How I Am: Disorganized, Living Alone, Giant Nerd

I refuse to be swayed by the disillusionment that seems to be sweeping parts of the uber-left wing of the Democratic Party (especially my gay comrades; like, shut up.  I agree that DOMA and DADT should be handled, and soon, but pretending they are priorities above the health care, war, and economy disasters that are the hallmarks of the last administration… well, it’s ludicrous and makes us look petty and small), and I liked this post (complete with video of Obama’s July 15th speech to the NAACP) on The Awl, one of my favorite bookmarks.  Whenever I see Obama speak, I still beam and well up a little bit at the idea that THIS is our PRESIDENT.

It’s an amazing world.

So, yes, I finally have a fully-working television/DVR at my house, which is very exciting and kind of weird, since it’s been about six weeks that it’s all been sorta nonfunctional.  Things record and I don’t even have to be there to change the damn channels!  If the DVR software wasn’t so leaden and nonintuitive, it would be a complete success, but too bad.  However, the nice satellite installer guy told me that I could get and install a device on my dish that would allow me to use the dual tuner aspect of the dish receiver.  I am not sure when I will get around to that kind of thing, but it’s nice to know it’s an option without the hassle of having him run a second line through the crawlspace in the attic.

Well, it’s been nearly three weeks that I’ve been living alone in my house.  It is still a giant mess of a place, unfortunately.  I’m always behind on yard work, it seems.  I did get the front flowerbed weeded yesterday, and put down all ten bags of mulch (it still could use another three bags, and I want to get to that this weekend), but the back flowerbed is looking weedy again… I feel like I could spend all of my extra time on the flowerbeds, and it would never be enough.  It’s time I started pulling them out, because they exist now as just a series of little wildernesses.

Inside the house, I am forever moving stuff from one room to another, shuffling things around.  Things are piling up in those rooms in disorganized messes, but the idea is that I will eventually puzzle out a way to organize it all.  And now I have that goal, that quarterly resolution that I set last week, to finish it all by October!  It is totally do-able, but I have to spend more time, especially on weekday afternoons and evenings when there is a lot of temptation just to sit in front of the tv set.

Anyway, I like living alone.  I like having all the space in the world for all of my stupid shit, and I like having a sense of control over my papers and files and even the bills.  I was afraid of getting control back over the bills, which Tracy paid consistently on-time while we lived together, which was not the case in my earlier years… but so far I have been very consistent about paying them on time, even though the house is in general disarray.  I’ve been good about dealing with the mail every day.  I’ve been good about dealing with the dishes every day!  So far, so good.  There were a few days last week when I didn’t deal with my daily messes on the same day, but that phase passed.  I came to like living in a clean space, and I want to keep it up.

This weekend!  This weekend should be both productive and fun, if I play my cards right.  The weather is supposed to be BEE-YOU-TIFUL, if you like your summer weather cool and comfortable rather than hot and humid.  And I DO!  Tracy might come in tomorrow and hang out, but I’m not sure whether she’s staying over tomorrow night or not.  I plan to head to St. Louis first thing in the morning and get back to Columbia in the early afternoon, with stops by Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and The Future Antiques.  After I get home, possibly some time can be spent cleaning out the fridge and freezer (there is a lot of expired food in there, and the whole thing needs a scrub).  Then, later, we may go see the new Harry Potter movie and get dinner with my sister and her notboyfriend, if we work it all out.  I hope to be productive, photography-wise, both tonight and on Sunday.  So that all should be good and fun!

OOH.  Did I mention that The State finally came out on DVD this week?  Did I mention that I have been waiting for this for, like, fifteen years?  It is disappointing that it doesn’t have the original music.  I will never understand how music companies and recording artists can object to having music included on DVD productions when the music was included in the original work.  Like, seriously, what harm is there?  I can only see good.  If, for instance, I am reintroduced to music by the Breeders or other 90s musicians who are nowhere to be found in current mainstream music, and then I go, “Wow, I loved my CASSETTE TAPE of this in 1994!  I should really buy this ON ITUNES!”, how is that not a positive thing for the musician?  Now I will be introduced to a completely different, yet soundalike artist, and I will throw my money at them instead.  TOO BAD FOR YOU, KIM DEAL.

But.  I am very happy about The State DVD release because I am a giant nerd.  I loved that show.  I know all of the sketches.  I can recognize the voices of any of the members if they do voiceovers of commercials or whatever.  I will love them all until the day I die.  And the past few weeks of intermittant media coverage around this AMAZING UNSTOPPABLE FORCE OF COMEDY has been fabulous for someone who has had literally nobody to geek out about this show with over the last fifteen years.  (I used to post to the State USENET groups, people.  I spent $70 in 2003 for videotaped dubs of all of the original episodes JUST TO SUPPLEMENT the tapes I HAD TAPED MYSELF.  I mean, giant nerd.  GIANT nerd.)

I will stop now.