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11 22 99
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11 22 99
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Yesterday I mentioned that I did some cleaning. And that I may have possibly hurt myself in the process. Well, I'm not in too much pain, but I can definitely tell that I did something to myself. See, I had this huge entertainment center in my living room. It was extra, and I'd been using it as bookshelves. But it was taking up a huge chunk of my living room. So I decided that it needed to go upstairs into my bedroom. I called a few friends, but no one was home. Sitting on the couch, I eyed the entertainment center. It's big. It's made out of that pressed wood fiberboard, so it's pretty heavy. I decided I could move it myself. Sometimes I wonder if my brain is deliberately trying to kill me. I emptied out the shelves and the cubbies, and picked up one end. It was heavy. But I could move it. Tipping it over on the side, I slid it over to the stairs. It was a tight fit. By wiggling it around I somehow managed to get it square with the stairs. At this point my instinct for self-preservation should have kicked in, but it was apparently asleep. I thought that if I just pulled I could slide it up the stairs with no problem. Why didn't I push it up the stairs? Well, it was so tight against the front door that I couldn't have squeezed around it to get it started. So I started pulling it up the stairs. About halfway up my arms started to tremble. Now, I'm pretty strong for a woman. I'm no She-Ra, but I do have a fair amount of upper body strength from pushing and pulling and lifting wheelchairs at work. But when my arms started trembling I knew I might not get the damn thing up the stairs. I paused, trying to still the shaking. I took the opportunity to think. If I tried to go back down the stairs, I would probably drop the damn thing when it caught on the edge of one of the steps. What would happen if I just dropped it? I thought. Well, it might just bust through the door. That would be hard to explain to the landlord. The entertainment center would also probably break, making it totally useless. Not much of a loss, I thought. Then I realized I didn't know where Jaws was. I couldn't see her anywhere in the living room, and I couldn't see around the entertainment center to see if she would be in the path of the object if it fell. And if it fell on her it would kill her, or at least fatally injure her. I really had no choice but to keep going up the stairs. I started heaving on the damn thing again, lifting it up a step and sliding it as far as I could. My muscles were screaming. My hands were raw from rubbing on the rough edge of the wood. My arms were quaking so badly... a distant part of my mind was shocked that I could still hang on. And by this time my thighs were also starting to shake. I had to get it up the stairs as quickly as possible. Glancing behind me, I quickly counted the remaining steps. Three. I lifted and pulled again. My arms shook and I almost lost my grip. I steadied myself on the wall. Two. Lift and pull. My shoe caught under the entertainment center, and when I pulled it free the thing lurched alarmingly. One. Lift and pull. And then my butt hit the magazine rack. At the top of my stairs I have an old aquarium stand that I have turned into a magazine rack/stuffed animal lookout. It was squarely in my way. Moment of total panic. My arms and chest were so stressed by now that I knew I couldn't hold on for much longer. I couldn't let go of the entertainment center to move the stand, because the entertainment center would fall back down the stairs. I couldn't go back down the stairs because I knew I would drop it. In desperation I kicked out behind me with my leg, trying to push the stand out of the way. The stand rocked forward once, spilling stuffed animals all over the floor, before righting itself exactly where it had been. I uttered a few expletives and heaved backwards again, not caring if I took out half the wall while trying to go around the corner. My feet slipped on a stuffed bear, a plush bunny, a toy unicorn. And suddenly it was up. Level. Balanced. I collapsed. I'm not sure how long I lay in a quivering heap in the hallway, but I know I tasted something strange in my mouth. Stilling my shaking limbs for a moment I climbed back to my feet, struggled into the bathroom, flicked on the light and looked in the mirror. My upper lip was all bloody. A fine line of red liquid dribbled down my chin. I wiped the back of my hand across my face and looked closely at my lip. Incised in my flesh were two flat teeth marks. I had bitten my lip. I felt a brush against my ankle, and looked down to see Jaws curling herself around my feet. She'd been upstairs the whole time. I could have dropped it. But the entertainment center is now upstairs! I didn't feel like moving it anymore, so it's sitting in the middle of my bedroom... But it's upstairs! I did it! If I ever think of doing something like that again, kill me.
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Looking Up Monday night there's a nifty diagonal in the eastern sky. From highest to lowest is: Jupiter, Saturn, and the Moon.Tuesday night the star Aldebaran will be just above and to the left of the full Moon. The star is orange. You may need binoculars to seperate the star from the Moon's glare. Saturn and Jupiter will be farther up and right of the Moon. (Jupiter is the brighter "star".)
______ of the Day Today's peeve is people who threaten to sue at the drop of a hat. Rather than taking responsibility for their own stupidity, they try to profit off it. Give me a break.
Spinning "Magic Bus" by The Who, off the album Magic BusI like this song. I'm a bus driver. Sue me. grin
Go Somewhere AfriCam can get a little addictive. There are webcams set up in various parks around Africa at (mostly) water holes. Sometimes you just see scenery. Sometimes you actually see animals! They have a "Picture of the Day" contest for people who capture the best scenes off the webcams.Opens a new window.
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