Settling down

I’ve been in my new room now for a week. Last wednesday, my dad and I painted the room. The lease contract required it, and the room really needed a new paint coat, too. My dad did most of the painting work, being a lot more experienced and able to cover a large area in little time. I touched up the edges with a brush, cleaned up, put covering down and did any oddjobs. The paint we had was a pretty good quality, and it was very much worth it. Easy to use, beautifully white, scrubbing-resistant and dry almost immediately. We never had problems with paint fumes, and I was able to sleep in it the very first night, which was very convenient. For some reason, though, the lamp fixture has stopped working. I used an electrician’s screwdriver to check for voltage, and it seems to be there on both sides of the cable connection – but not in the actual fixture. The bulb is intact, in any case – I checked that first. Until I get it working again, I’ll be lighting up my room with my Hg lamp, which is very bright, if a bit noisy.

In the days since, I haven’t really done anything momentous. Gotten to know my neighbors, invited my brother over for dinner, met up with friends downtown, been to the cinema, watched some anime, did some stuff. I’ve been continuing work on thermodynamics. In fact, I’m approaching the end of the script I was learning from, and while it will need a second run to memorize the stuff, I’ve gotten a good impression of what thermodynamics is about. In other words, I now have a frame of reference into which I can integrate further information. That’s how I usually learn, and the frame is what connects new information and makes it stick in my memory.

My choir has been busy prepping the Elias for concert. We’ll be going live at the end of the month, and while I now actually know every piece, it is not yet good enough. Fortunately, I seem to be getting into it rather quickly. Somehow, the year in Trondheim with Aks appears to have done something for my voice and surety, despite the music there being actually rather simple. Could have something to do with singing in a small ensemble – you try to give your all, in volume and expression.