badlybent.ca

It’s been a hell of a few months.  Actually, in the grand scheme of things, compared to some people’s lives, I guess I don’t have that much to complain about.  A lot of people had and have it worse off then me, so I’ll give ya’ll a brief rundown, and stop me if I start whining:

First of all, I’ve been working on home renovations.  Not huge layout-altering stuff, but over the last few months my house has pretty much been completely painted.  Top to bottom, literally inside and out.  It’s also been fixed all over the place, and decluttered like crazy.  We are now the proud renters of a 10×10 storage space that’s packed to the rafters with stuff that, for the most part, turns out we didn’t really need.

The Luverly Michelle(TM) decided that it was time we sold our house and moved.  I’ll get into more detail at some other time about why that was her call to make, but we both knew when we bought it that at some point she’d need to move.  So, we engaged the services of THE best real estate agent this side of the Pecos (we call her our Real Estate Ninja) and made the mistake of asking her for a list of stuff we should do to make the house more salable.  And, much to our dismay, she gave us a list.  A huge list.  Of course, it was our decision to do anything, but since she was the expert, we did it.  We would have gotten everything done on the list, except for a couple of things like money and time.  See, I didn’t think things through quite enough, and had relegated some things further down the list, and turns out we couldn’t do them because they were dependant on outside temperature, which was rapidly plummeting.  Ever try to paint exterior trim on a house at +3 Celsius?  Yeah, it’s a blast.

Then, while painting outside, I fell off the ladder.  Nothing too spectacular, I was only about 4 feet up, in fact, I kind of ‘jumped’ down instead of falling when I felt the ladder shift.  Guess I just landed a little bit wrong, and did something to my lower back.  You know those really annoying back injuries that just hurt enough to piss you off and keep you from doing stuff?  It was one of those.

Then after that had finally healed, I managed to whack my kneecap hard enough trying to run through a doorway (and missing it slightly, apparently) that I could barely walk for about 2 weeks, and after 2 months was still pretty sore.

Hmmm, I think I’m starting to whine now….so I’ll leave the injuries there.  Those were the major ones anyways.

Ever renovate your home with your spouse?  Well, not literally “with” your spouse - obviously you use paint brushes and hammers and stuff, but I mean alongside your spouse?  How did that go?  Yeah, it went a ton worse with us too.  Between the regular life stresses, plus extra stresses, and then the stresses of renovating a house to sell it, well, The Luverly Michelle(TM) and I were getting along about as well as two rabid marmots with PMS and hangnails, stuffed in a sack, dunked in water and then shaken vigorously.  But with less fur.  Only moderately though.

That pretty much sums up most of the crap.  I’m glad that 2008 is over with, and I’m really looking forward to 2009.  Of course, a guy who keeps getting kicked in the nuts would probably appreciate a punch in face, just for something different…..

I’ve actually got big plans, social medially speaking.  Look for The Sieve! to be back in full force in the next couple weeks, along with the possible launching of a NEW podcast.   The Sieve! Monthly Song Challenge will be back up and running in the next couple of weeks too, and I’ve tweaked it a bit based on some comments I’ve received from people.  I’m hoping to really get people writing some great stuff too - in times like this, with economic uncertainty, plus all the other crap that’s going on in the world, it’s always a good thing to create inspiring and amazing art.

I’m also helping a couple of people in getting their online presence up and running as well.   Hey, I guess I can start calling myself an expert now!  Neato. 

I’m also going to be re-launching my band that a friend and I had last year, new direction, new sound, new songs, and I’m starting to write and record again.  It’s amazing the stuff that you can accomplish when you’re not spending every spare minute and dime working on a house.  Go figure.

 So, I’ve missed you all…..well, okay maybe not ALL of you - some of you I didn’t miss one bit….and you know who you are…but the rest of you I’ve missed a lot.

Looking forward to a prosperous 2009!

Stevie Z