Writing from the road - Allentown, PA

It's been a long time since I wrote anything of substance here on my blog. No, I didn't fall off the face off th e face of the Earth, but let me tell you guys, the latest Mercury Retrograde hit hard. I can't blame it all on that though, as it started before, and lasted until after. I will be honest, I spent most of late September and October lounging around my hourse, cleaning, organizing and rearranging my house, and watching HOUSE.

I will digress to say, I've watched the entire series THREE TIMES. Yes, I'm sure that sounds pathetic to anyone who isn't me, and I'm sure it probably is, but here's the thing. First of all, I went through every part of my house - kitchen drawers, closets, the chest that the TV sits on, the shelves in my bedroom closet and the cabinets under my bathroom sink. I totally reorganized everything. When I first moved into my apartment, a year and a half ago, I was seeing Mr. O and he soon moved in with doggie, and it was all haphazard, with some organization as we went along (he was actually very clean and liked to arrange the house, which was great because at the time, I was pretty much a slob). For months I've felt like I wanted to re=organize, really make things mine, that sort of thing, but never got around to it. Until I downloaded all the seasons of House. I put on the pilot episode and wandered over to the kitchen.

The first day I watched nine episodes in a row, but watched is a very loose term. I turned the episodes on then got up and went into the kitchen. I cleared up all the dirty dishes and spent the whole day after doing the basic cleaning, sorting through the kitchen drawers. I decided clearly what each would be for. THe next day I watched nine more episodes, just as loosely, and completely reorganized all the kitchen cabinets. I had some new dishes and I put them in a new place and just loved the way th ey looked together and with my mugs. I made myself a tea shelf, easily reachable. I even organized my canned goods so that I liked the way they looked together, and they were also arranged with a scheme, a thought-out arrangement, soups with soups, that sort of thing.

Surprisingly, for being legally blind, I'm very visual. Call it my Venus in the Second House, or call it an artistic eye, whatever it is, I made every cabinet in my kitchen aesthetically pleasing to me, so that I felt satisfied looking at it, and also knew where everything was. I got rid of so much, huge amounts of food for the food bank, and trash. It works so much better now, thnough. The pots and pans all comfortably fit in one cabinet. Everything is just perfect. Along with that, I listened to shows about african sleeping sickness, leprosy, termite poisoning, rabies, and so on. Medical mysteries, weird diseases, I loved it.

As the weeks went on, I went through the every other orifice of my house, every nook and cranny. I got rid of so much old clothing, old papers. I put stuff I wanted to get rid of, and Mr. O's stuff, into my storage unit, always with House in the background. WHen I went through the whole series, I started at the beginning, and then again, and actually I was on my fourth round when I left for my trip.

As time went on though, I was less motivated. Instead of cleaning all the time, I spent a lot of episodes laying on the couch. Life had started to suck. There were three situations in my life that to me felt really unresolved - something with my family, stuff with Mr. O, and a situation with a friend that was bringing me down. In all three, I didn't know what to say, so I mostly didn't say anything. I finally said something to the friend, and it didn't go well. The other two are still semi up in the air, dont' know where I stand. All three just seemed to escalate at the same time, and I retreated into the world of medical mysteries and House. I am so attracted to him. Slower and slower I went through the house, still getting it done, but at about a tenth of the original pace.

There was so much on m y mind - saying goodbye to my doggie, getting ready to send her across the country to her dad, all the finagling that came along with that, trying to find a ride and a crate, dealing with all the airline regulations, I hardly even thought about packing or making my own travel arrangements. Right before I left, I re-cleaned the kitchen. Though I'd cleaned my house (and spent one Sunday afternoon and many House episodes painstakingly removing dog hair from the tubing of my vaccuum cleaner), dishes had piled up. By the time I got everything done, it was 2am. I was so tired, and it was my last night in the house with puppy, I never even made it to the bed, I crashed on my couch watching an episode of House about a woman with Munchasn's (sp?), one of the diseases or conditions that fascinates me most. THe dog fell asleep on the couch with me, then got down and slept on the floor next to the couch. WHen I woke up at 5 she was sleeping on her pillow in her crate, like a little angel dog that she was.

I left my house before 6am, my boss drove me to Seattle. We took so many stops, to get the crate, to eat, to let the dog go potty. We took her to a park near the airport and let her run around for a long time, gave her a meal, lots of water, time and space on a long leash. A few hours later, we finally dropped her off for her flight, which went off without a hitch. I met a friend for dinner, then went for my flight.

The next day I landed in Philly, mid morning Eastern time. I took a shuttle from the airport to a hotel where my friend picked me up. The whole ride from the airport ot htat hotel, it was like something clicked. I felt like myself again. Things were in place. I felt happier than I had in weeks, even with my situations still feeling unresolved, not knowing what my trip will bring, what I'll think of the colleges I'm visiting. It just felt in a way, like coming home.

It felt great. I have been in PA for five days. Tomorrow I leave for the next leg of my trip. Woo hoo!


Currently listening:
"All Night Thing" - Chris Cornell live, which btw, my next post has to be about. I just saw him twice, for the first time in years.