Housekeeping

Hello my dear readers.

It may seem as though I have disappeared off the face of the map for the last week or so. And basically I did.

I told you about my new apartment, and how it isn't nearly as great as I kept psyching myself up for it to be. Well, I had to spend the last ten days restoring it to the glory I had dreamt it to once have had.

Just like Mars, the whole thing was covered in red dust. With a scrubber and a sponge in hand, and tile cleaner in bucket, I launched an all-out assult on the walls of filth around me. I don't know how the previous tenants had lived like that: orange-brown liquid rolled down the walls, running into filthy-looking pools on the floor. By the time I had washed and rinsed all the walls, I saw that they were made of white (not beige) tile. And shiny! I then scrubbed the grime out of the kitchen, to discover that it was lined with the same white tile. The same for my bedroom. Man, I was even scrubbing the ceiling--yes, it too was filthy. I could even taste the filth in the soapy, mouse-turd-laden water that dripped repeatedly into my face and mouth. Then it was time to mop up the floor.

I don't know if the previous tenants had ever cleaned it once during their time there, if the wall paint that easily melted off the tiles was any indication.

All this scrubbing took me several days--it felt good to actually be able to use my body after a year of literally lying around doing nothing. My cleaning frenzy was also briefly interrupted by an illness...I don't know what it was, but I managed to develop a fever (with no other symptoms) as I came home from the store one night. Given that I developed diarrhea later that night, I can only assume it was something I ate...and it left me with an aching stomach for three days, thereby causing me to call off the cleansing mission during that time. I blame the ranitidine for that incident.

After cleaning was over, I still had nothing in the apartment. Just an old bed frame and mattress. A stinky fridge and an old TV on top of it. That's it. I had to put my blankets over the mattress in the absence of a sheet. Lying in bed with my stomach grumbling and aching, I realized how incredibly depressing it all was:

• I possessed nothing but the junk-filled plastic bags on the floor
• There was no hot water
• There were rats in the ceiling
• Everyone could see in through my front door
• The washing machine didn't work
• There was no way to keep the disease-ridden mosquitoes out
• It was located right across from a welder's--it was just like the constant obnoxious home improvements that plagued me throughout the month of November, except it would never go away.
• And now there was nothing soft to lie on, even in illness. Not even a pillow.

Had I screwed this new apartment thing up or what?

So I had to spend the next several days re-awesoming the apartment.

I managed to get a wicker sofa and chairs and small table from the landlady. I put the TV on a pretty cloth and hooked it up to the PlayStation. I bought some wicker shelvery and a small desk to keep the water cooler on. I put stuff in the fridge, and bought some pretty mats to keep more dirt from getting tracked in. I stored things in expensive new plastic containers from Paragon. I printed some epic pictures of dinosaurs, ships, and naval battles and taped them on the walls of the bedroom.

Now my bedroom is cozy (except for the lack of pillows). The living room is still somewhat less cozy, but I suspect that a futon and throw rug will go a long way towards improving this. The kitchen is functional, and so is the bathroom (except I miss having a sink and hot water. And toilet paper).

I still haven't managed to touch the upstairs, however. There are still no screens on the windows, and people can still see in through my front door. And the sawing and drilling coming from the welder's at 7 am is permanent.

BUT NOW--my landlady is talking about selling the building...so should I even bother to care? Should I even make any further efforts? Makes me wish I hadn't wasted a week re-awesoming this place at all. Fuck.