Art View

It was not long ago, 15 months or less, that I was bemoaning to all as a pledge in a cooperative house of the many chores I had to do. The sweeping, the dishes, the memorizing of names, girlfriends names, parents' names, home-towns, ages, and personal trivia, the organized functions...

So about a month into it last fall, I left the house, kept paying them rent, and got my own apartment. Then in the spring (when I finished job interviewing and ran out of excuses to waist so much money) I stopped the massive cashflow leak, put on a grimace, and moved back. It wasn't that bad. At first I was so pissed off for geting home at 11 from group projects, homework, and student organizations--only to find a heaping pile of 5 hour old crusty dishes from 45 guys, a dirty floor, and flour, sugar, fat and meat all over the kitchen. I put in the time cleaning this two hour mess, then did homework, and thrice weekly woke up early in the morning to work out with Jillian. Surprisingly, by the end of the semester, I strangely looked forward to the chores and brainless, but productive, hours involved.

I write this after moving out of that house, trekking over India with Jillian, moving to Minneapolis to work, then relocating to Chicago, and just capping off 140.5 hours of billable work since Dec. 1st. The funny thing is today--Friday--I got home relatively early (10:30pm) and just can't sleep. I'm too wound and post-stress-y to lay down. This is my free time, I want to sleep, but by golly I should relax some too! Not just drop in the bed unconscious. So I spent the last 45min taking out trash, bundling up garbage and doing dishes for my roommate and myself. It felt good. If I wasn't going to bed in a few minutes, I'd do laundry too, as it is a very important, but quite mindless chore.

Enjoyment is found, surprisingly, in completing the not-so-glamorous tasks in life. Some people could watch TV or movies, and in fact they may have more fun than I do with my garbage, dishes, and even laundry! But I don't have a TV, don't particularly want to watch movies more than every other month, and really feel good after getting chores like this done! (Another great one is paying bills. When I'm done gosh (!) I feel like I've finished something and it's great to know I saved and invested more than I spent for the month.) I think I might start reading a novel or two that I have on my bookshelf. I do quite enjoy reading, and non-fiction 24/7 isn't the best for my creative side. (After all, this blog is called Art View for a reason.) I'll blog too, if Jillian doesn't mind me flooding Art View with so many posts... (-;

Good night and may household chores find you great contentment and relaxation, Jonathan

# posted by jcobbers @ 12:02 AM