every time i go to the police department, every person i ask, i get a different story. at least the records department was opened today. the clerk told me they can't give me a police accident report until i file one first with the registry. i'm pretty much clueless as to what i should be doing following my motorcycle accident two saturdays ago. i'm going to wait and see. i'm not doing too much riding anyway, and the insurance company is supposed to get in touch with me this week to let me know if they're going to pay for the repairs and how much.
since i was close to the galleria mall, i went to the border bookstore to look for books on motorcycle repairs, bicycle repairs, and chicken raising. they reorganized their layout 3 months ago so i ended up asking for help trying to find everything. bicycles were under fitness (next to fiction), chickens under farm industry (next to the computer programming books), and motorcycles under transportation (next to gardening and pets). i felt guilty not buying anything and wondered if the people who helped me knew i was just on a reconnaissance mission.
i had some sushi for lunch at the cafe. i was talking with priscilla, one of the regulars, about the recent kennedy funeral, and she told me she worked on JFK's presidential campaign back in the 60's despite the fact that she's a lifelong republican. i asked her about the first president she ever voted for, and she said it was dewey, in a contest against truman, who would eventually win.
my father made sure to ruin my week by enlisting me on whitewashing duty, i.e. to repaint the recently vacated bedroom at my great uncle's condominium in preparation for a new tenant arriving next week. i hadn't seen the room yet, 
and when i did, i didn't want to do it at all. i won't do something if i know i can't do a good job and here was such a project. when it comes to painting, i'm very detail-oriented, and there was just too much detail work. the walls were a mess, not so much stains, but just 3 decades worth of poor patching layered on top of each other. 
it'd be easier just to smash down all the walls and put up fresh sheet rocks. if i was doing a good job, i would also remove all the radiator grills and spray them with white enamel paint, and use oil paints for all the wooden trims plus the door, scraping off the old paint with a heat gun. just a single bedroom, if i was doing it my way, would take a whole week. to make matters worse, my old roommate ZL - who lives in one of the bedrooms - his bossy girlfriend - now wife - has moved in with him. while he's at work everyday, she just stays home and watches television. she didn't say hello when she saw me and gave me the cold shoulder.
truth is, i kind of like painting. it combines art with manual labor and i can just sort of space out while i'm working. and i love the feeling afterwards, covered in paint and dust, and seeing a job well done. initially i thought i could do a quick job in just a day, but it took me all of today just prepping the room. normally i like to cover the entire floor with paper first, but since i wouldn't be painting the ceiling, i'll just be using a removable piece of paper. now i find out my father wants a prime coat before i put on the final coat so this might drag into 1-2 more days. i finally wrapped up by 5:00, after many long hours of scraping, sanding, patching, washing, and vacuuming. i'm going to try and go back early tomorrow morning so i can prime, wait for it to dry, and hopefully get the final coat done by the afternoon.
as if the forces of fate figure i needed a reward for all my hard work today, my ebay buck knife finally arrived in the mail (for a second there i thought it was my replacement wii mod chip). unfortunately it's not as in a pristine condition as i hoped, with a few tiny nicks on the blade edge. still better than the knife i'm trying to replace, but i'm going to keep on trolling ebay until i can find a mint-condition bucklite 422 buck pocket knife.
it's my roommate's last week here in boston so he's been working hard trying to finish his project. besides the abbreviated week due to the long labor day weekend, he's also taking friday off with his advisor to go up to arcadia national park (to see the autumn foliage which unfortunately haven't started yet). he'll be back sunday afternoon and then i'm driving him to the airport early monday (how early? i probably won't go to bed until i get back from logan). he wanted to share his final bottle of wine with me (he already doesn't have any room left in his luggage), some chilean cabernet sauvignon. i'm hoping we'll have some left over so i can use it for cooking!