Clean something here.
July 19, 2009 / 9:41 a.m.
I have these dreams right before I wake up in the morning about my house not being clean. This morning I was dreaming of the floors, imagining them in pretty much the state they're in. But it was so discomforting, unlike when I'm awake and don't care. Dreams of Under my bed, the piling dust bunnies, the splatter marks on the floor, long since covered with a thin but visible layer of dirt or dust where it struck and dried next to my computer when a beer overflowed for a few seconds back a couple of months ago. Or in the kitchen, where there's a visible wear pattern where dirt has accumulated around where feet stand most-- around the mat directly facing the sink, and also where people stand at the oven... fading further that you get from it. And also around the fridge, leading to the sink-- slightly dark against the white linoleum.
I don't personally care about it being any cleaner than tradition, actually, but moving in here, Janet, my landlord, made it clear that we were to keep it sparkling clean. The baseboards were to be wiped down completely every week, the floors cleaned, dusted everything. Repeated it over and over... I HAVE To have this done, OK?! I actually found this out as she gave me the tour originally, and it was clear she has an intense desire to have things in her house cleaned at all times, despite not living here.
She actually has the lease set up where she still considers herself a tenant here, so she has the right to come in or out with any notice, whenever she wants. She will barge in, and immediately make her way to my room to inspect the windows and baseboards... as crazy as that is to imagine. I found that out from someone else who was here and who she did this in front of. Straight in the door, straight to my room, right to the window sill to wipe it down and see if there was any dust. And a quick comment about how I was being passive aggressive for not using the sheets she bought for me because she found mine disgusting and didn't want them being used in her house.
Of course, I didn't know this was going to happen to this extent, but I was so desperate to find a place and not worry about having nowhere to go, that I just nodded at every weird request.
So I haven't cleaned at all, really. Like I said, small beer splatter in clear view on the floor, been there two months.
There's this weird paranoia that comes with knowing the place isn't spotless, and she could technically walk in at any time while i was here and lose her shit on me... and ream me out. Scream at me and insult me, things like that. Maybe I want that.
I don't really think that will happen at all. It will probably come in the form of a letter, just like the recycling letter I got. Passive aggressive and condescending. 'You guys cannot put bottle caps in the recycling. My friends who actually care about the environment and know things about recycling have told me they throw the whole bin out if they find any caps in it. Do your part'
Or maybe I'm just giving her a metaphorical middle finger every time she comes here when we're not here, sneaks around, and doesn't like the shit we aren't doing, but knows she can't find anybody else that would live up to all her requests either. And on the same hand, pay rent on time, etc. But she comes in when I'm not here... did Saturday night when I was at the wedding. I'd imagine she came into my room, saw the coffee grinds on my desk, saw the dust layer on top of my stereo speaker and chest of drawers.
And yet, I go days, weeks, etc. and nothing is cleaned.
I guess maybe a reason for this is that Tanya seems to care even less than me about cleaning.
The shower is also supposed to be sponged out every time, particularly on the sliding glass door where apparently mold builds up if wet. So, wipe it out as soon as you turn the shower off, get out, towel off, and wipe it again before you go out of the bathroom.
This was all stuff that I was supposed to agree to, and if I didn't, she wanted me to say it, so that she could find someone who would. Oh, and leave the door open when you shower, otherwise the wallpaper gets wet and curls off the wall.
I do that, but wiping down the shower is completely useless, and I imagine is much more a product of her wanting to know that people are just busy living up to her requests than the actual utility of this stuff. The fucking mold does not build up in the caulking of the shower anyway, and I'm not gonna waste my time and the after shower high to do this.
I was so happy to leave my last place too, and I guess this is better all things told... My roommate Tanya actually leaves, shock of all shocks.
The last roommates, literally didn't leave the house three times the six months I was there. They'd just sit there all day smoking a bong, cooking, doing literally four loads of laundry each a day, and on top of all that, unemployed Anne had her boyfriend over (who was unemployed) four nights a week. And his idea of staying over was to stay the whole next day drinking beer, laying on the couch watching TV until you got home from work at five-- at which point he would ignore you as you walked by the living room, and would then get up and leave.
I can't really talk about it too much... that whole experience was so terrible on so many levels, that it's unproductive to get into. I told myself I was not going to dwell, and to just move on, and that's what I'm going to do. What I'm saying, though, is that I'm happy I'm in a new place.
I should clean, then. For my own sake, not for Janet's.
And then I'll tell Tanya tonight that I did the kitchen and dining room, she should do the livingroom and bathroom...
At which point she'll probably fail to do either, despite pretending like she will when I ask her, and we'll go from there.