Topic: post inspired by jelera
This is the first time I’ve been on my computer at home in a month. Since I’ve begun work, which involves my eyes glued to a screen for nearly 8 hours (fuck me…my good eyesite is going to disappear, isn’t it…) Anyways…it feels good to sit behind this screen at home, and not be where I was a month ago, which was jobless and hopeless. Like the Smiths song, “I was looking for a job, and then I found a job, and heaven knows I’m miserable now,” except, I’m not nearly as miserable as I was before the job, and now that income is flowing in, there is certainly new hope for future action.
Anyways…jelera posted about hand-washed laundry. I think laundry is a good post-topic. In college laundry was fun because you never know who you’d meet. I met a girl once who folded my laundry because she pitied my own folding skills. When I studied in London I once had to cover every inch of my room, the heaters, door, desk, bed, everything, with my wet clothes because the dryer wasn’t running. Senior year I could be spotted crossing the Loop, a popular street in St. Louis, with laundry basked in tow.
Now…last year in S. Africa, almost nobody uses a dryer. And why would you when you have beautiful sunny weather like they do. While working at Outward Bound, I had my first opportunity (actually…I have faint memories of doing this in boy scout camp back in the day), but I washed my clothes by hand. Bucket of water, and a bar of soap shoved in a sock. You use that sock as your scrubber…or so that’s how I was shown.
Part of what makes Dan (me) a unique character, is how I blend the various lifestyles I’ve come across. I wish I could say I do my laundry by hand at home. I don’t. But I do where clothes multiple times in a row without blinking an eye. I have a pair of linen pants that my family had me by the summer of ’02 for an internship, which turned out to be a casual dress internship, so I never wore the pants. Three years later, and not only am I wearing these things all the time, but I sleep in them, wear them to the park, nights out, they even pass for formal pants. Recently my family has been giving me crap about them…the very same nice pants they made me buy in the first place!!!
They must have dirt stained on their eyeballs because everytime I wear these pants, and virtually anything else I own, they complain about how dirty I look. I see nothing of the sort!!! I hope that a sterile work environment doesn’t turn my eyes into dirt-vision eyes. But I doubt that…because clothing just gets more comfortable the more you wear it, and besides, who wants to do laundry that frequently anyways?
Just spoke to my sis…she’s a counselor on a teen tour, and was in Disneyland when we spoke. Distance and travelling have always been warm spots in my heart, and I think despite the many complaints my sister had about the trip, the fact that she was taking part in a program like this took away the usual edgyness that comes out in our usual conversations when she was just going to her job every day. And…while she was full of all these stories of where she’s been, I had to fill her shoes, and say, “nothing exciting doing here, really.”
For now…I simply say, “I’m brewing plans, but i’ll leave it at that.” I’ve come to learn who I can discuss plans w/, and who I must wait until plans have hatched to share them with. Certain people I know will offer encouragement, others advice, others conversation, and others debate. When it comes to my life, I have 0 interest in debate, both because I am non-confrontational by nature, but more importantly, because it’s my life and if you’re disagreeing with it, than go to hell!!! Or rather…you can disagree w/ me as long as you’re still on my side at the end of the day.
Oh…and WFT. I sold 15 books to someone yesturday. Rather…this person bought them off me, and is trying to give them to a principal friend of his in a NYC school, to see if they can’t get them into a classroom, where they belong!!!
My school paper at Wash U. just came out w/ their freshman welcome edition. That jolted a lot of memories I forgot I had. I think more than most schools, our school paper reflects the unique community our school had. 50% of the articles are usually comedic observations/musings about campus life. For me, however, my memories are more of feelings than of actual events. I can remember the anticipation of college, wondering about my roommate, the whole moving-in atmosphere, getting acquiainted w/ St. Louis w/ my parents and buying all the dorm things.
Who here misses having a dry-erase boards outside of their room!!!
My sister recalled the fact she’s coming up to her 10-year college reunion this year. That gives away her age. I swear, these two years since college have felt infinite, and at the same time they’ve gone as fast as any two years, I realize.
