I was sick but that's not an excuse

The words shall continue. Just, I need to sleep first.

Sweaters are great, but finding yarn is hard

I drove 600 miles over three days to support my weaving colleagues while they searched for yarn. They found some, and we wove some sweaters, but they were hideous and misshapen and yarn was consistently difficult to come by. They have excellent patterns and methods, but sometimes the sweaters come out wrong and the yarn isn't available in sufficient quantities.

I didn't suffer any direct expenses except for gas, time, and emotional toil, but I didn't get any benefits except for experience, because the sweaters were so poor. It was even worse for my buddies.

This is an experience I will treasure, because it was my first time working with sweaters. But holy shit it suuuuuuuucked. They talk about how difficult weaving is, for myriad reasons. And lack of raw materials (and bad luck) really bit hard here. Hooray, experience.

Baskets are fine, but sweaters are better

In a recent post I mentioned that I was being considered for a basketweaving team. I neglected to follow up to say that I later arranged a meetup with two basketweavers and then actually got together with them on Tuesday.

I met both of these guys at the 2024 basketweaving meetup that I assisted in organizing/conducting (which is to say, I did 5% of the preparation work, helped with some things during the meetup, moderated a panel, and hosted a jeopardy game). We made good impressions on each other and I vaguely kept in touch with one of them, a German national that I started talking with when I first started my basketweaving journey in 2022/2023.

He was the one who reached out to me, after I told him I would be available if they had a need.

I was pretty excited when I first heard he and his team were interested in me--this was at least a few months ago. I couldn't help them then because I couldn't travel or really do much of anything while working. I felt almost giddy when I got the call about a concrete opportunity while sitting on a plane home, getting ready to depart.

So, the meeting Tuesday went well. And the activity they're engaged in right now isn't basketweaving. It's more like sweater weaving, and has numerous advantages to weaving baskets. I don't have the ability to weave sweaters on my own, but they had use for someone trustworthy with any degree of weaving experience. When they're weaving sweaters and could use an extra set of hands, they are to let me know, and I will come over as quickly as possible to assist.

Today is the first day I might be called in. I am feeling rather stirred, but a bit detached too. There is also a recommended dress code and I don't actually have the necessary clothing ready, as best I'm aware. After I post this I'll at least do some laundry so I can at least look nondescript, which would be good enough. I should also pack, in case I need to travel some way and would need to crash away from home. Though tomorrow is actually a family gettogether so I would have to come home at some point either way.

In any case, this could be a momentous day. Here's hoping.

Back from my coronation

So, to conclude, I hopefully will have a happier tooth in a couple days, which is the length of time it could take for the desensitizing agent to fully kick in.

At the beginning of 2019, I was due to get ol' #31, my last bottom right molar, crowned. I went in, they grinded for a good long while, and then they gave me a temporary crown. They told me not to chew on it.

I walked down the street to a cafe and got a sandwich and promptly chewed on it. And the crown broke apart like a skittle (at least that's how it felt). Literally, my first bite, as I was leaving, this happened.

I felt so dumb. I spit out the food and called the dentist. They said I could either get a new temporary crown or tough it out while I waited two weeks for the permanent one to arrive. Being smart, I elected to tough it out. And I'm pretty sure that doomed me to a perpetual course of cold-sensitivity.

I can't believe I had this crown for longer than I had my last job. And both of them were causing me substantial--but tolerable--pain. For six years I have been chewing primarily on the left side of my mouth. Yes, I'd use the right, especially after getting crowns on the top that removed my sweetness sensitivity. It would require training, I thought, but I would teach #31 to stop being so sensitive.

Didn't work.

I'd basically resigned myself to feel like this forever. And perhaps I still will. But this candy has given me at least a chance to no longer have sensitivity to cold. Here's hoping.

He did say after one failure of this sort, another detachment is likely, and will likely occur after a shorter period of time. So also there's that; if it turns out it's still sensitive, I'll get another shot at this in a few years.

As for Sheila, I took her into the shop Wednesday, where the shop owner had a very soft dog named Flash(?) who had her vocal cords removed(?) but was very chill after I let her sniff me. Anyway, he drove her around for a couple of minutes and said that the clicking is best described as "old Subaru noises". It was something that could probably be fixed, but it would be cost money and it wouldn't prevent any future problems. I was good to drive her as-is, no worries, as long as the clicking didn't bother me. That was a huge relief.

