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October 05, 2005
Various clutter 
This is my new haircolor!
I walked the couple blocks to the bus stop. I could see kids across the street with signs, but there were so many SUVs, bumper-to-bumper, stopped on Fremont that I couldn't really see the kids or their signs. Finally, a break in the tall vehicles came, and I could see that a couple of the kids had a Walk+Bike to School Banner, and others had signs about bike and ped safety. Oh yeah, it's Walk+Bike to School Day.
It was, honestly, a little more political than I was expecting. Especially to see a group of elementary school kids, mostly kids of color, carrying signs.
I never walked to elementary School. In Lexington, my school was a ways away. I remember walking home a couple times after CCD (Catholic catechism), and getting in a lot of trouble.
...
Hey, here's your mandatory exercise content:
- Exercise now to prevent dementia—especially if you're in your 40s or 50s
- What They Don’t Tell You About Bike Commuting,
by Grant Petersen (of Rivendell Bicycle Works)
--> via Fritz at Cyclicio.us - the White House is encouraging staff members to bike commute, and is installing bike racks! (Sadly, the Times Online (UK) site appears to be down)
- A cocktail on bike-lane stencil, even when done in a lighthearted way and with the greatest intent, is not appropriate
--> via Jonathan at BikePortland
and, in the when pigs fly category
...
I haven't written about Zoe, the sweetheart pitbull next door, in a while, mostly because the subject makes me very upset. Lately, it doesn't seem to matter if it's early evening, late evening, early morning—Zoe has been tied up behind the house. She has no house, no shelter, nothing but a blanket on the ground to keep her warm. I've had to chant to myself that it doesn't matter that I would give her a better home—it's not okay to steal a dog.
So. Last night one of the renters comes by at 9:15 saying that Zoe is lost and have we seen her? I guess someone had let her out into their unfenced backyard, and she took off. I just feel sick. All I can hope is that Zoe is okay, and that someone is taking good care of her.
...
My thoughts about decluttering seem to have struck a chord with some of you. Like Jessica, I don't want my house to be sterile, and living with three cats and a dog, I don't think I have to worry about that. I suspect that I will always have bookcases that have books not only standing vertically, but horizontal on top of the vertical ones.
As I started to feel better yesterday afternoon, I started taking on little cleaning and decluttering projects. It was necessarily very flylady-like, as I could manage about 15 minutes worth of effort before I needed to just collapse in a heap. My stamina is about as good today, but I did a load of dishes, cleaned off some counters, and generally made a visible difference, before leaving for work.
Maybe it was watching Trust yesterday afternoon. How can you go wrong with dialogue like this:
- Maria: Can you stop watching TV for a minute?
- Matthew: No.
- Maria: Why?
- Matthew: Because. I had a bad day at work. I had to subvert my principles and kow-tow to an idiot. Television makes these daily sacrifices possible. Deadens the inner core of my being.
- Maria: Let's move away then.
- Matthew: They have television everywhere, there's no escape.
Anyways, the Matthew character must repeatedly clean the spotless bathroom. And you know, it was as though the scales fell from my eyes—suddenly I could see the house as others could see it, and man, I had a lot of work to do.
Mind you, I don't know if anyone else would notice the work I did on the house. But I do.
The act of cleaning and dunging out? Very pleasant. I'm looking forward to more of it.
Posted at October 05, 2005
Comments
Ah, one reason I don't have a TV. :)
Unfortunately, I do see my house as others see it, but its so hard to let go of the things. My wife is the fly-lady lunatic these days. My 8-year-old son even calls her flylady. We're working on it slowly but its tough to do.
Posted by: Jon in Michigan at October 5, 2005 12:39 PM
woops. left you a comment on the wrong post :-) (see below)
Posted by: tszuj at October 5, 2005 02:51 PM
Great color!
Posted by: Liz at October 5, 2005 09:13 PM
Cleaning always makes me feel better, so I can totallt understand. And the flylady reminds me that all those little bits add up, so don't dismiss the work you did yesterday. Love the new haircolor!
Posted by: neca at October 6, 2005 04:57 AM