rex in effex

i know i probably didn't spell that correctly. but i have a funny carpentry story. first things first, my left foot stepped on a nail yesterday. that's it! that's my funny story! just kidding. it didn't go in very far, and it didn't really even bleed too much. so i guess that's good. it was quite the odd sensation. i've only stepped on a nail once before in my life, when i was little, and i cried/bled a lot then and dad wrapped my foot in a red bandana so i couldn't tell just how much blood was exiting my body (smart move, or maybe that's the only color he had. i dunno). anyhoo, i poured water on my foot then smeared some neosporin and a bandaid on the puncture wound and went back to work. and yes, i've had a tetanis (sp?) shot in recent years. i don't know when those things expire, but i guess i'll know when i get deathly ill here in the next couple of days....perhaps my foot will fall off. so it's a very good thing i'm right footed.

other stuff about the jobby job. i've only been really working in one house for the past two weeks. it's unfinished (duh) and i'm there to install baseboards and door frames and other random wood-requiring jobs--i put a picture frame type thing over the attic access in the garage yesterday so it doesn't just look like a hunk of debris falling out of the drywall sky. the two houses i've actually seen since i started working have been pretty ginormous and extravagant. the one i'm working in is the lesser of the two--i call it my practice house. i'm sure the future homeowners would love to know that their less than humble abode was my guinea pig. a wooden guinea pig. so we're there doing the wood stuff, and then the hardwood floor and tile people come and then the air conditioning folks. plus the contracter (who vaguely resembles einstein) walks around in his penny loafters inspecting everything and mumbling curse words under his breath.

it's kind of bizarre to think that i'm helping construct a kind of house i will never ever be able to afford. and neither will any of the other laborers there on their hands and knees. but i guess i don't really need a 3 million dollar house with a separate shower for the dog. surely there's a better way to display one's wealth...

but there is something really satisfying about going into an un-air conditioned house for 8 hours a day and messing up a bunch of wood. i don't remember ever sweating as much (except maybe show me state games basketball, but that's a whole nother beast), and i come home exhausted and covered in a thin layer of sawdust and random grime. for the most part i only work with one other person, and i get to work on "projects" all day long. there's no customer service to worry about--being polite to people for whom i have no respect--and i get to actually learn a trade. all in all, it's pretty great. i also like the fact that i'm the only chick. which leads me to rex in effex.

on wednesday, there was some other dude in the house i was working on. he never introduced himself, but i figured out his name was rex. he was installing doors and seemed to be struggling a bit with the miter saw. he couldn't get the angle to set because one of the handles was broken, replaced by a wrench. so i see this man having problems and i hesitated to tell him how to work the saw, because he looked like a good ol' boy from jeff city and would probably take offense to being instructed by a female in the arguably male domain. anyhoo, i show him how to use it and he doesn't say thank you or anything at all. he sort of snorted a little as if to say "i don't need your help. i'm a perfectly capable carpenter who knows how to work a saw with a wrench for a handle." but i guess that's reading a lot into a snort.

after that he wouldn't even look at me and he kept stealing my tools and saying "are you finished yet?" go get your own nail gun! then he was waiting behind me to use the saw and he's holding this giant door. so i finish with the saw, he waits for me to leave, then he goes and fetches the other guy who's working so he can help him hold the door while he cuts it. i was standing right there, but he didn't want to ask me for help. with my weaker female genes, there's no way i could hold up a man's door.

on thursday, rex doesn't come to work. apparently he wanted $30/hr. and he didn't like blacks or "mexicans." and when scott (my boss) told him that Jamie was a girl, his response was "you hired a girl?" i think that's funny. scott told him he didn't really have enough work for him anyway.

not really much more to report. things are relatively tame in my life right now. i will be starting some random work at the asian affairs center pretty soon. i get to take asians on field trips throughout missouri. and on tuesday i get to pick up a group of koreans from the stl airport. my smiling face will be their first glimpse of columbia, mo. and i think that's pretty damn cool.