Friday, December 19, 2008

I Miss Corvallis

I miss Corvallis so much. My homesickness has been aggravated by almost total confinement for over a week. Not that there is anything to do in this town if I'm not going after the hordes of unfixed cats.

I miss the parks of Corvallis. I'd be out walking in one of them right now, in the snow, if I lived there still. There's nowhere here. I just want to cry sometimes.

I don't like the mentality here. I don't like the fact the parks consist of a square of manicured fake grass with maybe a bench thrown in. Or a concrete path around a stinky duck shit filled man made pond.

I don't like it here. I am not a city girl. Albany is like an inner city. If you like to drink or charge around in a car, or sit around and watch the factories belch or watch police surround a meth house, you'd love it here.

If you like some open space, to walk or bike or hike close in, you'd hate it here and would miss Corvallis, too, if you'd lived there all your life and are used to having parks to hike, bike and walk in all over, so you can get some exercise and get away from the concrete jungle.

I miss Corvallis. I miss my home.

I didn't get to finish my post, had a sudden emergency when some sliding cats dumped a huge water bowl. Well, it's cleaned up.

So what I was about to add was this: I am determined, until I can move back to Corvallis, to make things work here. I am going to create an exercise area in my garage. This is the only place I can do it, since otherwise, I step on cats. I'll have to move my car out when exercising, to have any room to do so.

Also, I must deal with the main floor in here, the sawdusting painted over particle board. And that means either epoxy paint or vinyl. I am too wary now of "the epoxy solution" after what happened in this bedroom! So that means vinyl. I hope to vinyl square it, like in this bedroom. Sure it's slick as all get out, especially if wet, but it is nice looking and easy to clean!

That's first on my list.

Second, painting the walls in the house something other than white, that shows every spot of dirt and cats are good at flicking it everywhere!

Third, the vertical blinds in the living room HAVE to GO! I hate them. You can never really see out and neither can the cats. The window is long in there, and, unfortunately thin and uninsulated, but there is nothing I can do about that. I'll have to put two lines of horizontal blinds, two sets, because the window is so long, but they're cheap, they really are, and maybe one day, I'll make curtains to supplement and help with insulation during cold.

But the vertical blinds are shit. You have to try to peak through the slats to see anything outside. This frustrates the cats. The cats mess with them. If any of the slats at all, are slightly out of line, you can't turn them, to adjust their angle, until you straighten every single one. Because the cats mess them up every day, I never bother anymore trying to adjust them anymore at all. So they're out of here. Horizontal blinds--in!

That will be a HUGE improvement, one I should have done long ago.

The floor, the blinds, the paint, those are fairly cheap fixes, if I use vinyl squares for the floor solution. Unfortunately, because of moisture getting into the particle board, causing bulges here and there, first I will have to sand the floor level. For that, I will need to find someone with an electrical sander I can borrow. Much easier and quicker than trying to hand sand such a large floor level. That could take a lot of time, and rip out my healing shoulder muscle.

Yes, my torn shoulder blade muscle is healing nicely. I can stand again, without pain if I move my back muscles which move and affect my shoulder blade muscle that ripped. I don't want to mess it up again. I want it fully healed.

The fourth thing I want to do is create a small room to protect my computer. I left a message with Nick, who does small remodeling projects like this. I hope to hear from him. He's also honest as hell, so he would do good work, and not rip me off either.

The fifth thing is I want to build a bedframe and headboard for that otherwise useless mattress. I don't really have working tools anymore, outside of a battery powered drill/screwdriver that does not possess, even when fully charged, much torque or power. It's not industrial strength, in other words. It's a skillsaw brand, but they're making them in China now of cheap brittle plastic and it's broken off several cheap crap parts already. These are no longer quality products that last.

Anything made in China, even normally good strong American brands, is crap!

You American companies, bring the work back to America and make the products decent again. PLEASE! We laugh here, mock the quality of Chinese made goods. Hahahaha--its' crap, made to break. Want something that lasts? Union shop! American made! Sue the company if it puts out crap! Yeah, because that works and the products put out are solid and well made.

