14th June 2021
So it aches still today, in my left shoulder. Gets really stiff if I lift it up above head level. Burns slightly inside from exertion. Guess it's internal swelling to a small degree.
05th July 2021
Wow it's been two weeks since I even thought of typing anything here.
Anyway, rested for a week because various parts of my body was hurting mildly, and they weren't just aches. Feels better now but the leg day yesterday was hell all over again. Can't believe how much progress was lost over the last 9 days.
The electrician will come over on Wednesday. Hopefully the ethernet cable I got was suitable and will arrive in time to be installed for the TV at its new location. This week will be a pain, and I don't even know how my workouts will work out.
13th July 2021
The electrician finished 99% yesterday, leaving just the two wall fans that haven't arrived that he will settle next week.
For S$4k, he did a lot more than expected, not just providing all the lighting but also lighting that I didn't ask for originally, like an extra LED ceiling light to replace one that no longer worked, and an extra bulb for a toilet because he thought the current bulb was too dim. On top of that, he did all the fan installation for me at no extra charge when the job was supposed to be only replacing all the wires, trunking and the circuit breaker box. Typically ceiling fan installation costs S$50 each, or S$30 if multiple fans are purchased in a single order.
Now my home is in a mess, and will continue to be in a mess because the painter is next. He's coming over today to take a look and provide a quote. Given the amount of work he is going to have to do, his job might take another 5 working days. All the old trunking locations had nail holes in them because that was how they used to secure wires and trunking 50 years ago, and he is going to have to plaster every single one of them before he can even think about anything else, like whether to scrape off old paint.
Got my second Moderna jab last Sunday, different reaction this time. For the first jab, it was just weakness in the shoulder, while this time it was fatigue and possibly a mild fever. Didn't check my own temperate, but there was a mild headache I sometimes get with fevers, and a few paracetamols solved everything. Shoulder still felt a little weak yesterday and today, but not as bad as the first time.
28th Jul 2021
Yesterday, after the painter saw the paint on the main entrance door dried on the outside, he complimented me on the colour scheme of my home. I just told him I was lucky. I am, because I am lucky enough to have friends with good taste. I was skeptical about black trunking/pipes, and having dark red walls was a major risk to me, but with all my doors and door frames painted mahogany except for the toilet doors, they all just come together.
Yes it is a little darker than before, darker than what most would prefer, but with enough lighting, this isn't an issue, not when I am using LED track lights.
Tbh, having everything brighter in white harkens back to the days when people spent more time at home, especially with the existence of the now defunct role of "housewives", hence the need to amplify the natural sunlight. These days, I spend most of my time in my room, and nobody comes over in the day, so only the bedrooms should be in white, while the common areas don't matter in the day. Even if they do, there is the lighting. At 3-7W per bulb, I'm actually going to spend a lot less on the power consumption of my lights than ever before.
And I wanted a grandfather clock but turns out they're too damn expensive, so I've settled for a wall clock with pendulum. Wanted to keep it under S$100 but ended up paying S$50 more for one that had a little more history, so the sideboard had a smaller budget from about S$100 to S$60, which turned into a narrow side table instead, which also looked better than a sideboard in that location. I mean, the clock was "Made in Occupied Japan" so how could I resist? There was only a roughly 25-year period when it could have been made, because I don't think I've ever seen any Japanese product from the 70s that used that term anymore.
Maintenance may be a challenge in the future though.
07th Sep 2021
It's been a while! Let's begin from where I stopped the last time: paint.
It's all done but this guy ran out of patience in the last few days, so the brown paint for the door frames were messed up in that he either didn't let the first few layers dry before applying more layers, or the layers were too thick, so now many spots in the door frames are tacky ie sticky. Since I'm too cheap to redo them, the alternative is to apply talcum powder to remove the stickiness and then wait it out, probably for months.
Overall it is not a lot darker than before because we stopped adding dark elements to my home at that point mentioned in the last update, and began switching to brighter colours. And a lot of potted plants at the balcony, though only one is hanging as compared to the three initially suggested.
Got the wall clock for $130+ and it is a lot less user-friendly than modern clocks. The greatest challenge right now is in adjusting the pendulum which determines the speed of the clock. I have been recording notes about it for weeks now, but have been too lazy to do the math. The chime is lovely though, and its volume has been adjusted so it's barely audible in the rooms with the doors closed.
Didn't get a sideboard, but did get a very narrow table, 15cm deep, and I feel it's perfect for the job under the painting.
Also got some fabric from Spotlight for my staff to sew a noren, or door curtain, for my main entrance, so that I can keep the door open while maintaining privacy, and it blocks warm air while letting cool air move.
Maintenance is the issue because I need to have specific daily habits in order to keep my home in its current shape, eg putting everything back to where they're supposed to be all the time. Motivation is going to be needed, and most likely from hosting gatherings regularly.
Met someone, think she might be the one. Even bought me a new mattress, but I'll still get a mattress topper as previously planned, and likely during the coming 9/9 sale. Still got a kitchen hood in my wish list for November.
Haven't restarted my workouts since the electrician started work back then, so it's just over two months so far. A few weeks ago I'd apparently hit 92kg so 3kg of muscle mass was lost by then, and that's frightening! It takes so many months of hell to build all that strength, and then mere weeks to lose so much of it!
Worse still, it's so hard to get back to first gear now.
