toil in hope and you will get there.

Tuesday, May 25, 2004

These Old Bones

Ah, another precious long-weekend has come and gone, and if my next "holiday" is anything like this last one, I'll be in traction before I'm 25!

When Mom left me an urgent message on my answering machine to call her back right away I was actually naive enough to drop everything I was doing, as any good son should, to assuage her panicked state. Her tone was far different during my inquiring call, however, and I quickly discovered it was a clever (and successful) ploy to retain my services for a Saturday's worth of back-breaking labour back in Vegreville. Not wanting to suffer alone, I convinced Nicole to accompany me down Highway 16, to the heart of Pyrogy County, under the unassuming guise of a little landscaping - though she insists that she was recruited for a little gardening.

What ensued was an afternoon so labourious and intensive that a full-scale terra-forming of the lunar surface would have paled in comparison.

It was a back-yard-cobble-stone-sidewalk-project which would have killed inferior specimens of the human species, but Nicole and I persevered, though the pain and partial paralysis of today has probably made us both wish we hadn't. Who would have thought that hours upon hours of being hunched over and rubber-mallotting interlocking bricks with Tetris-like precision would have exacted such a toll on our young bodies!?

There were moments today when lying on the solid living room floor was pure Heaven, and the mere thought of sitting up was enough to send spasms of pain through the length of my bruised and abused body. I want to end the life of all those HGTV renovation show programmers who've corrupted my parent's minds with deceptively evil do-it-yourself projects.

On a more positive note, I did take an overflowing basket of laundry back home with me, so as I lay immobilized on my floor, counting and cataloging the speckles on my ceiling, it will be with the clear conscience of knowing that I'm at least wearing clean underwear.

Currently listening to: Sam Roberts - This Wreck of a Life

3 comments:

k.skinner said...

Bah! Almost MIDTERMS already!? This Spring/Summer Session malarky is for the birds - incredibly intelligent birds who are capable of effectively organizing their time and remaining focused at the task at hand.

Perhaps some sort of "Hyper-Intelligent" aviator from the, dare I say, cold vaccum of outer space...?

Anonymous said...

What? I didn't know you were in town? What the hell Kris? What the HEll?
-Scott

k.skinner said...

Yeah, I know, what the hell WAS I thinking!? I could have rounded up you, Tim, Dean and Steph to help out with the yardwork! Overlooking that was clearly poor planning on my part...