Tuesday, March 6, 2012

What's Bothering Me Today

I wouldn't say I'm a neat freak.  Most of the time, I can go several days ignoring disarray.  Then it will start to get to me.  I'll look around and the clutter and the things displaced and the general untidiness make me feel like the walls are closing in on me.  I snap.  When I get to that point, the house must be immediately set to rights or else knees may meet groins.  It's a very rational system, I think.

On Saturday, I woke up and the mess which was perfectly acceptable on Friday night was suddenly everything that was wrong with the world.

One of the biggest differences between us is that Joe can live with the above.  I cannot.  Not for long anyway.  There are so many things wrong with that picture, that I am fighting the urge to make an itemized list.  Just barely shy of being diagnosable.  Right where I'm comfortable. 

Another pet peeve of mine, one that induces irrational anger and annoyance, is things plugged in but connected to nothing.  The cell phone charger, laptop charger, iPad charger plugged in to the wall but not connected to anything on the other end.  It drives me crazy.  I even hate the microwave and toaster being plugged in if they are not actively being used. 

Heat is included in my rent, so during the winter, the electric bill drops dramatically.  One month, when I was living alone, I got the electric bill down to $19.  I am so proud of this that I might request that it be noted on my tombstone.  When Joe moved in, so did the extra television, the Xbox, two extra computers, more gadgets than any human being needs, and complete disregard for shit being plugged in ALL THE DAMN TIME.  I spend a good portion of my time following him around ripping plugs out of the wall.  Sexy. 

When I was growing up, I was constantly messing with the thermostat.  My mother used to come behind me, readjust it, and chew me out for touching it.  I didn't get.  I don't know, but I assume, that it is every mother's hope that one day someone will drive her child crazy in all the same ways that child drove her crazy.  I totally get it now, Mom.  Sorry about that.

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