On Housecleaning and Politics

I should be outside enjoying the sun but I'm deep in my cleaning frenzy. I keep taking breaks to watch movies in between, bits here and there, but I'm doing the whole place as best I can, after having seen my first bugs that have moved in as a result of the guy who lived on the first floor who turned out to be a dumpster diver carting garbage home to his apartment all the time.

Like, a really dirty, dirty dumpster diver. They carted off huge container bins full of trash after he was evicted. The place is empty going on the second month now. It's been fumigated, but not the rest of the building.

Therein lies the problem. So I've seen about five or six bugs this weekend, and I usually go weeks or even months between viewings. Other apartments report cockroaches. I'm concerned. Every day is another day the bugs have motive and opportunity, so instead of putting this off for a week until the rain's due to come, I'm attacking. And how!

I've gone through an entire bottle of Lysol. I've hand-washed every dish I own and scrubbed out every single cupboard before putting them back. Like, so thorough. You have no idea.

After I get paid I'll be picking up some caulking and some of the bio-friendly safe-for-humans Raid and pulling everything out again, spraying, and caulking perimeters. Yes, overkill perhaps, but "overkill" sounds like a good success percentage for me when it comes to the insect world. I'll be my own private bug gas chamber if it means I get rid of them.

If my building won't protect me, then I will.

I've done some decent writing this weekend, too, which is good. A variety. That's important. Feels good.

I'll cycle the rest of the month. It's not the end of the world. Just the end of a season. I played outside a lot this year.

I'm cleaning deeper, better, than it was done when I paid two ladies more than $250 for housecleaning one day last year. So, it's a pretty accomplished weekend, even if I'm sacrificing some sun.

I had been keeping my place clean in late June/July, then I got sick for three weeks, exercised a lot one week, got insomnia for two weeks, worked a lot the next week... so things were a little out of control, and it feels nice to be controlling my universe again.

I have several hours more work as I finish the rest of the apartment, but I'll have weeks to enjoy the rewards of my labours.

And fall's here almost. I've had plenty of time outdoors this year, the idea of fall's appealing to me for the first time ever. It's nice.

***

Karl Rove's calling McCain's ads over the line. That's pretty fucking shocking. Love that.

Palin terrifies me more every single day. She's continuing to say her lies. She's perfected the answer-by-not-answering technique that exemplifies Donald Rumsfeld and his ilk.

Obama's beginning to fight back. Toeing the line between justified angst and egregious rage is a tough one. I think he'll pull it off.

The thing that reassures me at night is this: The polls cannot, will not, and do not account for the new voters who will emerge as this campaign continues, nor does it account for those who have already turned out in record numbers since the amazing Iowa Primary. They do not, as far as I know, call those without landlines. What are the percentage of cellular users who vote Democrat? Who knows.

And, ultimately, the Swift Boat politicking might just wear thin if it perpetuates for the next 55 days. McCain and Palin are skating on thin ice. If there's anything playing to Obama's favour in the weeks to come, it's his incredible consistency on the majority of his issues, the consistency in his solid fighting and his ethical approach.

But, most importantly: The debates are yet to come.

If there's anywhere a massive favour extends to Obama-Biden, it's in verbal sparring.

Watching the match between Biden and Palin should be better than sex. Dude's gonna clean the floor with her, man. Talk about your wax jobs.

NB: I started this post a few hours ago, I'm about 45 minutes from completely done with the best cleaning job I've done in a couple years. Yay. :)