August 17, 2015

A lot of my day was spent finding and downloading the articles I will have to read for my classes this semester. I did that for the summer semester and it was really nice when the reading would come up and I didn't have to search for it. It also gets rid of that excuse and waste of time, which I would inevitably turn it into.

I had one moment of pure idiocy when trying to find a couple chapters. I didn't really think much of it because I had already had to find a couple chapters online and hadn't had a problem. The book I needed for these chapters only existed at the school library in physical book form. A book that was checked out and ten days overdue. So that was of no help. A couple other universities had the book in electronic form, and I could request it through interlibrary loan, but that seemed excessive considering the professor said everything could be found through the school's library. I was eventually able to find one of the chapters on Google Books and downloaded it. The second chapter, which was the next chapter in the book, wasn't available, and that was frustrating.

Then I had a realization. I looked to my left, about six inches away on my desk, and read the title of the textbook sitting next to me. Happened to be the exact same book I had just spent however long trying to track down. I felt like a complete idiot.

The plumbers were back today. Suds came up in the toilet the day before yesterday I think. They also either came out of the drain in the furnace room or out of the tiny pipe the lets into the drain in the furnace room. Either way, more suds. The plumbers climbed around in the attic again, and looked all over again, and they were still stumped. And all the other plumbers they talked to were stumped. They plan now is to try a detergent that is less sudsy. So fingers crossed for that.

After I finished reading a textbook chapter tonight, I watched Hector and the Search for Happiness. I'm interested in the topic because more often than not I'm not a very happy person. Every now and then I feel like I get fleeting glimpses of happiness but for the most part it has remained frustratingly elusive. Someday I hope to be happy but I'm not entirely sure it will happen. I say I'm not happy now because I don't have this or haven't accomplished that. But I have a fear that even when I have that thing or made that accomplishment, I still won't be happy, and then I'll have to resign myself to the idea that I'm just a deeply unhappy person for reasons beyond my perception. I think that is part of the reason I avoid making advancements in my life, because it will take me closer to that potential realization. Yeah, deep thoughts. Anyway, I liked the movie. It had a similar vibe to The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. And it also had a really good soundtrack, much like that movie. I would watch it again. Not any time soon, because it is a bit of an emotional roller coaster, but I enjoyed it.

Now I am going to go to bed. I think. I may read a little Winnie the Pooh. Tomorrow is the first day back at work. That means hopefully getting up at six o'clock and running on the elliptical. I think running really fast yesterday was a mistake because today my left knee hurt. It kind of feels like I've got a bruise inside the joint. That didn't stop me from running today, and hopefully I don't use it as an excuse for not running tomorrow.