Written on
April 22, 2006.
Well, today my gum is feeling a lot better. When I clenched my teeth/jaw, my gum wasn’t in the way so it didn’t hurt. It still did hurt to touch my gum. It hurt even more at the dentist’s when they were poking it with those small, tiny instruments. (I don’t mean that in a bad way, they’re just checking to see what’s goin’ on in there). Apperantely, I got four wisdom teeth that need to be pulled out. Oh joy.
On another note, I went to Karate today. A few days ago, I wrote my teacher and asked him if we could do some more kumite (sparring) since my timing has gotten a little rusty. Well, we sure did it today! We did a lot of one step sparring where each person counted ten and did ten attacks which amounted to 180 punches and kicks. We had some minute breaks in between which was good. My legs were pretty jellied ’cause I hadn’t been to Karate in a week so I was a little out of practice (it doesn’t take long at all to get out of practice) or at least out of being used to the feeling of being in stance for a long period of time (it usually takes a class to get back into “shape”). Apperantly, last class (which I missed), somebody fainted. Fortunately, I drank 2 cups of orange juice (I didn’t drink two individual cups, we have cups that have a two cup capacity) so I was sufficientelly hydrated. I always drink two cups of something before class. Ussually water.
Written on
April 20, 2006.
My far right gum has been hurting a lot when I close my teeth. Almost like my teeth was squeezing on my gum. It hurt to touch it so we called the dentist. We’ll see ‘em tomorrow.
On a side note, I was just about to glue the rod to the neck when we noticed that the rod still wasn’t straight enough. It was soooooo close, just not close enough.
Written on
April 19, 2006.
It was very warm today and the ground was drying up so we finally went out to plant some lettuce and finally cut the grass. It was getting pretty tall. It was nice to get out in the garden again. After planting lettuce, we started to get work on the lawn. A few months ago when it got darker earlier, we played hunter-hunted outside in the yard which was fun since it was dark but the grass wasn’t tall. It would’ve been neat to play that when it was this tall ’cause we could lie down and hide in the grass. We’d have to wait to about 9:00 for it to get dark enough though.
Anyway, since it was tough and thick, the lawn mower wouldn’t cut it so Pa said I could use the sythe (or Kama if you want to sound cool). Since it was my first time using it, it was a little harrowing ’cause the blade is curved and I was afraid I would accidentally cut my leg or my toes. Fortunately, I didn’t.
After a while, we did enough for the day and went upstairs. Boy, I got hit with a case of Spring Fever! First case this year.
Written on
April 18, 2006.
After getting frustrated yesterday, I decided to wait ’till tomorrow (today) to continue trying to get the surface of the rod smooth. It was less frustrating today. A few hours later, I finally got it pretty flat. A bit of light was showing but I didn’t care anymore. Enough light was not to make for a good gluing. I wasn’t gonna fiddle with it anymore. Now that that part was taken care of, I’m starting to work on shaping the middle of the rod (which isn’t crucial, just artistic) and making it a bit circular.
Later, I went to the lumber store and got some fine sandpaper and a sharp saw blade for the table saw (in case we want to do some more ripping or cross-cutting)
Written on
April 17, 2006.
Since the neck is pretty well done (besides a few slight modifications and polishes to come), I was ready to stick on the rod (that goes on the neck which goes through the body) onto the neck. The hard part for that is that the rod is gonna be stuck in with the stub on the butt of the Sao and to be glued on, the surfaces of both the stub and the rod had to be almost perfectly flat. Since I knew that was impossible, I decided to get as close as I could (which seemed easier than I thought). I first sawed off half of the stub and a portion of the rod so they fit together and not look like two seperate pieces (if you know what I mean). That was a piece of cake, after that, I had to get ‘em to fit together flat. To check to see how they fit, I held the two pieces together in front of the sunlight to see how much light came through (if light comes through some parts and doesn’t on others, that means it’s not flat. You shouldn’t see a speck of light come through). It was pretty hard to look to see how much light came through ’cause the slit is soooo small. Several hours later, I got it pretty close. I tried slipping paper through it and it went right through the cracks. It was very frustrating to get it flat. Three times I got it pretty close and I tried to get it closer and made it worse!!
