Wobbling into Wednesday

I’m tired. I’m very, very, very, very tired. It’s been one month and two days since I set out to move cross-country, close on a house I’d never seen, and fix up said house while writing/assembling a book for Paladin Press with a deadline of just over one month. And suddenly, I’m beat.

Not sure why it’s hitting now. Things are going great, actually.

The book — The Bad Attitude Guide to Good Citizenship — is right on schedule. I’ll be sending the manuscript to Paladin by the end of this month and they say (wonder of wonders) they’ll have it out by mid-October. (Helps to have your own in-house printing department, I’m thinkin’.)

Also on the book front, Dave Duffy (who’s been having some less-fun adventures of his own: part I and part II) told me on Monday that they’re expecting a pallet-load of the new Hardyville compilation any day now. It looks “handsome,” he says, and will sell for $14.95.

I lucked into a great independent contractor who completely re-roofed my garage and cleaned and treated the house roof, as well as removing an old crumbling chimney, for about half the cost of the original estimates (which had included total re-roofing of the house — something that turned out not to be necessary for now). And he’s such a willing hustler in these tough economic times that he’s also happy to replace two bad windows and do hauling.

(I know some contractors are specialists and some aren’t; I respect that. But small towns have never been kind to those who aren’t versatile, and in the case of roofers, I was struck by the vast difference in attitude among the four who gave bids. One made it very clear that he resented “having to practically give work away” in the down economy. He submitted his bid as a scrawl of figures on a piece of notepaper without even stating what materials he’d use or what guarantee he’d offer. His whole attitude was that he was entitled to bid because he lived in my neighborhood, and that he was doing me a favor by bidding at all. The guy I happily hired has been a pro in every way from bidding through cleanup. But he clearly says he’ll do whatever he needs to do to survive — and be a pro at that, too.)

My own work on the house is also going well. Slow, but satisfying. This weekend I replaced some panes of glass in a lovely, but mistreated, old door and I almost have the living room fully converted from bright, screaming yellow to something my more subtle sensibilities can handle.

But on Monday evening, after a good day of both book and house work, and for no particular reason, I hit a wall. And I’m still slammed up against that wall — feeling like a squished fly even though the actual work continues to go just fine. Today I think I’ll just take it easy.

Anyhow, that said, here’s a smidge of miscellany for you:

• Kent McManigal says he has no problem with authority. Hm. That’s one way to look at it.
• She married the “handsomest man in America.” And when she was done with him, she turned around and married the “richest man in America.” She bore a famous name — by marrying into a decayed family line of it. Cole Porter mentioned her in a song. And she was altogether a grand (if pretty useless) public figure. And I’ll bet hardly anybody bothers to remember her. I love it when that happens. (Paris Hilton and Snooki, it’ll happen to you, too.) I stumbled upon her when I needed to check a factoid about her much more famous political in-law. I love it when that happens, too. The Internet. Such a creative time-waster.
• On the other hand, a few of those famous, rich Marryin’ Females deserve to remain renowned. This one has been one of my favorite historic characters since I was a pup.
• A grotesque, needless, unhealthy manufactured food by any other name …
• Paul Rosenberg of Cryptohippie.com begins a series of “Steps Into Online Security” with a simple one — Firefox and its most basic security add-ons.
• Okay. It’s not exactly news that the Libertarian Party has rendered itself useless. But Larken Rose always always says things so well.

Finally thanks again to people who’ve commented so thoughtfully on the subject of community. I admit I understand all too well those who say they have a visceral fear of community — the loss of privacy, of individuality, of autonomy. Yet without it, most of us are lost. It’ll be interesting times, balancing our need for independence with the equal need for trade, mutual defense, and other forms of mutual sustenance when government finally fails us.