Saturday, August 13, 2011

Day 87: Homework

... literally. Been doing household chores.

Exciting, right? But hey, this is the sort of quality content you pay for here at the JJ.

Back in the days when I had a big house with a big yard, I used to enjoy making that yard a thing of beauty. Funny, actually, because as a youth there was almost no way you could get me to participate in yard-type duties. But I got my own and I got into it.

There's a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment when you get done with something like that. Yes, it's mundane, but it has to be done, so why not make the best of it? Sometimes the work speaks for itself.

I think in some ways these sorts of tasks provide a way to bring order to your otherwise disorderly world. There are many, many things you don't have control over. Your job can be one of those! The actions and thoughts of others. Traffic. You can build a big list.

So when you can take some piece of your world and somewhat master it, it provides some positivity. Of course the yard's going to become unkempt again and you renew the Sisyphian effort. But for a while, you are the ruler of your domain.

Same with housework. It has to be done. Might as well be good at it. So this includes the detail tasks. In a yard, the sign of a well-manicured effort was if it was edged. Gotta edge the yard. In housework the details that matter are things like dusting the areas that don't get dusted, clearing the crud off the top of the ceiling fans, hoovering the webby things in the upper corners.

OK, I know this isn't thrilling stuff. But it's damn sure real!

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