Everyday Stupidities

(Today's lyrical subject line is from "Deeper and Deeper" by The Fixx, and I noticed that the Internet has them wrong. Maybe the liner notes say what's written on the lyrics sites, but listen to the song and you'll find at least two huge discrepancies. Maybe it's like how cartographers put fake towns on maps to see what other map makers are copying their work? Today's photographic subject is the cutest cat to ever barf on my couch or drag its fuzzy ass across my familyroom carpet to make a "waggin' trail" of poo.)

The project du jour is working on the hearth. I spent the first two days of my three day break digging the old mortar/cement/oatmeal/grey hard stuff out of the 66" x 18" hole in the floor using a hammer and chisel, or enough that the level dropped half an inch. The books say that this should be filled in with self-levelling cement, which comes in 50 pound bags at all fine tile and home improvement places. I don't need 50 pounds, isn't there anything smaller? I asked at my favorite tile store, and the guy suggested either thinset mortar (not a good option due to the unevenness of what I'd chipped out of the cement) or patching cement, which comes in 25 pound bags. I bought a bag of the patching stuff and mixed it per instruction (one bag to 1 gallon of water), but by the time I pulled it into the house to use it it was nearly solid. The package says not to make more than can be used in 5-8 minutes, and I must have spent that quantity of time mixing it then cleaning the mortar stirrer. (See, with grout you mix it then let it sit there for five minutes before you use it. Not the case with this stuff, oops.) I brought it into the house but it was too thick to spread well. So I added water, mixed again, and got 1/3 of the area done before I needed to add more water. But it was too late, the bottom 3" of the bucket was solid. The mixer on the drill, a large spoon, a garden shovel and an edger... nothing was getting this back into a more liquid state. I did what I could with what I had, and it looks to me like there was too much water (d'oh!) because the last part I laid in the middle is cracking as it dries. And it's not level or as high as it needs to be; I bought the right amount of cement but didn't get the whole quantity as useable... and I used about 2 gallons of water trying to work with 1 gallon of material. The package says it would be dry enough to apply mortar after 1 hours -- uh, no, predictably that's far from true, solid doesn't mean dry and "dry" can hardly describe 2/3 of my hearth (muddy is closer). I'm just going to pretend this is a sidewalk and let it cure for at least 24 hours, which is fine since I'm working tomorrow and am free all weekend due to swapping shifts with a coworker who has a family gathering the middle of next week, and I'll assess whether this is even useable on Saturday. If so, there will be tiling over the weekend... with plenty of thinset, per earlier instruction. And if not, lather rinse repeat.

I went to the dentist for the first time since 2002 today. I have one small cavity and I have a root canal scheduled in two weeks. I have no fear of root canals, it bears mentioning, because I always hear people use that procedure as an extreme of what can really wreck their day. Here is what I'm deeming as on the stupidity end, but hey, I'm not the one with the dental degree. I have a molar, #2 in dental parlance, which has been decaying at the gumline. What I feel when I put my finger back there on the cheek side of the tooth is jagged. I am afraid it will snap off sometime. However, my dentist didn't size up the situation like that; he's talking root canal, for some reason, not spackling up the tooth or pulling it. (The lack of talk about that latter thing, I'm happy about.) He told me all about the root canal work and I replied, "But can that molar be saved?" as though he were speaking of some other tooth, such as the one with the cavity, since it didn't seem to fit the issue that tooth has. But after dealing with Saturn a couple weeks ago -- and will deal with them again in a couple weeks, I need to get paid and get past those six days straight of work next week -- I'm getting used to the answers not seeming to address a question that seems pretty obvious to me. Which is good practice since I'll be visiting my old flame Karen again in three days, who is a master of not answering questions most of the time, no matter how innocuous.

Final note is of interest to only one shadowy person, so the blog entry has ended and for everyone else... class dismissed!

It's good that you've finally dropped the loser, for the second time, to get together with the prospect I was telling you not to be so negative toward. There is nothing to be mad about and nothing to forgive; I simply am keeping my New Years resolution of simplifying my life by leaving other people's drama out of it. Namely yours. It's so extremely rare that can I turn my back on people, I lack that chromosome, but I'm trying to be like the rest of the world and learn how. Don't take it personally. With that said, there's nothing more to say.