely do get a reaction.

Even though I knew I had to get up early for a stressful day, I ended up playing Streets of Rogue until almost midnight last night. I created a character that was powerful enough that I think it will be able to finish the game, but I had enough willpower to stop when I did instead of playing the last five levels to do so.

Yesterday I thought a lot about DIY stuff. I would like to make that a kind of goal for my life now, but I’m not sure how practical some of it is. I hope to build my own home eventually, but I’ll need a lot of practice. I could also make my own furniture, but I’m fairly sure that it will end up being very heavy, somewhat expensive, and probably not very pretty. The most practical DIY skills are food-related: gardening, cooking, and preserving, although the practicality of the latter depends on the produce available. I investigated CSA around my parents’ house, and while there were farms that seemed to offer CSA, no details were available. Sewing seems like the most practical of the non-food related activities, as the materials and tools are fairly cheap and there are many, many things that I could do with them. However, I’m skeptical that I would be able to procure decent enough materials to actually make my own clothes, which is what I would really like to do. Pottery requires an expensive pottery wheel, a kiln or at least access to one, and it can mainly be used only to make dishes and cups. I was interested in glass-blowing, but it seems like aside from glasses there is nothing practical that one can make in a hobby setup, and the tools are quite expensive. Car maintenance would also be a useful thing to know, so I’ll look into that, but that would only cover things like changing oil and rotating tires. Brewing seems fun and possibly the only way to consistently acquire mead, but it’s not a cheap setup either and the product is a luxury, so it’s low priority. Finally, I found an interesting guide about messing with electronics. I’m not sure yet what this entails, so I’m looking forward to learning more about it, both what is possible and how it might relate to work as an electrician.