Derik Badman's Journal

A quiet Monday morning this Lianne is still away. Made myself breakfast and watched a Deep Space Nine episode. Even after watching the whole series at least two times, I still find it enjoyable to watch, though I also appreciate I don't need to pay super close attention to it, so it can run while I'm cooking.

We should be getting a small break from the heatwave we've been having. Yesterday, even though I had to thermostat up to 79, the AC was still running almost continuously without getting the third floor to temp. Apparently in NYC the other day they were using the most power ever because of so many AC's running. I wonder if this will become the new normal.

███ and I with help from ███ (especially in the hanging part) got the bedside table/shelves installed yesterday. There is still some finishing work to be done (spackling over screws, touch-up paint) but they look pretty good and so far seem sturdy enough. I'm partly surprised there wasn't some kind of major issue. I hope Lianne thinks they look good when she gets home. They are basically open fronted boxes to act as a table and shelf that project from the wall, attached to a tall thin piece of work that provides extra support and will also be where we mount some reading lights (once we find some reading lights). It's a no-frills design, but we painted it up to match the blue-grey trim in the bedroom and it looks pretty nice. Does look better than my little Ikea nightstand, which was starting to show its age.

Took a stab at reading at another one of my Fantagraphics payment books, Zanardi by Andrea Pazienza. I thought someone whose taste I trust had praised the book as under recognized/rated, but damn I found it to be vile and didn't finish it. It's a collection of stories from the 80's by the Italian comic artist about this character Zanardi who is in school and is a real dick. The comics are not terribly well drawn and pretty misogynistic. All the women characters (such as they are) are manipulated or abused or treated like shit. Are we supposed to like Zanardi? If we are, Pazienza failed to convince me. It's rare I don't finish a comic, but I gave up on this after a few stories and a quick skim of the rest. That's going into the sell pile, which is already way too big when it comes to comics. I need to find an easy way to sell or even give them away.

And really, I need to do something about my book buying habit. It's been out of control for decades now, and even when I feel like I'm going over board I always end up getting excited about some other book that I end up buying. I have gotten better about not buying stuff just because it's cheap. I used to order too much from various discount book places, or buy too many used books. I try to set goals like, not buying anything new until I finish reading what I already have, but I don't succeed at it. I am happy that of the books I bought while away the other week, I fully read 2, started 1 and decided it was not for me, am a third of way though another (and still reading), read the intro to the art book (still need to look at the actual art), and have 1 that I started and am undecided on whether I will finish. Not too bad. I have at least tried all of them. And I've already read both my latest acquisitions from Powells with my credit from selling books to them.

I guess I'll get a jump on work now, since I was up early. There's always too much too do, but at least if I'm working early I'll feel less bad about stopping early when my office gets hottest.