more normal than not

 

I did the rear brakes this afternoon on the Jeep.

Man, what a bugger.

It’s a pretty straightforward process that is hard because you have to put all these springs back in the right order….some keepers that are spring-loaded and that have to be twisted under pressure so that they hold the shoes on….and get everything seated correctly so that it all goes back together “right”.

It’s important that you’re “right” when you’re talking about bringing a heavy vehicle to a stop.

Some of the stuff that the “real mechanics” did was kind of goofy, though….so I think that I did a pretty good job.

The drums were really hard to get on though….even with the brake cylinders depressed and the self-adjuster backed off all the way.

It was tough.

When I called the parts store, the guy who’s helped me before told me that he’d had troubles with drum brakes, too….and suggested sanding down the shoes a little and maybe the drum would go on.

Of course, all the time I was doing the sanding, I was trying not to breath. I thought that I might be giving myself cancer….and being cheap is a crappy way to get cancer.

I found out later that the shoes didn’t contain any asbestos.

(I read the Spanish on the wrong side of the box and didn’t understand what “sin asbestos” meant.)

I’m glad that I didn’t give myself cancer from this part of my life.

I guess that the tight shoes will loosen up as they wear?

A 75 mile rural route is a great place to see if it’s going to work out.

Right?

 

“bad brakes” Cat Stevens

I’m tired….and this is easy.

David Wilcox at Furman…..doing a TedTalk.

Why’m I so tired these days?

Thank goodness for YouTube…..but YouTube isn’t good blogging…..and….why’m I so tired?

It’s good to be sharing something good, though.

This is good.

This is a no-brainer of a post.

You don’t have to think very hard to decide to share a story like this one.

Does it get any better than a good player with a good guitar?

I’ve been a David Wilcox fan ever since my friends loaned me a copy of his first album (on cassette!) so any story is a good story.

I’m easy that way.

David Wilcox is consistent and good.

Olson guitars are consistent and good.

Fun to hear the story of how this guitar came to be.

 

Brakes.

Man.

If you use it, you’ve got to fix it.

You’ve got to maintain it.

Stopping is good.

This is something to take care of on my long list of “things to take care of”.

Oil changes, lube jobs, brake jobs…..the list goes on.

Will the list ever get short?

Isaac goes to college this morning.

That’s a couple of “firsts” for him….first day at school….first time away from home for any extended period…etc.

I woke up thinking about Isaac and school and then window regulators and new postal routes and big dogs and the cat mewling on the porch, waiting for her food, and then…..back to Isaac and school and Zoe at school and Nate at school and Sparrow painting the boards on the porch and….then….Isaac again…..and, then, I thought about tests a little bit, too.

Tests.

I don’t know if I dreamed this or not, but the phrase “how much more would your mind be able to handle in the absence of tension?” floated through at some point in the night.

“The absence of tension”.

I guess that most of what we accomplish is done in the presence of some stress and tension.

That comes with the territory.

I’m learning a new postal route, and it’s a glom of weird turns and side streets, unmarked mailboxes, bad rutted out driveways.

It’s tense.

It’s stressful.

But….I can already feel that I’m going to get it.

And….I’ll get it my way by the end of the process.

People can tell me what I need to do….and I’ll follow instructions…..but I’ll learn it my way when all is said and done.

That’s what we do.

All we can do, really, is “my way”.

“Our way”?

You know what I mean.

As far as tests go, they should be set up so that we understand that they’re made to measure what we know ….not to give us a benchmark for our failures.

We can get a 93 on a test and lament the 7 percent that says “you can’t, you don’t, you won’t”.

A test is not the measure of who we are or what we can become….but we let them stall us or quantify who we think we are sometimes if the results aren’t favorable.

A test is as arbitrary a measure of worth as other people’s opinions of us are.

“Arbitrary”….man, that’s kind of wild.

We accept pretty quickly what other people conclude about us, but struggle to accept the positive conclusions we make about ourselves.

Weird.

Awwwwww…..this is just a “pre-coffee ramble”…..I’m not sure what I’m saying other than to mention that Isaac starts school today, and I’m just figuring out that a lot of the stuff that I’ve agonized over in the past really didn’t mean all that much in the years since.

You have to pass courses.

You have to get grades that are “acceptable”.

But…..”how much more could your brain handle in the absence of tension”?

You have to figure out your own value separate from all these measures that we’ve set up for ourselves.

Work hard, play when it’s “appropriate”,….and make your way through the world.

And, I guess, believe that people really do want to help you.

Believe that they are, in general, pretty benevolent.

I should cook up some coffee now.

Isaac goes to college today.

That’s a pretty cool trip, huh?