Laundry Room Etiquette

I was doing some laundry today (shocking I know). The laundry facilities in my building consist of 9 washers and 9 dryers.

We've all seen it (those of us without the luxury of an en-suite washer and dryer), the time's up on the machine, but the laundry is still sitting in it, and sitting in it, and an hour later, is still sitting in it. In my current building I'm fairly lucky, unless I'm doing laundry on a Saturday, the waiting time for a washer or dryer is hardly ever longer than an hour. In my previous building, we had two washers and dryers, and at least one machine was broken at any given time.

The problem with both buildings is that people will put in their laundry, and then go to work, leaving other people waiting for the machine, contemplating whether or not to remove the clothes from the machine, or patiently wait another 15 minutes. I personally have only ever removed some one else laundry from a machine, and that was only after the same clothes were still sitting in the dryer 6 hours later.

I bring this up, because today I was doing laundry, there were a few of us waiting for dryers, and the timer on 3 of them ran out. Conveniently, there were 3 of us waiting. We each found ourselves standing around for 15 minutes, waiting to see if they were going to come get their clothes, when one of the women finally said "I can't keep waiting, I have to work this afternoon" as she claimed one of the dryers, removing the clothes, and placing them on a nearby counter. The other woman also then decided she was no longer waiting, and claimed another. Afraid I was going to lose the one remaining dryer, I thought about removing the clothes, but took my daughter for a walk instead. "If it's still there when we get back, then I'll take the clothes out" is what I told myself.

10 minutes later, we returned to the laundry room as a man was leaving with a bag full of clothes, sure enough the dryer was empty. The man also took it upon himself to open the doors of the dryers that the other women claimed, so that the timer would run out, and their clothes would still be wet. Naturally once he was gone, I turned the dryers back on for the other women.

I'm not really sure where I'm going with this. I get upset when people take my clothes out of the machines as soon as the machine stops. I feel like I should be given the opportunity to handle my own clothes. On the rare occasion that I forget I'm doing laundry, or I can't get back downstairs because my daughter is napping, I completely understand when my clothes are not where I left them. Someone has even removed my clothes from a machine while it was still running and washed their clothes instead. I've never felt the need to retaliate though, I found the actions of this man to be incredibly immature. It's one thing to be upset, but it's another to be foolish.

Why can't we all just get along?

Happy Quarter Century Kim!

Today is Kim's 25th birthday, and she, like all of my friends, is totally awesome.

Happy Birthday Kim =)

And Then There Was...

It's been a long month, and it's not quite over. Remarkably, the summer is half over, and yet it doesn't seem like it's begun. There's been no, or few, park visits, no swimming, no tanning, no barbeque's, and no parties.

I don't usually tan, not intentionally anyway, any and all tans that I have had over the years have been strictly a result of burning, though the results, though patchy, are usually awesome in tone and colour. Spell check has me learning, and incidentally using, American spelling. I just barely caught that "u".

Honestly, I don't really feel up to writing. There is a lot going on right now that makes everything I have to say completely meaningless, and wasteful of my time, and really, time is all there is.

Who Is Your... Forget it. Who I Am and What I Do.

Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? Dammed if I know, it was probably a telemarketer, wrong number, or a recorded message. I'm not sure the latter counts as a person, but I'm sure a person came in contact with the message at some point in time.

Do you sometimes worry about losing that person as a friend? I would most certainly hope not.

My Facebook home page is often bombarded with such silly questions, and every once in a while I feel the need to take part in such shenanigans. Not because it's cool, not because anyone is ever going to read all 276 questions in today's quiz, and definitely not because I have nothing better to do. My reasoning behind taking the 15 to 20 minutes out of my day to start answering questions I'll never get to the end of is simple. It makes me think.

I am an over emotional, sentimental, pack rat, who can't remember what day of the week it is, but can remember the tiniest, most meaningless events from more than a decade ago. For instance, if you were to say something to me, right now, I would either forget as soon as you stop talking, or I'd just stop listening all together mid sentence. Entirely unintentional, let me assure you. I have no idea when it started, or why I continue to space out, I just do. However if you were to ask me Something random, from 10 years ago, I could probably tell you what we were wearing, eating, saying, doing, and what the whether was like. I have boxes, yes plural, of pictures, yearbooks (okay, pieces of paper I made people sign), ticket stubs, autographs, lyrics and poems, random objects, and art (I use the term as loose as possible). I have books full of random thoughts and scribbles from before high school.

I think about people, a lot, some more than others, but if you have graced me with your presence at some point in time in my life, I probably still think about you.

High school was a particularly low point for me. Like a lot of teenagers, I had some seriously self-worth issues, which resulted in me tolerating a lot of events that I shouldn't have, a definitely wouldn't anymore. Unfortunately, these feelings lasted much longer than high school, and caused a lot of problems for me later in life, that at times, still haunt me. Perhaps I'll get over it in time, but I doubt it. The nightmares aren't any less vivid, or frequent, and I still have panic attacks.

I haven't posted here in a bit because I've been working on a story, about young-ish people trying to get out a negative cycle by putting a positive spin on their lives, and the events that have gotten them where they are. It's a story about them finding themselves, in ways they didn't expect, or want, but ultimately being better because of it. Boring, I know. But I find that I often make sense of things by putting it in writing. Which is sort of funny, because as someone I know very well pointed out, I don't read. I used to, but I don't anymore. In fact, I probably won't even read this over, so you'll have to excuse any misplaced words, or spelling mishaps.

