the pain connection

i just finished putting some diamonds on a djembe i aquired over the weekend. tensioning a rope-tuned drum by hand is no joke, especially djembes which have a pretty f'in tight head. i think it will be an ok drum though. i wore padded cycling gloves and still have grooves from the rope imprinted on my hand. they're throbbing 10 minutes later. have to use a broom handle to continue.

the pain of tuning it makes it seem real, validated, authentic. kind of like the bike in a way. getting in physical shape, getting hit by cars, being out in the elements. . .they both seem like "closer" experiences if that makes any kind of sense. like understanding something fully. Cooking fits in too. Seeing something through from its inception to its end. Some kind of heightened awareness because I feel closely connected to what's going on around me.