Saturday, May 28, 2005
I ride an old paint can...
...and I lead an old brush
I'm paid by the hour, so I don't need to rush.
That's a modification of a cowboy song done back in grade school by my friend Eric. That's the closest I know to a painting song. I've heard many a labor song, but never one celebrating the efforts of our painting community. Ah, well.
The reason I bring this up is because I was listening to folk music on KBCS whilst painting my living room. Yes, it was another painting day, and today we actually painted! Of course, I spent just about as much time moving furniture, laying tarps and poking around at some flaws in the woodwork. (In a perfect world I would have replaced the windows and frames before painting and scrubbed the old paint off the fireplace stones. But instead of quality, I want speed, so I compromised. Not that I really got much speed. One room is painted, but I still need to do the window and door frames. sigh. I was such an idiot to volunteer for overtime work on Monday. But I thought putting in a half shift would salve my conscience and give me an excuse to drop in on a birthday party. (Since they're both on the Eastside....) Besides, I don't think I'll be able to do any overtime in June. sigh. Or maybe I should just skip the party and get some work done. I don't know...
Like I often do when I attempt some physical labor, I was struck by how different it is from deskwork. I mean, beyond the obvious things like stretching muscles and breaking a sweat. Dekswork is so... artificial. When I'm doing prepress work, I don't have to worry about tracking fonts through the shop or running out of a color. The whole environment is so controlled that once you learn the parameters, it's pretty easy to get your work done. Of course, maybe I'm kidding myself. Perhaps a professional painter would find prepping and painting my living room as easy as I find prepping a carton. Either way, I have to admit that it's good to get outside the comfort zone and do something different. Even if I don't have time for it.
Anyway, tomorrow will be paint free as we spend the day at the favorite of our secular festivals--Northwest Folklife. The burning question is, if Balkanarama doesn't have their new CD ready for sale at the fest, which CD should we buy? Something from the Toucans? Quichua Mashis? The Mazeltones? Or dare we even try something new? Oh, the dilemmas of modern life.
I'm paid by the hour, so I don't need to rush.
That's a modification of a cowboy song done back in grade school by my friend Eric. That's the closest I know to a painting song. I've heard many a labor song, but never one celebrating the efforts of our painting community. Ah, well.
The reason I bring this up is because I was listening to folk music on KBCS whilst painting my living room. Yes, it was another painting day, and today we actually painted! Of course, I spent just about as much time moving furniture, laying tarps and poking around at some flaws in the woodwork. (In a perfect world I would have replaced the windows and frames before painting and scrubbed the old paint off the fireplace stones. But instead of quality, I want speed, so I compromised. Not that I really got much speed. One room is painted, but I still need to do the window and door frames. sigh. I was such an idiot to volunteer for overtime work on Monday. But I thought putting in a half shift would salve my conscience and give me an excuse to drop in on a birthday party. (Since they're both on the Eastside....) Besides, I don't think I'll be able to do any overtime in June. sigh. Or maybe I should just skip the party and get some work done. I don't know...
Like I often do when I attempt some physical labor, I was struck by how different it is from deskwork. I mean, beyond the obvious things like stretching muscles and breaking a sweat. Dekswork is so... artificial. When I'm doing prepress work, I don't have to worry about tracking fonts through the shop or running out of a color. The whole environment is so controlled that once you learn the parameters, it's pretty easy to get your work done. Of course, maybe I'm kidding myself. Perhaps a professional painter would find prepping and painting my living room as easy as I find prepping a carton. Either way, I have to admit that it's good to get outside the comfort zone and do something different. Even if I don't have time for it.
Anyway, tomorrow will be paint free as we spend the day at the favorite of our secular festivals--Northwest Folklife. The burning question is, if Balkanarama doesn't have their new CD ready for sale at the fest, which CD should we buy? Something from the Toucans? Quichua Mashis? The Mazeltones? Or dare we even try something new? Oh, the dilemmas of modern life.
