One of the challenges of being a single girl living on your own is everyday household tasks. Most of the time I can wield a screwdriver or a hammer quite successfully (stop laughing parents), but being alone in Utah for 3 years can do that to a woman.
Upon moving to the Boston area I decided to start decorating my apartment, which was something I had never successfully done in Utah, as it never quite felt like home. I purchased a ton of picture frames from AC Moore (where's my discount Katie?) and was on a nesting binge.
The problem I soon discovered was that these picture frames did not have the brackets already installed on the back. You had to nail them in yourself. I wasn't sure what kind of hammer that required, but since I already had a standard hammer, that's what I used. The other issue is that I am trying to grow my nails out for a wedding I am going to be in, because I am getting them manicured. So there I was with a huge standard hammer, tiny tiny metals nails and my obnoxiously longer than I would normally wear them fingernails. Products for disaster.
And it was frustrating...every second of it. I couldn't get the nail to stand up unless I was practically hammering on my thumbnail. It was obnoxious, somewhat painful and bad for the nailpolish I had put on the night before.
I had finally finished 3 out of 4 frames and decided to call it a night. Now it was just the task of seeing if the pictures would actually hang on the wall. As I was placing them on my demo nail I heard a knock at my door. I normally would have pretended I wasn't home, but since I had been hammering and the TV was on, I figured that wasn't possible. I also figured that it was the people downstairs ready to yell at me for the noise.
I carefully opened the door to find my neighbor looking worried. He asked if I was alright and I apologized profusely for the banging and told him I was done for the night. He said he wasn't there to complain at all, but rather to see if I was in trouble. He said that the banging was so furious he was afraid that I might have been bound up and trying to bang for help. When I told him I was just trying to put some picture brackets on a picture frame, he looked at me like I had 3 heads. Clearly he has not tried to wield a hammer against a little nail with fingernails before. I apologized again, assured him I was ok and thanked him for being so concerned.
When I closed the door I realized I should have introduced myself better and thanked him more profusely for being concerned. But I was so shocked that he wasn't there to yell at me I was taken aback. Which lead me to question what kind of society do we live in where people worry about other people being bound up?
Not to mention I was pretty angry at those nails...oh yeah and at job stress...I think I was taking both out on that picture frame. Maybe I should hammer quieter next time.
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