Non-Wandering Post

From time to time, I interrupt my posts about traveling and exploration to discuss my state of mind. This is one of those posts.

I’m not sure exactly what’s in the air these days but I have been on absolute cloud nine these days. My serotonin levels are maxed out through the roof. Not to say that’s a bad thing, but I just don’t know why.

Fall and Halloween

As I think I might have mentioned before, I’m more excited for this Halloween season than I have been in years. Even with no plans to decorate the house or anything, I am legitimately excited for Halloween.

Aside from specifically Halloween, this fall has started off spectacularly. Not necessarily with the weather, we just had a high of 94 degrees on Saturday, but even as hot as it was, the day was noticeably shorter than days prior. The winds are bringing different moods to me. I see lots of fall colors on foliage around town and on the roads. And while we did have one last heat wave to send the summer out, the coming week promises highs in the 60s. It won’t be long before I’ll be wearing pants all day instead of shorts.

I’m also in the early stages of making plans with Brandy’s best friend Hilary for a date night (boy that’s weird to say…) that will include a trip to the Mayhem Haunted House here in Ottumwa. Brandy has no interest in going, Hilary does, so we will enjoy it together. We’re just not sure when yet.

Brandy will be leaving for a work trip to Utah on October 15, which will require a trip to Des Moines to drop her at the airport. She’s returning that Friday night, the 20th. I’m planning on leaving a little early that evening in my way to pick her up so I can see if I can hit up a haunt while I’m out in that direction.

The Green House Project

While my posts about it have died down, the work continues on the Green House. I’ve started work on my office in the basement, the leak from this Spring hopefully resolved with a new sump pump. I’ve done a TERRIBLE job of patching up the drywall that was taken out in my efforts to find and resolve the leak. I’ve started reframing the doorway to make way for a 36″ door, rather than the poorly-trimmed 30-ish inch door that wouldn’t close. Once that door is in, I will panel up the wall upon which that door will reside with faux brick paneling, then I will re-sand the other walls, knocking off the texture I applied in an effort to hide my crimes when mudding the drywall, then I will attempt to fix said mudding issues to try to make the room a little more pleasing to be in.

I would like to get some 6″ wafer LED lights in the ceiling, instead of the awful halogen spotlights I currently have. I have a 12 pack of white lights with selectable CCT in my cart on Amazon, but they are manually set with a switch that would necessitate the removal of each individual light from the ceiling to switch. On the other hand, I also have a 6 pack of Wi-Fi capable lights that are twice as expensive. The 12 pack would be nice- I can do 4 in my office and 8 in the main part of the basement (wiring a couple of them to the switch at the top of the stairs and the rest to the switch in the basement.) At any rate, lighting would be the next job.

Pending the successful completion of that, the next task will be to lay down loose lay vinyl sheet flooring. I’d love to do LVP like we have upstairs but it’s way too expensive. Maybe later down the road, but to get it done and over with, I’m just going with the cheaper option for now.

Once that’s down, I’ll put up PVC trim. I’m planning on nice, tall baseboards, a simple plank-style ceiling trim and matching trim around the doors and small window. I will paint those white.

Once that is done, I plan on building a 78 inch desk extension to go alongside my sit-stand desk. That extension will house my personal computer as well as some of my desktop bric-a-brac that will eventually get unpacked from the myriad of boxes piled up in the main part of the basement. This desk I plan on building out of two 4’x8′ sheets of black melamine, to match my existing desk. Doing so will leave me with enough leftover material to build a few shelves to go above the desk and/or in the corner. I’m not sure yet what I want to do there just yet.

Then, finally, I will be getting a drawing table to put directly behind my work desk, which will effectively create a “U” shape that I will spend my days in, either working, playing, or drawing.

Once my office is done, I will shift my attention to the main part of the basement. I don’t have any concrete plans for that just yet, suffice it to say I’m planning on painting it the same color as everything else in the house, paneling up the same wall as my office, and using the same vinyl sheet flooring there as well.

I will have to buy some shelves, a TV, a mount or stand for said TV, and some other furniture to make the space more comfortable, but aside from that, no other plans yet.

Then I will be able to start on the home gym/laundry room/bathroom, which will likely turn into one big project.

Anyway, I’ve digressed. All of this was to say, I’m very happy to finally see some progress in my office, even if that progress is stalled until I get the new door I plan on installing. That, hopefully, will be this weekend, maybe next, I’m not quite sure yet.

Next Travels

If I do wind up getting a new door for my office this weekend, it’ll have to be Sunday. Brandy and I are finally making our way to Winterset to tour the Bridges of Madison County on Saturday. I have our trip all mapped out, including our stop for lunch and a side trip to check out Clark Tower.

