Free Write 14

I started to get sick yesterday, so I've been pretty out of it. Been getting lots of words and numbers and such wrong - more than usual, I should say - and just other small stuff that shouldn't normally be a problem. It's not super bad or anything, but it is just enough to make me spacey. Yesterday with it was particularly rough because I was working, and the longer the day dragged on the, worse I felt. I had today off, and in comparison it's been a pretty crazy string of ups and downs, though it does seem to be calming down somewhat. We'll see how I feel in the morning, though.

I've been pretty excited about one Christmas gift I got in particular, which you may have been able to guess by some of the writing I've done. I got a kit for building my own folding knife, which may sound a little silly, but as a boy scout and a person who thoroughly loves to work with my hands, I find it really exciting. The initial construction was actually a lot easier than I anticipated, though it's been made up for by the fact that the shaping of the handle is much harder than I expected. Or, rather, much longer. It took me an hour today just to get one side of the micarta scales used to make the handles flush with the actual metal construction underneath - I still have the bottom and back to go. And then I have to actually shape it to make it comfortable in the hand. And then spend a significant amount of time sanding it with varying degrees of sandpaper to make it smooth and comfortable. It'll take me quite a while, but strangely I do enjoy the process, and I look forward to continuing the work.

It makes me miss the times I actually built a few of my own instruments. I forget how we got the idea in the first place, but we got a kit to build a ukulele. This was back when I was playing my guitar constantly, and had even started dipping my toes into the musical waters of the bass as well. A ukulele was a cheap instrument to add to my repertoire, and getting a kit for it was even cheaper. I'd never really built anything like that before, though. It was a slow going process, and I was constantly sure that I was going to mess it up. But other than some easily loosened strings, it actually came out pretty good.

Between these and baking, and my interest in things like blacksmithing and silversmithing, I guess I just really like making things with my own hands.