the paint must've been too runny because it started getting streaks. i went back and brushed over those areas, but it just seemed to make it worse, with the paint sort of pulling in an unsightly manner. painting the door itself took about an hour, but i kept going back and touching up areas that seemed to be either light in paint or too much that it streaked. i did notice that the paint has a tendency to spread out, and once visible brush strokes soon became uniform flat areas. there were a few spots though that i retouched too many times that it was just a runny mess. eventually i gave up. those areas, i figured i could sand down and apply an additional coat, but that'd be a future project.
once the door was finished, there was the matter of drying, and the additional problem of smell control. oil paint has a strong odor, there's no way to mask it. once again i closed the door and set up a fan to blow dry it from inside the bathroom. i opened up as many windows as possible, but seemed to help with getting rid of the smell from the house, but the door itself had an odor due to the paint which couldn't be removed. i tried the onion trick, cutting up half an onion and putting it in a shallow bowl of water. that might've worked (or a waste of a perfectly good onion), but like i said, it was the door itself had smelled, and that odor will only go away over time, like weeks. i just hope my roommate doesn't mind. it's one of those odors that isn't really localized, and can be smelled from anywhere within the house, but just as quickly disappear.
while waiting for the paint to try, i finally finished watching the first episode of HBO's boardwalk empire. omar makes a cameo! which can only mean that he's somehow able to travel back through time and rob prohibition era bootleggers. it's definitely a show worth watching, and only HBO has that sort of money for the lavish 1920's production. it's also educational, since the story takes place during the dawn of organized crime.
my sister came by in the afternoon to pick up the folding table. she noticed the paint smell right away. i asked her to take me to the somerville target so i could buy new pillows for my roommate (moving in tomorrow morning). i bought 2 standard-sized pillows (firm, $5/each) and a pair of pillow cases ($6). it was only after we got in the car did i notice that one of the pillows was $7. apparently i'd accidently grabbed a queen-sized pillow instead. it would've probably taken me an additional 10 minutes to return and then buy one the correct size; i decided it wasn't worth the trouble, and besides, the cases fit both sizes, except one pillow is noticeably longer.
i called my health insurance about the prior authorization approval status instead of waiting for the mt.auburn hospital people to get in touch with me. turns out i've been approved since yesterday, but nobody told me. i bicycled down to the nearest rite aid in the late afternoon to fill the prescription. the wait time was 20 minutes, so i just told them i'd come back for my losartan tomorrow morning. it'll be good to switch off the lisinopril. that persistent cough has resurfaced ever since i went back on it.
by early evening i was brave enough to feel the door. it was already dry to the touch, although in the few runny spots the drips were still a little soft.
i fixed myself some taiwanese thick-noodled ramen for dinner (it wasn't sort of plain tasting). for dessert, i had some more norwegian goodies, this time some stratos kjeks - chocolate-covered waffle cone chips. most of it cracked during shipping, but they still tasted pretty good.
i watched the season premiere of glee (FOX) followed by life unexpected (CW). i wish for once i could see an episode of life unexpected where there was no drama. just an episode where everything goes right and nothing burns down or somebody loses a job. i had the tv tuned to detroit 1-8-7 (ABC) but wasn't really paying attention. michael imperioli will forever be known as christopher moltisanti, so i couldn't see him as a police detective.
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later in the evening i put back the hardware on the bathroom door. i left off the towel rack for now. i'm waiting until the paint is 100% dry before re-installing it. even then, not sure if the back of the door is the best place for towels, since they're going to absorb that oil paint smell. i just love the feel of oil paint though. it feels much more solid than latex paint.
finally, my upstairs neighbor wrote me an e-mail today saying he still wants to replace the roof this year because the water leakage problem returned during our most recent rainstorm. he actually suggested that i look for some contractors "if i have time" even though all the stuff that needs to be fixed are inside his condo. my ears and the back of my neck burned when i heard the news, my normal stress reaction. but after a while i calmed down. even based on the initial roof contractor, i only need to pay about $2000-3000, while he would need to pony up close to $10k (because he has to replace all his skylights which he's paying on his own), so it definitely hurts him more. the drama continues.
like i said earlier, my new roommate moves in tomorrow morning 9:00. i only had the place to myself for about a week, and most of those days were spent working on the bathroom door. even though i'd met him already, i'm still kind of nervous. i never know who i'm going to get. i should be able to learn a lot from the first day, but only after a week will i completely be able to figure out my roommate's schedule and habits.