This is supposed to be a bookshelf.
Seriously, you have to figure out a way to tune this stuff out once in awhile. In my case, I took up woodworking.
I know; that’s a hobby you’d expect of any aging retiree, even without an alarming political climate. But it was a pretty big step for me. Prior to last November, I’d never built a damned thing. Now, three months after Trump’s election, I’ve put together a headboard, a bookshelf with cupboards, a coffee table and a big sideboard/buffet for the kitchen. Oh, and quite a few charming bookends.
It hasn’t been a path to instant serenity. I’m still about as good a woodworker as Trump is a president. But it is helping me cope with the day-to-day outrages perpetrated by this absurd man and his minions. When you’re trying to align drawers in a cabinet that is somehow not fully square, it tends to take your mind off national concerns. And the tedium of applying multiple coats of varnish to a project is about as close to zen as this cowboy will ever get. Apparently, you have to wait for each coat to dry. There’s really no way to speed up the process.
But I’m still a writer, more or less, and sometimes the metaphors arrive unbidden. For example, my garage floor is not remotely level. I soon learned that a lunar surface is not optimal for precise construction. So it is with Trump: his floor meanders this way and that, and anything built on it is going to look like a child’s drawing of that thing.
Same with the lumber. I try to select the straightest of boards, but I’ve had a couple develop little twists or bends after I’ve gotten them home. Trump again: When you start with warped wood, nothing straight can ever be made from it. If you try, you’ll end up taking it apart at great inconvenience.
OK, maybe I’m still too preoccupied with the shit-gibbon from Queens. But the woodworking has helped. One thing about it: every mistake you make, you learn from it. Maybe America will too.
The suits are ruining the Republic
So long, Kodak. And thanks for all the pics
Let’s just go straight to the fistfighting
True crime confidential
We don’t need no stinking Holiday Inn
Hah, David,
I ended up with a whole plethora of Shopsmith stuff for $1500 and a ride in the two-seat glider. I’ve built some cabinetry and shelves, and done numerous repairs using it. Slow changing over to from tool to tool, but adequate for hobby work.
Welcome to this odd club. It is all up north and I am down south, so my avocation here continues to be trying to write fiction. BC has the latest draft of last spring’s undertaking. Pretty happy with it, and am full bore now into a revision of Icarus II, which you saw in 1990 or earlier. May have found the ground on that, at last.
If it wasn’t doing so much harm, the daily Trump shitstorm would be entertaining.
Yeah, the woodworking thing has proven less expensive than photography, gearwise, but it’s close.
If you are looking for another hobby as a way to tune out the daily Washington shit-storm, let me suggest wine-making. You can get started for about the cost of a decent chop saw. You end up with trade goods for the coming economic meltdown. And, best of all, you must drink all your mistakes.
One of my longstanding hobbies is drinking wine. Maybe you’re right; maybe I should look into making it, too.
The nice thing about woodworking is that when the project goes awry, well, a bit of something flammable and a match and you can get rid of the mistake.. and maybe toast some marshmallows and make s’mores- something that, alas, can’t be done with other, er, errors of judgement.
I’ve considered torching my current project a couple of times now. Regarding the current administration, I do smell smoke. But maybe it’s just wishful thinking.
Great piece Dave! I would say that you are a much better at woodworking than Trump is at being president!
Actually, I’m now inclined to agree with you on that. 🙂