Cyclopean Columns

This post will probably have a few people scratching their heads. All I can say is, I now have a much, much better understanding of how sleep deprivation and stress can impact on a person's psychological wellbeing.

Those that know me know that I'm at least a fair to middling handyperson. I've made shelves, a workbench, crockery boxes, a bedhead... and I've also contributed to a greater or lesser extent on no less than five gers. In short, I'm not unfamiliar with tools and whatnot, and I normally know what it is that I'm doing.

Which is why a couple of weeks ago I found myself in unfamiliar territory. My recently-arrived first child was about two weeks old, and I was procrastinating on a job application for work. At the same time, I had decided that we needed more storage in the bathroom. I bought a couple of kit shelving sets, the ones with two vertical bars screwed into the wall with shelf supports attached via slots in the bars. All I had to do was attach the bars to the walls. Easy...

Short version of the story, after two different types of attachments and a day and a half of frustration at what should have been a short, simple task, I ended up taking to my bathroom wall with a hammer. The hole in the picture, above, is the result. Why is this important? Well, I don't consider myself to be the sort of person who "loses it", and certainly not in a violent way. This was out of character for me, and it concerned me that if I could resort to a violent non-solution to a simple set of shelves, what else could I be capable of?

So I'm publishing this little picture to my blog, to remind myself that sometimes, when you're tired and stressed, it's better to simply put the tools down and walk away. I don't want to end up swinging a hammer or anything else at something that isn't so easy to fix...

# posted by Cthu1hu @ 9:34 pm