when i arrived home a few weeks ago, my dad said to me, "you know, i'm just a bachelor living in a bachelor pad and since i'm getting old and i can't see the dirt anymore, if you're interested, you could clean up the old dump and make some money."
if i'd had a normal 8-5 job, i'd have said, no thanks, but since i'm over here most of the time anyway searching the net on my jobquest, i said, sure, why not.
dad has lived here since 1995. i lived here with him once after graduating from college and remember giving the apartment a once-over with the scrub brush. that was about 8 years ago and i don't think it's been thoroughly scrubbed since then. not that it's a shit hole or anything-- but after a while the dust and grime settles into the corners and cracks.
it's turned out to be a nice way to spend the day, actually. it beats sitting around at home, watching "the view" and not changing out of my pajamas. it's nice waking up with a purpose-- take the bus over here, do job and email stuff, clean for a couple of hours, get paid in cash.
surprisingly, as a relatively cluttered individual with a love of stuff, i really enjoy cleaning. i do it well. no scrimping or skipping nasty caked-on dirt spots. i like it because there's an end in sight. i start a task (today was part II of the kitchen: cupboards and drawers) and know that it will be finished in a relatively small amount of time. it's a nice feeling to have a start and end to something, especially with this dubious nature of trying to find a job.
it's quite zen, too, and nice to think of things all neat and organized and clean. i know they won't stay that way forever (dad can be a bit sloppy, but so can i), but i do think that when you're living in a snappy environment, you tend to keep it that way.