Bonus second post!

NOTE: This started out life as my random remarks at the end of the previous post, on recycling. But it quickly grew so big, it was almost as big as the "real" post. So I gave it a post of its own. Here it is, verbatim:

Some of you may recall from an earlier post that one of my goals in life is to learn some kind of trade, something more useful than copy editing. Well, I've taken the plunge. I'm learning locksmithing. By correspondance course.

And as stupid as that sounds, it's been exhilirating.

(Correspondance and exhilirating are two of those words I'm never sure if I'm spelling right. See the rules about not editing.)

Anyway, I've gotten perfect scores on all my tests (got the second set of results back today!), and the other day I hand-filed a key blank to open a warded lock, using the impression method. And I actually know what I'm saying, unlike when I use my "Iron Chef" knowledge to talk about food. Funny thing is, I hate school. I hate the concept of school, despite how good I was at it. So you'd think taking tests and reading texts is the last thing I want to do.

But I'm having so much fun. I was petrified of the actual hands-on portion (the filing), because while I think my academic record speaks for itself, handiness has never been one of my characteristics. Let me put it this way, Mr. Lynn, bless his soul, my seventh-grade shop teacher, gave me an A for two reasons. First, I don't think he wanted to ruin my straight-A record, and second, he pretty much built my bookshelf, and he wasn't about to give himself a B. I'd like to think somewhere up there, he was smiling down at me while I filed that key, sweating and swearing over my portable vise.

I can't wait for my next set of lessons to arrive. Ten down, 20 to go in the basic course, plus another 11 in the advanced courses. Up next: Picking locks and opening cars! I expect by next summer, I'll be letting cute girls back into their cars at the mall when they've locked their keys inside.

Bonus links:
• Foley-Belsaw Institute's locksmithing course
• Locksmithing, Wikipedia-style