So I scheduled some service: transmission/differential/brake fluid drain/replace, fixing a coolant pipe (and replacing the fluid), and a new set of spark plugs. The transmission fluid had actually been done relatively recently, and the transmission only has like 55k miles on it, and it's running like butter, but just to be safe I want to work that in there, especially because (I think) it induces a relearning procedure that will prompt the car to learn how I drive.

If I'm lucky, Sheila will last several years and several tens of thousands of miles without major repairs. If I'm very lucky, that'll be 5+ and 50k+. That's what I'm going to shoot for, partly because this car deserves love and partly because I would like to buy my next car after the current tariff regime has disappeared and things have settled down.

Today I had a crown removed

But it's about to get popped right back in.

You see, yesterday evening I said to myself, "Cant, you ought to eat a chewy candy, but don't just chew it lightly. You should chew the SHIT out of it." Not wanting to be a contrarian, I followed these ostensibly wise words.

Chew, chew, chew and.... is that a hard thing? Oh god. Is that a crown? I looked with mild alarm at Danielle and pulled out the candy, with the crown for #31 attached. She and her mom and Kirk and Petra were expressed some degree of surprise. I did too, of course. After a minute I retired to the bathroom, but not before extricating the candy and eating it on the left side of my mouth. I also rediscovered how much fun it is to touch cold water against exposed dentin.

Upstairs, I examined the crown. It looked fine? There was a little brown bit from probably the candy. But otherwise cool. I looked at my mouth in the mirror, and the tooth looked normal.

To test if the crown was okay before cleaning, I attempted to reseat it. It went in perfectly. That was a relief.

But it was very well seated. It refused to come out. So now I had candy juice and saliva trapped in there. But no (new) sensitivity. If I had rewound to fifteen minutes prior my mouth would have felt exactly the same.

I returned downstairs and ate a few more chewy candies, which disturbed Danielle. I also reached out to the dentist and asked for an appointment.

So here I am. Aaaaand, now the dentist has made the small tweaks he was working on, so time to sit back in the chair.

More to come.

So, I bought the car...

And she drives great. Mostly. There is now clicking from the back like a mechanical keyboard when I drive over rough ground. I've taken all the appropriate steps I can think to--testing the issue, calling the dealer, calling a mechanic, posting to reddit--and I feel rotten.

I am an adult!

Just got back from the bank, where I adulted twice. First, I cashed two savings bonds that I won twenty years ago in the regional Citizens Bee. They were so old that I got 11% over face value. =D

Then I acquired a cashier's check to purchase Sheila. Now all I have to do is drive over tomorrow, make sure everything is kosher, and make the exchange.

I remember getting a bigger, fatter bank check when we bought the house, but somehow this smaller and less consequential check feels more significant. I think it's because the house required more steps before and after the check's issuance, and perhaps because it was a shared purchase--though not a shared check.

Also perhaps it feels more formal than my other used car buying experiences. It's certainly more drawn-out than any car purchase I've made. All of those, for better or worse (twice worse, once better), occurred on the very day I first saw the cars in question.

And now I must swallow my anticipation and get ready to see my dear friends Elyssa and Noah, who we haven't had a two-on-two hang with in at least a year and maybe two or three or more. Maybe even much much more. Apparently their relationship has evolved into more roommates than anything. I hope that works for both of them.

Missed it by a few minutes

Oh well. I met my basketweaving buddy today. And I thought about ideas for a basketweaving road trip in a van. And I talked with another basketweaver about a daytrip he made. And I told the basketweaver who offered me a team opportunity that I'd be interested.

Really, though, I want my fucking car. That'll have to wait till Sunday afternoon though.

Landed

My butt and knees hurt, but I am back in my general home area and relieved. Also I got a very promising call right before we took off about a basketweaving opportunity. I seemed affable and competent and trustworthy enough to some folks I met. Hopefully when we meet up I will give that impression again. Because basketweaving isn't something you want to do alll by yourself. There is camaraderie and stories when you do it with others.