« Oof… so hurting | Main | Sac Lunch CD is done! »
August 16, 2005
Manual labor rocks
It’s been a week of manual labor, but honestly, it’s been a lot of fun. Wednesday through Friday, plus yesterday, I worked in Carol Ann’s basement helping her to convert it into a studio. Saturday was my second day at Habitat For Humanity. I know it must seem strange to say this, but I really enjoyed it after these years of sitting inside at the lab all day. And it makes a big difference that these are projects I really believe in and want to do; I guess the motivation is pretty important.
Carol Ann’s studio is coming along nicely. After cleaning and painting the basement, we hung some pegboard on the walls and cleaned, painted, and assembled some shelving for storage. Over the weekend, Ben installed a new lighting fixture—he did a really impressive job, much better than I would have done—and now it’s mostly a question of installing some flat surfaces and tools. I’m so excited about this project, I’m really glad she’ll have a space in which she can do her work. She was so miserable working at Art Mart, and I’m hoping that with a creative outlet, she’ll be much happier.
Habitat was both better and more frustrating than the last time I worked there. Better in that I had a single project on which to work—I worked with two other guys, Paul and Gary, to build a shed onto the side of the house. But we ran into so many obstacles that we weren’t even close to finishing it. We didn’t have enough materials, so we had to scavange from other parts of the house, and that took a long time. The concrete slab on which we were to build the shed had been poured too close to the corner of the house, so we had to alter the design of the shed, and the house’s siding had been installed already, so we had to cut it away. Add to this our basic incompetance which cost us some time and do-overs as well. The upshot is that I’ll go back next week and continue working on it.
Anyway, it’s been good to use my hands and muscles for a while. I mean, I wouldn’t want to do this every day for a career, but once in a while on a volunteer basis, I really feel good.
Posted by alex at August 16, 2005 10:00 PM