Bring our work home. Buy American made and buy local produce. Boy, what a soapbox I can quickly jump aboard, huh? Hey, I love the local small time farmers, who sell their goods at the farmers market and stands. I don't buy from the kill everything living farm stands in the heart of pesticide acres, out here in Linn County. I buy, when I can from the small time organic farmers of the area. Not the pesiticde insecticide addicts and there are plenty of those types of gardeners and farmers in the area, too.

I again have several neighbors who I don't think could live without their spray packs of various killer chemicals. They are addicts. There should be treatment centers for chemical spray addicts, to help them kick their addictions.

Well anyhow, I am going to make changes here, to get by, until I can get out!

And, I have to make plans, on how I can get out of here. My escape! Complaining doesn't do anything real to make it happen. But it feels good!

8 comments:

  1. I'm so sorry you miss Corvallis so much, Strayer. But boy, so many living things in and around Albany sure lucked out from your living there all these years! You are such a good person and I wish wish wish only good things would happen to you.

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  2. I've lived here less than two years, Shefali! Less than two years. What are you up to this Christmas, Shefali? Anything? I know you said you don't mind city living, did I remember that right, that you're not much of an outdoorsperson? Or am I remembering it wrong?

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  3. Gosh, I guess I've only known you for the time you've been in Albany, so it just felt like you've been there very very long :).

    I like big city living :), and while I love nature, your memory is right: I like hiking sometimes, but am for the most part not outdoorsey at all. I like messing around with plants and animals, though.

    I'm working on finishing my dissertation, which has been really tough as I'm simultaneously working full time and so am dead tired at the end of each day. Chrismas is one of the few holidays I get, so I'm going to spend it writing, or trying to write :).

    I will be thinking of you, though. I'm going to mail out a card with a little gift for you tomorrow, so you have it for Christmas to put below your lovely tree...but Christmas day is when we actually do our donations checks (its a nice thing to do that day :)!) and so that day I'll be mailing out a little something more to you.

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  4. wow jody, sounds like you'll have a few things under your tree this year!!! that is terrific....and when you do make your great escape, come to the east coast and visit - bring the cats and kits and whatknots...ooooops forgot, i live in the city, too...but there's a small park right across our street....and a bigger one a little ways down...we live in the historic district in baltimore city - lots of beds and breakfast places, too...you'd think every president slept in one of these homes in my area at some point in time lol....our apartment building is also a historic building - one thing about albany - isn't that a big historic district, too?
    but I actually hate city living. I lived in Baltimore County most of my life where the hoods were safer and nicer and people were not all looking to steal your money or ask if you wanted to buy whatever drugs they were selling, or whatever cheap goods they stole from a store and are now selling on the street (such as tons of nonalkaline batteries)..or trying to con money from you...soon after we moved here, one guy tried to tell my husband he had a flat tire three blocks away, and his kids were in the car, and he went in the store to get fixaflat but they wouldn't take his check, so if my hubby could give him the ten bucks, he would write out the check to my hubby blahblahblah....luckily for us - not for the man - my hubby grew up in new york city and knows all the scams.....'

    so just listen to some happy christmas tunes on utube (i've got tons of links for you!) and next thing you know Santa will be climbing through your horizontal blinds to wish you and yours a merry one...

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  5. I got invites to Chrisgtmas stuff, but I don't know if I'll go seeing as how I got nobody to look after the cats and then there's the bad tire issue, aka nearly bald tire issue going. But then again, oh well. Hey, I'm going to bed. I partially vinyl squared a small portion of my floor tonight. And i got those darn horizontal blinds, but, in reaching to a top shelf at Kmart to get them, I ripped my muscle again. Yeah, can you believe that? So, back to square Mister one with that. Muscle relaxants!! Yup. And rest and I need a lot of body parts transplanted currently from someone young and strong and recently deceased tragically.

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  6. I assume you mean human?????

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  7. um, yahhhhhh, of course. Robotic parts of course. Or rather, bionic I guess is the term. Just kidding. would like to put in for a new spine, perhaps even a new face, if I get to choose, um, a couple new knee joints, hummmm, what else. Can I put you down for some spare parts, too, Jeanne, or? maybe not?

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  8. if i find i have any to spare i'll be happy to donate Jody....did you hear about the first woman in the u.s. to get a face transplant? for real...just like the woman in France...
    in the meantime, I do have an old halloween mask from the Scream movies.....

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