to write again

"You cannot help but learn more as you take the world into your hands. Take it up reverently, for it is an old piece of clay, with millions of thumbprints on it."
--John Updike

one thing i realized when i started running my own place: cleaning is therapeutic. other people may find this too trivial that they either take this for granted or fail (worse, refuse) to recognize but, for me, this is one great realization.

with "running my own place," i mean paying for the rent, taking care of the bills, spending for the house needs, looking after my own, keeping my place clean and organized, minding the laundry, etcetera -- the works so to speak -- with my own pocket, my own sweat, my own efforts.

for close to six months, i lived in laguna and had a place to look after all on my own. click here to see glimpses. then, i moved to another crib in batangas. click here for another set of glimpses.

ever since i transferred to batangas from laguna, i never had the time to go to the laundry shop or look for a laundry shop or a manang labandera for that matter -- so busy-busy-busy, OT most of the time -- so i resorted to doing all the laundry myself. i go to work early, arrive home late and i de-stress by doing the laundry.

on some days that i do get to step out of the workplace early, i spend and enjoy after-work hours with my friends visiting places... but when i go home, i still have the energy to do house stuff including my current fave chore: doing the laundry!

i honestly don't know what has gotten into me. i got excited on running my own place that i am now able to do housework willingly. just recently, my housemate and i acquired a rice cooker. soon, we will be buying a stove. we're excited to cook! i'm planning on getting a TV and a washing machine.

yup, mentioning the washing machine which i don't have yet means i've been diligently doing all the laundry by hand. ;-D joyce, my housemate, is saying maybe i'll surprise everyone by switching careers pretty soon -- i might just follow the "other" path and start running a laundry business. hahaha!

as i write this, i also get to remember that, sometime ago, somebody wrote about the youth being desensitized when it comes to doing household chores. i am not sure if by writing this i am making a case against it -- maybe not because that is not my intention. i merely wanted to share a realization -- something which i've already done in the first paragraph. now, let me go back to it.

one of my friends rationalized and summarized cleaning's therapeutic benefits into this one thought: when you clean your own place, organize your own stuff, and take care of your own house affairs to the point that you brush-clean your bathroom, at the end of it all, you're given that liberating feeling that there is still an aspect in your life that you're still in control of even when the rest of your world seems to be falling apart. i say, amen.