must be the fumes, but those layers of paint i've been stripping are sure starting to look delicious. under the right conditions they resemble a layered cake, white frosting on top, a layer of chocolate, then spongy cake on the bottom. 
not sure where i read this but it takes 4 hours worth of fresh air in order to reduce the amount of carbon monoxide poisoning in one's system. how many hours of fresh air does it take to properly ventilate a body that's been sniffing paint fumes all day long? i can't be sure if it's the intoxicating vapors or maybe i'm just really tired. today wasn't so bad, i was listening to my mp3 player while i worked. boring, tedious tasks seem to go better with happy, fun music, and i had a whole player's worth of good tunes. picture me in my mask, one hand on the heat gun, the other on the scraper, dancing on a chair while i strip paint from a door frame, which was exactly what i was doing today. the windows are done, just need a little bit more treatment (final wash with a chemical stripper, then some light sanding). 
it's like a game, at the novice level you work on window frames, at intermediate you get to do door frames. door frames are more difficult because they're bigger than windows and there are also two sides to every door frame. if i thought windows were hard work, wait until i get a load of doors! i cleaned off the locks to bedroom doors and discovered that the escutcheons (yeah, look it up, i did) have pretty designs on them as well, some sort of floral pattern.
my father and i were once again unsuccessful in trying to take one of the kitchen cabinets down so we get at some hard to reach window frames. tomorrow we're bringing in some more tools and if that doesn't work we're going to have to destroy that one screw that won't come loss so we can take down the cabinet.
i also arranged some make-believe furnitures in the living. i had measurements for various sofas and loveseats and i was trying to imagine where they would go. my father helped me realize that it'd be impossible to fit both a sofa and a loveseat into my living room. i can do it, but that limits my options, because there are only so many places i can put those two items, that i'd be at the mercy of my plush seatings. so i'm just going to get a single sofa, a nice one, and sort of scatter single seats and end tables here and there.
after another hard day's worth of work and a quick stop at the cafe, i motorcycled back to belmont. when i pulled into the garage i noticed the numbers on the odometer read "666." 
you got it! my honda is powered by el diablo, señor. the more i ride, the more i'm in love with motorcycling. i'm pretty confident on the bike now, and i've said this before, but i actually feel safer on the motorcycle somehow than when i'm in a car. it sounds weird, and i know motorcycles are more dangerous, but i have more control with a motorcycle, my view isn't obstructed, and the bike reacts to the slighest lean of my body. not to mention parking's a breeze and it's fun cutting through a traffic jam while people are stuck in their cages. i'd love to take people out for a ride so they can experience the joys of motorcycling as well. last year i felt the same way but i lacked the experience and i had nowhere the level of confidence in my abilities as i do this year.
after work i went to light and leisure in reading, better known as "the purple building." the reading store is actually their smallest store, 
compared to the purple building in danvers. now i've been to other light stores in the past but for some reason nothing really appealed to me, until today. although the showroom was kind of small and cramped, they had a good selection, and the prices can't be beat, each light affixed with a tag showing you the retail price and light and leisure's discounted price. 
i ended up getting 5 ceiling fixture lights and one bathroom light. the bathroom light looks like a drooping yellow/orange tulip flower. the ceiling fixtures, i went with various assortments of glass scoops, 4 melons and 1 alabaster. i might exchange one of the small melons for an "e.t. glass" scoop, so named because some of the details on the glass looks like little e.t. faces.
after leaving the store with 4 out of 6 lights (2 others had to be shipped from their other warehouse, i can go pick them up on monday), i felt pretty good. with the electrician coming on monday morning, i had most of my lights other than the 11 recessed canisters for the kitchen (not to mention the dimmers). even better news came when i got a call on my cellphone from the window guy, informing me that my custom windows had arrived and that he would start installing them tomorrow morning at 10am. new windows! pretty exciting. no more looking out of ancient and weathered 100 year old windows, welcome to the world of energy saving vinyl replacement windows! unfortunately i won't be there when they first arrive, i have a doctor's appointment to take care of my nevus tomorrow morning.
later, i went with my mother, sister, and suhan to the burlington mall. i got a couple of books at waldenbooks, two discounted cookbooks (filled with lavish photography) and one discounted art book, techniques of the great masters of art.
