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today was a wrap-up day. after touching up some spots (small areas on the ceiling where either i missed a spot or added a spot, and any edge regions that needed a second coat), we ripped up the paper from the floor. it felt like opening presents, removing all that pink rosin paper and blue tape to reveal the bare wood floors underneath. we also put back the closet shelf and returned all the doors. i walked around the hallway and the bedroom, touching the walls with my hands, admiring our handiwork (my favorite part: the semi-glossy enamel veneer of the oil-painted door frames). while lavender ice in the bedroom can look either blue or violet depending on the time of day, there's no mistaking the pink hallway though. when we confronted my sister about it this morning - it was she who originally picked the color - she got all defensive, "what, you don't like it?" as if we shouldn't have listened to her in the first place. strawberry yogurt is fine, it's subtle enough to be acceptable, but it goes without saying that my sister won't be picking the next round of colors (especially since she didn't even help us paint despite being at home). not that i'm a stranger to pink: it's the color of my kitchen (although it's officially called "autumn red").

i've worked with latex and oils, but now i can add spray paint to that list as well. we removed the metal radiator covers and brought them outside for spraying. they had to be cleaned first, rinsing off the thin layer of old paint. spraying is definitely more fun than brushing or rolling, and a whole lot faster too. the only problem is it's extremely messy (and toxic), as clouds of airborne paint particles surround the entire work area. oil paint smells like gasoline while spray paint smell like nail polish.

my father and i ended up spraying 5 radiator covers and a doorbell chime box. laying out on the backyard lawn to dry, they reminded me of a squadron of airplanes parked on a tarmac.

in the evening i went over to dan's place to catch game 1 of the ALDS (attention learning deficit syndrome) between the red sox and the angels. i stopped by the local wendy's to pick up some food. while admiring the sunset, i noticed fighter planes circling overhead. it took me a while to make the connection that they were doing a flyby over fenway park. when i finally arrived at dan's place, cymara was just about to leave for work. dan had warned me clarissa was teething so she might be a little irritable tonight. he managed to coax her to sleep but she woke up later to eat dinner and run around the house. as for the game, youkilis' solo homerun in the first inning put our minds at ease, especially behind josh beckett's cy young worthy pitching. later when ortiz jacked a 2 run homer himself, all was right in red sox nation. and did anyone else notice the unmistakable blur of mitt romney and his wife sitting in the ballpark whenever they had a shot of a right-hand batter? stephen king wasn't the only celebrity fan watching the game!

after the game, dan showed me his nintendo wii. without even seeing any of the games, i was already sold when he showed me the built-in web browser as well as the online weather report. after creating my wii avatar, we played some sports games: i scored a 99 in bowling, dan beat me in tennis, but i won our baseball match. i even got to do some boxing, which left me winded after knocking out my virtual opponent (my special move: kidney punches). i'm starting to think i should get a wii as well!

my mother called me to let me know they didn't clean up the kitchen so i won't be doing any painting tomorrow. it feels weird to be suddenly out of work, after being a handyman for the past month. the thought of a free day actually leaves me baffled: what will i be doing tomorrow?