The other week, I was awakened by the sound of some jerk using a jack hammer outside of my apartment building. It was around 7am, which is when my alarm clock goes off, so technically, I was needing to get up anyway. However, I would argue that no one really finds the jarring sound of a jack hammer particularly pleasant at such an early hour.
I got on with my morning routine of the workday, and was enjoying a coffee when my doorbell rang. I opened the door to find a young guy asking if he could test my intercom system, which took all of five seconds. Then, a few minutes later, he came back and gave me a new key for my mailbox.
The penny dropped, and I realized that the guys had spent the morning replacing our bank of mailboxes on the front of the house, as well the doorbell buttons.
I went downstairs to inspect their work, and took a moment to joke with the guys about how much fun they might have had running power tools early in the morning. As we spoke, they confirmed that they had enjoyed it, then went on to say that in a few more days, they would start redoing the stucco on the front of our house.
Now, this is a bit of a production to redo the exterior walls on the front of the building. First, they raise the scaffolding, which they did last week. Then, the guys start scraping all the stuff off the walls, which they have been doing for the past few days. Estimated completion time? They say 2 to 3 weeks, so I will reckon on 4 to 5 weeks. That's just how these things seem to go.
This past Monday afternoon, the workman put up a little sign requesting that we close our rolling shutters on our windows so that they could get everything cleaned. Like a good tenant, I complied first thing Tuesday morning; I lowered the shutter in my bedroom, then did the same in the living room.
Normally, I leave the shutters raised all year round, especially in the living room, so as to allow for as much light as possible. I do keep the bedroom shutters mostly lowered, but only about halfway. I like to have a little bit of natural light, even when sleeping.
That Tuesday night as I went to bed, I realized just how much darker it was in my bedroom. I am not afraid of the dark (despite Nadja's comment), but it was a little spooky, and certainly different. I slept pretty well, and the following morning thought, "Hey, maybe I should always sleep with the shutters completely closed."
That next night, I did have to get up for a toilet break (I drink a lot of water these days), and as I walked back to my bed in the darkness, I was more than a little surprised when I overshot my bedroom door by 6 inches, which meant that I collided with the wall and subsequently startled myself fully awake. Clearly sleeping in complete darkness had changed my spatial awareness just a wee bit.
Fortunately, I did not really hurt myself. The experience was more along the lines of inadvertently walking into a freshly cleaned glass door, which creates more surprise and bemusement as opposed to stubbing one's toe on an unfortunately placed dumbbell in the middle of one's floor. (This latter incident simply sucks.)
Yes, I have found many ways to amuse (or is it abuse) myself in my lifetime. However, I shall leave those stories of wearing brand new leather soled shoes on a slick floor or how to be eight years old and lie down on the ground right on top of dog poo for another time...
At any rate, I continue to keep my shutters closed for the moment to allow the workman to get on with their job of redoing the building's facade. Perhaps at the weekend I will open the living room shutters again. Interestingly enough, napping in the living room has been more enjoyable these past days. The absence of natural light (as well as the reduced noise from the front of house) seems to be helping me to focus more on the music that I have playing in the background.
Lately I have been listening to a lot of classical music, and my "napping in the dark" escapades are bring new focus to the music. I am hearing the tempos and melodies much more vividly, and this is having a positive influence on my piano playing. Talk about an epiphany.
That alone is enough to make it a really good week. But, no need to stop there...
Yesterday, I took my weekly peek at my high school class's 30 year reunion social media page. Someone posted a little montage of some songs that are turning 30 this year. I could not resist checking to see what was on the list, and I should have not been surprised to see the usual mainstream artists from that era. All of it was mainstream, and with a few exceptions, it was a far cry from what I was listening to at that time. Most of it was that pop-metal stuff (Whitesnake, Aerosmith, etc) mixed with a few Michael Jackson songs. I had forgotten that by 1988, Belinda Carlisle was singing solo. True, she is rather attractive, but I was never really a fan, despite the fact that I did (and always have) "have the beat."
So no, I was not surprised at the listing of songs, but I was a little disappointed. Then again, my listening tastes were all over the map back then (like they still are), so I can appreciate that most mainstream hoopty doo class reunion "hits of yesterday" lists are not going to include the likes of the Mission, Sisters of Mercy, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Robtiko Rejekto, Bigod 20, and Front 242, even if all of those bands also had songs that turn 30 this year. Hell, I think the Exploited also put out an album that year, too. (I did say my listening was quite diverse).
Still, I did not get discouraged, and spent nap time listening to a few of those bands, then went a little more local, and had a pleasant afternoon listening to my favorite bands from the Dallas scene. That took me back....
How many shows did I see of Three on a Hill, Shallow Reign, or Ten Hands?` As my grandmother might say, "a zillion."
Indeed, Chris, say the word. The big one is coming....
see you out there
bryan
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