Day 48 (or: I Blame Harry Potter)

Catchy title, no? But don’t get me wrong, I’m not just trying to lure you in with the Harry Potter label(although, I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Harry Potter’s pretty huge right now, and I wouldn’t mind a piece of that), I actually mean it. It’s all Harry’s fault.

Harry and ultra-neatness. Yes. I visited The Spotless Bathroom again today, and I realized something. Somebody probably cleans that bathroom at least twice a day. Somebody who probably begrudges cleaning it. And maybe they really lament cleaning it with every fiber of their being, and maybe they'd do just about anything to avoid it, and maybe they gripe about it at night when they get home to their family. I know I would.

Now. How does this relate to Harry?  I'll tell you in a minute.  But first, an update: The Leckenby bathroom has stayed clean for almost 24 hours, but that’s likely largely due to the absence of the Leckenby boy. Of course, the Leckenby boy is due to return to his house (along with his dirty socks, toothpaste-cap-leaving-offness, and general dust-bunny-ness), and the bathroom’s fate is looming in the balance. And here’s the thing. This sort of struggle is pretty much a constant. Because, of course, the necessity for order and tidiness is a constant, as is the entropy which drags all order toward chaos. And therefore, I’m pretty much on the same wavelength as the poor soul who cleans The Spotless Bathroom. Constantly lamentable.

Which brings me back to Harry. Here’s what I do: I assuage lamentable things by indulging in compulsion, and for the last year and a half, I’ve used a particular tool to calm my brain (and alright, I admit it, to avoid cleaning the bathroom…and other things): I’ve re-read the Harry Potter series (all 7 books) over and over and over and over again. Probably 5 or 6 times over again (in varying order). Haven’t picked up a single novel other than Harry Potter since July 2009. Yep. Weird. So today, Day 48 of One Thousand Days, in accordance with blogging as therapy, I will (mid 5th book, no less) admit that I’ve been self-medicating with Harry Potter, and will stop.

I feel a bit like Linus without his security blanket, but 48 down, 952 to go.

Day 47 (or: The Bathroom's Come Down With Refrigerator Disease)

Hello, beautiful day! Beautiful, gray day! Beautiful, wet, muddy, gray day! Oh, okay, there’s nothing beautiful about today, which is just downright soggy. Nothing, that is, other than the bathroom. 

Day 47 of One Thousand Days, I drove my mother to what is the end of 2 weeks of a total of six weeks of daily radiation. And was inspired. Not by the drive that is by now rote (I swear, the car could drive itself), but by the bathroom at the clinic. Yes, indeed, potty inspiration! You saw it here, first! At any rate, the bathroom in the clinic is spotless. And smells like nothing. NOTHING. Not like soap, not like potty, not like clinic, not like antiseptic, not like a new car, or new money. It smells like nothing.

This, I surmise, is because it contains practically nothing. Nothing but a toilet, sink and towel dispenser. And it was so clean. No dust, no soap scum, no socks on the floor, no toothbrushes cluttering up the sink counter…nothing. And I’m in love with the nothingness. So much so, that I drove home, marched into the bathroom and emptied it of things. Now MY bathroom smells like nothing, too! Hurrah!  The bathroom and the refrigerator are now in the same club...the Ridiculously Clean Club.

And then I found this short video about a family who live a zero waste lifestyle: http://vitality.yahoo.com/video-second-act-the-johnson-family-24454760

Which just pushed me over the edge. And very directly toward nothingness bliss. Is it possible that my desire for nothingness is directly correlated to my recent inner clutter?

Whatever the inference, I can happily say: Watch out, THINGS, I’m coming for you! Yes, YOU!

Day 47 down, 953 to go.

Day 46 (or: What To Do With The Next 954 Days)

Have you ever felt stuck? Like you’re in a situation, a scenario, a scheme that dictates your movement in ways which annoy you at your core? I’m there right now. Stuck. And as a result, I’m about to force myself to embark on a journey. Another one. Spoiler alert! This journey, while it’s definitely One Thousand Days worthy, focuses pretty heavily on me.

The truth and reality of living in this human body, is that change is a constant. We humans are blessed and cursed by constant change in feelings, surroundings, body and mind. Change in occupation, change in lifestyle, change in friendships, yearnings, longings, needs. People are born, people die. People change.

Sometimes that means that the world is full of loveliness and light. Sometimes it means that the world is full of sorrow and grief.

I regret to report that a very large percentage of the recent Days, in between official Day postings, have been dark in ways that they shouldn’t be, and if I don’t do something about it, I have the feeling that I’ll be stuck all through the summer (if you live in the Pacific Northwest, you know how precious those summer days are, and how much we need to enjoy them while we can – all 10 days of them).

Now, this low place is not foreign territory. It’s a low in which I occasionally become mired, and have a difficult time extricating myself from without making Very Big Changes. Usually those changes come externally from a change in jobs or in circles of influence or in surroundings or habits. But right now, the world is fairly static, and the changes aren’t just going to pop up on the horizon, I have to make them happen in a more conscious and purposeful way.

After my last posting, I asked friends to tell me what my next Thing should be. One friend intrigued me by suggesting that I should tell myself the truth, no matter what I tell anyone else. So Day 46 of One Thousand Days, I’ll start by saying: Carita, my dear, you’re not happy, and you’d better do something about it. Blogging as therapy.

46 down, 954 to go.