10:43 p.m. - December 13, 2010
Dude, I write books
I'm trying.
The men doing Day One of the fireplace overhaul went well, though both used two different bathrooms, leaving the third one I never use untouched, of course. Note to self: Lose the inhibition and direct may-I-use-your-bathroom inquiries to the Rite Aid pharmacy across the street. That way I wouldn't need to worry if people go #1 or #2 in the right bathroom instead of mixing and matching commodes.
Such order from chaos is more important to me than any strange looks I might get.
At 4:30 of Day One they took me on the obligatory end-of-day look-massa-we's-workin-hard tour, where I tried to look as if I understood what they were talking about as they pointed out this and that and whipped the measuring tape into angles I haven't seen since high school geometry. I didn't fool them because Beer-Belly Man said, verbatim, In Summary, This Will Look Damn Good. Whew. I needed that kind of wrap-up in language I can understand.
Said thanks, see you early tomorrow morning for Day Two, and Goateed Stud asked what kind of job I have where I can work from home. I said I'm a Writer and - get this - they didn't believe me. So I brought them over to my office and handed them my first book, then the poetry book, then book 2, book 3, book 4. I had to look over my shelves to find them all, and sure enough they oohed and aahed and got a kick out of pointing to my name on each cover or spine. Beer-Belly Man said I have a lot of respect for this kind of work, and I didn't know what to say. And then Goateed Stud said that if these were his books, he'd have them all in one place and shine a spotlight on them for everybody to see. I laughed and said nah, it's not that big of a deal.
And he said quite seriously, Yeah, it is. Dude, you write books.
Dude, I write books.
I needed the reminder because I'm still on chapter 1. I've been on chapter 1 for two years now.