In preparation for that trip, Brandy had me watch the 1995 Clint Eastwood-directed film starring him and Meryl Streep. It was the first time I’d watched it and it was a slow, sappy love story. Yeah, I cried at the end of it, even though the movie glorified marital infidelity and justified cheating on your spouse if you’re simply unhappy…

So, now that I’ve watched it, I’ll be able to say I’ve stepped in the same places as Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep.

I also plan on visiting the John Wayne Birthplace and Museum, having only ever seen one John Wayne movie in my life (True Grit, 1969). I’m not a huge fan of westerns or war movies, but I am a fan of museums and exploration so I do plan on making the most out of my time at these places.

Baseball

The regular baseball season saw its ending on Sunday, October 1. The Dodgers won that day, finishing their regular season with 100 wins. They clinched a playoff spot quite some time ago, then clinched the NLDS spot not long after that so their first postseason game won’t be until Saturday, the 7th. Until then, I have a handful of Wild Card games to watch.

In talking to dad about this season, this is the most excited I’ve been about a baseball season in a long time. I don’t know if it’s the rule changes this year, or if it’s that I’m looking at the season through happier eyes, or what, but this has been a fantastic season for baseball as a whole. I’m excited to see how far the Dodgers can get this year.

Hope For Continued Happiness

My biggest fear at this point is that this elation I’m feeling these days won’t last. What will happen when the baseball season ends, when Halloween passes? Sure, we’ve got the holidays to look forward to, and that’s always nice, but, come January 1, I always hit a wall.

Starting a few years into my time in Albuquerque, the last, like, third of the year has been my favorite part of the year. From about mid-August until January 1 has always been a time of joy for me. We start in mid-August when the green chile harvest begins. The roasters start showing up in front of grocery stores and the smell of those pods roasting fills the air.

That harvest season continues into September as the baseball pennant races start really heating up. For the last 10 years, the Dodgers have been perennial contenders. Watching baseball in September has been awesome every time they’re in it to the end.

Then fall starts showing itself. Weather starts cooling, leaves start falling and, in mid-September, I’m picking up my chile from Wagner Farm in Corrales. That typically would be followed with a lovely fall-time drive through Corrales before heading home to bag the fruits while watching a game. Being able to get back to that on our recent trip to Albuquerque, I think, may have been an inciting event to help spur me into the mood in which I currently find myself.

Then, of course, October comes. I used to get super excited for the holiday, decorating the house, inside and out, making plans for parties or haunted houses, listening to my awesome Halloween music mix.

After Halloween, we’d be looking forward to my birthday, then Thanksgiving which then ushered in the holiday season. Christmas music, lights, decorations filling my life. As capitalist as the holiday has become, it’s always been joyous for me anyway.

Then, ringing in the new year each year, after having spent four and a half months in a kind of dreamy fantasyland, I would always have this, “back to real life” feeling. In fact, I’ve found myself uttering those very words in years past.

Halloween was kind of stripped away from me a little in 2013 when I was not invited back to the haunted house where I had worked for a few years. My attitude toward the holiday got worse and worse for years leading up to 2018 then it was completely forgotten for years. Christmas, as I mentioned, was usually a time of joy and tolerating my family until 2019. That was the first Christmas I ever spent alone. I had just moved out from my parents’ a mere six weeks prior, they had gone to California to spend the holiday with their daughter, Jarrod was spending it with his mom and I was truly alone for the holiday.

Christmas has been a little off kilter for me the following three years: in 2020, I was living at Brandy’s house and she has a different aesthetic style than I do for Christmas. The following year, we were in my apartment after having just reconnected that September, being married that November and preparing to move to Iowa. Then last year, we were wrapped up with the purchase of the Green House, so there was hardly any attention paid to the holiday. No decorations nor even a tree was put up, I think maybe one gift was purchased.

My biggest fear with this intense satisfaction in life I’m experiencing right now is that come January 1, when we go “back to real life,” that magic will drift away.

I need to identify what’s making me so happy and either hold on to it through the new year, or, if it’s something that can’t be held on to, like weather, baseball, specific holidays, etc, then find something to replace it, like getting back to the drawing table or find some trails for winter-time hiking.

This is just another testament to the insane growth I’ve seen the last few years. Previously, I would wait until that happiness was snatched away so suddenly, then would have to work to find that happiness again. I’m happy to see that I foresee a potential drop in emotional health and am preparing for it, being proavtive instead of reactive.

End of Year Reflection

As I’ve done in years past, I plan on starting 2024 with a year-in-review post. I’ve spent some time the last week or so thinking about the year of 2023 and everything I’ve accomplished through this year so far. Of course, I’m not going to go into great detail here, that’s going to wait for a few more months, but just thinking about everything I’ve done this year certainly has helped my mood. Here’s to hoping things continue to get better.

I’m hoping to have a trip report and pictures from Winterset up before the weekend is over, but we all know I won’t. Hopefully I’ll have it up before the end of next week, that’s a more reasonable target.

In the meantime, I hope everyone out there is having as great days as I’m having and we’ll see you post-Winterset!

-Phil