#272: Refreshingly Ordinary

It looks like a slow week coming. There is only one medical appointment. I'll need to fill the rest of the time on my own. That is a good thing. For the past few months my days have been filled with one disorder or another. It feels good to make a little order out of life.

Last week was pretty good for me. I got some exercise, put a new faucet in the bathroom to replace the one I broke while trying to fix a leaky tap. I also got rid of some old friends.

Friday morning I finally took the oxygen tanks back to the medical supply place. I don't know what took me so long. I was certainly eager to be rid of the air hose when I had to wear it all the time. Part of the delay was waiting till I was strong enough to lift the condenser up into the back of the Honda. I may have overestimated my strength on that count. It was pretty heavy, though the lift doesn't seem to have done any harm to me. Mrs. P rode along with me and she lifted the machine back out of the car. I try not to get my feelings hurt by these moments when my little wife is so much stronger than I am. Sure I feel better than I did, but I'm still not sure I could beat her at arm wrestling.

After our trip to the oxygen store, we went to Meijer for some drugs and faucet washers. Turns out that the road to perdition is actually paved with little rubber rings. I came home and did all the things I remember my Dad teaching me about sinks, but once I got the thing apart it was full of lots of plastic parts that I did not recognize. I did realize that I had stripped off all the little plastic threads, so we went to Wal-Mart and bought the cheapest faucet they had. It took me an hour to break the old one and about five minutes to replace it. The Pennsy men have always hated plumbing. Plumbing jobs are the only time I can remember my father cussing. It's a family tradition I've been proud to uphold.

Yesterday's rehearsal was fun. We're at the "sing around the piano" stage. That's good since standing for two hours still feels like running a marathon to me. I was soaked with sweat in the first fifteen minutes. On the other hand, as the music starts to sink in, there is time to look up from the notes and sing to somebody. I actually started feeling like an actor sharing a scene. Which is good, since I didn't feel much like a singer. My voice was pretty tired. The advantage to this is that I had to make some different choices about the way I interpreted the music. We found some places where I don't have to be so loud. Even times where I can speak rather than sing. My weary voice forced me to think more about my character and what I'm doing in the story. This will make the guy more interesting and also give me one or two chances to show off when the role calls for it. (No matter how hard you try, you can't take the hambone out of the ham.)

Today I watched some football. The Steelers don't play till tomorrow night, so my interest was purely academic. Mrs P went out for lunch with an old friend, so Jake, Kizzie, Mo and I sat in the living room and watched the games. I enjoy these peaceful afternoons when Jake isn't harassing the cats and they aren't hissing and growling at him. Rare and precious moments.

I guess my days are full of boring ordinary things. It's actually kind of refreshing.

Peace,

Pennsy