I've also been working on some music, not quite my usual pop-punk. I've gone in an acoustic direction. So if you love me, when it's all done, you'll check it out.

Anyway, I'm off. And remember, respect yourself.

I Can See Clearly Now There's a Giant Highrise In Front Of My Window.

Okay fine, it's not giant, and it's clearly been there just as long as my window has been here. But I can't always see it. Why? Because heavy rains often provide a waterfall effect over my window preventing me from seeing anything beyond the impressively large sheet of could-be-glass.

There might be a hundred feet between this building and the one next door, if you ignore the fact that they are connected by a patio, and a daycare facility. The two buildings also share a remarkable view of what I like to call the Bag Tree. Now, I must warn you, it's not the best time of year to view the Bag Tree, for it currently has leaves which unfortunately hide the beauteous collection of plastic bags that are caught in the branches.

I do have to mention at this point, if you happen to have a really, really long stick, I'd love to borrow it, so that I can relieve this tree of it's heavy burden, having to carry around all those leaves, it's just unfair.

All joking aside, the bags are driving me crazy. I was hoping once the tree was in full bloom, I wouldn't be able to see the bags anymore, but I can. I thought that one of the insanely windy days we had would have rectified the situation, but in fact, there are now more bags in this tree than ever.

Have you hugged a tree lately?

Reaction Time and Ultimate Tragedy.

Tragedy is going in my dictionary of words that don't look right.

There is that moment in every body's life, that defining moment, where you get a sudden glimpse of the desires, passions, needs, and intentions of another person, usually a significant other, or close friend. That moment is the immediate reaction that another person has when faced with a question, theory, idea or some other form of expressing a conclusion. That moment usually consists of a pause. A brief collection of thoughts, and then a verbal or physical reaction of some sort. That pause can tell you the world about someone. The pause can last for any length of time from a small fraction of a second, to minutes. Either can be good or bad, and the time in between is just painful.

There are certain things you can look for in this moment though, a smile being the most important. A smile would represent that you and the person you are conversing with are at the very least of the same page. A smile can also represent relief. An odd out of place smile can represent guilt.

A physical connection is also a good indicator that the pair of you at least understand one another. Unless of course there is some sort of violence involved, then there has been a margin of error in communication, or, you deserve having your ass kicked. But simple things, like a hug, a kiss, a caress (does that make any sense? A caress?) Then of course, there's my favourite, the mauling. The excited, giddy, jumping up and down "oh my God oh my God oh my God" reaction. That same reaction you had as a kid when Mom and Dad told you that you were going to Wonderland (or insert other place of interest here).

There are certain things in life that should get this sort of reaction without a doubt. Of course those things differ from person to person. However some examples of this could include events such as graduation, promotion, marriage, and winning the lottery.

Silence, distance, and just generally being un-enthused are not good signs, regardless of the reasoning or excuses behind them. These can set of a number of different warning bells, that can send your head spinning in a million different directions. Most commonly leaving a person wondering "what the hell am I waisting my time for?"

It's important that we get over that feeling, because these moments are endlessly important. They give us some insight as to where we actually stand in our lives, and give us the opportunity to shape our lives any way we want to, and to pursue the things that we'd like to experience or fulfill in our lives. After all, the only thing you can't get back is time. Oh, and your virginity.

Strike One.

I've mentioned the strike in a somewhat irritated manner previously to this, however I thought I'd try a different approach.

I am a stay at home mom.

This summer, my daughter will be two. She's recently learned to ask for the things that she wants. And she, like most children, loves to be outside. So far this week, she has asked to go to the park 8 times, swimming at least twice daily, and 4 times she just wanted to go outside and walk.

Within 3 blocks from my home, granted they are rather large blocks, I have two temporary dumps set up. One directly south, and one directly west of the only playground in the neighborhood. My first reaction was to be grateful that they spared the playground, so that my daughter would have somewhere to play this summer. After walking in the general direction of the playground, the stench from the trash drove me to walk away from it. I haven't even looked at that playground since the beginning of this strike.

My family and I live in a decent sized 2 bedroom apartment, with no balcony, and certainly no yard. Though the apartment is fair in size, there is hardly enough room for a toddler to run around. Seeing as I chose to stay at home and raise my daughter instead of having her live with two working parents, it's no body's fault but my own that I don't have a back, or front yard, a car, or the means to leave the city in search for summer fun, except for the fact that if I were to pursue a career, or if I had already had one, I wouldn't have child care at the moment, also thanks to the strike, so working isn't an option any more either.

It kills me that I can't provide my daughter with the things that she's managed to ask me for, especially when it's something as simple as "Mommy, park?" I suppose I could take her to the park, but it would most likely result in me vomiting. Is that enough of a health hazard to force back to work legislation? Projectile vomiting caused by going outside? I didn't think so. Even after the strike is over, it will take weeks, if not longer for the parks to be rid of the trash, not to mention the waste that's seeped into the ground, or the smell.

I have such wonderful memories of my childhood, especially during the summer. I just wanted to provide my daughter with the same. Thank you CUPE 416, CUPE 79, and the powers that run our once beautiful city, for making that near impossible.

Great job also, our beaches finally get swimming passes, and you've screwed that up too.

I hope you all get what you want. I clearly won't be getting the one thing I wanted from this summer. A summer.