Category Archives: masochism

70

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We celebrated my mom’s 70th birthday this weekend. If my dad was still alive, we would have celebrated his 66th last week.

I just got home from a long weekend with my mom and family in a small artist community in the middle of nowhere Texas. When I hugged my mom goodbye, I had a terrible sense of foreboding. I had a flash that I wouldn’t see her again and that frightened me. I will be an orphan when that day arrives.

It is inevitable that parents die. But it wasn’t until that moment that I realized how quickly finite our relationships are with them. My grandpa (dad’s dad) when asked what he thought when he looked back over his long life said, “I never realized it would go by so quickly.”

My mom and I have always had a tenuous relationship, but we have also always had a strong bond. She isn’t very demonstrative, but I know that she loves me deeply. So did my dad. I can’t imagine a world without that love existing for me. Some of it is already lost.

The present has a way of moving quickly into the past like lines on the road seen through the car back window. I never realized it would go by so quickly.

Mom, happy birthday.
I love you.

RD update, finally

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Made decent progress on the RD today!

Got the wiring sorted out with help from a friend.
Discovered my (sealed beam) headlight is blown so on the hunt for a new headlight.
Somehow in the move, I misplaced my left side cover bolts. It’s annoying because usually I’m good about keeping bolts with their parts, so I’m annoyed with myself. Although, there is a slim chance I can blame it on the cat. 😀

“What next” list:

Acquire:
Headlight
Brake light
Front brake caliper
Front brake line (steel braided)

Do:
Install brake light and headlight
Neaten up and hide wiring
Install pipes
Find the missing bolts
Bleed brakes

What else?
I’m sure I’m forgetting something. Hm.
I’ll remember later.

not progress

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There are some days where you get out of the bed and quickly realize that you should have stayed there. This past Sunday was one of those days. I just couldn’t get my brain organized.

After a rather fumbley morning, I decided that I should get back to troubleshooting my RD project’s wiring harness. I was understanding it a couplea weeks ago, so I got it…right?

I bundled a cluster that I’m going to keep with super-fancy cord wrap*.

Then decided to be a crazy risk-taker and make a male plug for one of the trashed headlight wires.

The soldering iron I have is on the weaker end of the spectrum, so I had to wait a while for it to heat up enough. Then I burned the housing a little. But I made a decent solder connection, so I was happy. I wrapped it with electrical tape and moved on.

This is where things went a bit downhill.
As I went back through the harness, tracing wires to keep and trying to figure out how it all runs, I found two wires that needed to be connected to … something … but I couldn’t figure out to what. My brain was feeling a bit addled and sluggish, so after more unproductive staring at the harness and the wiring diagram and back and forth a few times, I gave up and watched a movie.

Meh.

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* that was rather tongue-in-cheek if you hadn’t guessed already.

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