Jan. 18, 2005 - 20:14 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

Can I Get ?

Stubborn Stupidity seems to be my watchword, name or perhaps password. A person who was once called an alcoholic type thinker, now a dried out one. A person who keeps doing the same old thing, expecting a better or at least different result each time.

That was the course of events concerning what I did last night.

As it neared dark and I turned on the overhead light, the illumination was only momentary. Bummer I thought, there goes anther bulb and ten minutes.

But unsurprisingly it took much longer than that. First I had to unearth the stepladder and bring it into the room. Then finding the right postion to place it, to the point where it would be possible to reach the dim bulb from there. Noted was the fact that as the years pass, I get shorter. But this year length seems to be what it will be in 2006.

After many tries and with the tips of my fingers I finally got the offender unscrewed. Got down and found the new bulb. Got up, stood as tall as I could and tried to screw the new one in. Got down and moved the ladder. Got up and tried again, still no luck on getting it started. Kept jockying the ladder and trying to stand taller, getting more frustrated each time.

Finally, just as I thought the bulb was starting to screw in, I did a clumsy, flailing tumble off the ladder. Darn thing is not high, but my body seemed to convert the fall to one from the top of Mt. Everest.

Can't help but laugh. This angry guy checked for dripping blood -- seeing none took off out the door and went to the shed for a taller ladder. Now why didn't I think of getting said equipment in the first place ? Egoist figured he could get the job done by thinkful wishing, over-confident to the max.

Screwed the bulb in, turned the light on and checked for bodily damages. Knew nothing was broken becuse of a lack of excruciating pain and ability to stand upright (or as near as I can accomplish nowadays).

A bottle of alcohol and clean rag or two cleaned off the blood on my forehead and the big job was a couple of places on my elbow. Had to get more rags and apply more alcohol. Finally the blood stirred up from messing with it ceased and the surface dried.

Then with football field size band-aids covered on one side with Neosporin the meat-grindered area was hidden from view.

Then as the evening did its usual thing -- got later, the bruises and bangs began to show their true colors and a bit of pain came with it as a wrapping.

Took an extra strength Tylenol and tucked into bed. Hoping that was the finale, and it was for the day. But this morning, discomfort, stiffness, soreness and the realization of what a dumb thing I did all showed up in spades. Did I learn something ? Dunno, from all the safety training I have had, I still did one of the most unitelligent things man can do . . . . . I wonder, just how stupid Can I Get ? . . . . . . . . .

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