Sinister: Spring if FINALLY here!

[SGTHURMOND at xxx.com]

O Spring!! Itâ^À^Ùs been so long since weâ^À^Ùve seen you. I was beginning to think that damn bitch Mother Nature was never going to let you come out and play with us again. 

***

So, it is indeed springtime in the city. Iâ^À^Ùm so excited! The birds are singing, the sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, all the good-looking people seem to have come out of hibernation. But, what Iâ^À^Ùm really, really excited about, and cannot contain any longer, is that I can now mop my floors. I have been waiting for what feels like an eternity to do this.

See, this winter, every time Iâ^À^Ùd grab my mop and fill my bucket with warm sudsy water, the sky would start falling with those pretty white flakes that inevitably would end up a slushy brown mess all over my newly-mopped apartment floor. I already have to deal with all the crap from the city streets (dog shit, garbage, urine, gum, etc.) that my roommate brings into our place because he refuses to grasp the concept of taking off his shoes before entering it, but do I really need to be dealing with snow in the month of April? Thatâ^À^Ùs prime Spring Cleaning time and itâ^À^Ùs downright depressing that I havenâ^À^Ùt been able to even get started.

I donâ^À^Ùt know about you but I love cleaning. I always have. In fact, when I was a little girl, I wanted to be a maid. My family used to have a maid come to our house twice a week. Her name was Tina, and she would launder and iron the clothes, wash any dirty dishes, sweep and mop the floors, and dust and vacuum. Of course, not always in that order, which pissed off my obsessive-complusive mother to no end. Anyway, Iâ^À^Ùd watch Tina as she did her chores and she always looked so happy. Sometimes, she would let me help her out. Usually, with the dusting. This was a fairly easy task for a child. Such fond memories, I really looked up to her. And, I learned some decent cleaning techniques that I still use today. 

Now that Iâ^À^Ùm older, wiser, and I see the world for the soul-sucking, disappointing cesspool it really is, I understand what it is about cleaning that makes me so happy. Iâ^À^Ùm sure Iâ^À^Ùm not the first person to realize this and I hope Iâ^À^Ùm not the last, but cleaning is mental purification. Pure and simple. Itâ^À^Ùs therapy for the price of a roll of paper towels and a bottle of 409 All Purpose Cleaner. 

Cleaning is getting rid of all the old dust that has collected, settled on, and weighed down all my cherished items. My books, lampshades, television screen, table tops, stereo, cd collection. All that, for lack of a better word, stuff that cohabitates with me. But, sometimes without realizing it, I neglect and disrepect my stuff. Oh sure, I use my stuff. I switch on the lamp when Iâ^À^Ùm reading a book or Iâ^À^Ùll turn on my television set and watch American Idol. But when I think about how long itâ^À^Ùs been since Iâ^À^Ùve actually run a duster over these things or wiped them down with some soft cotton fabric, it makes me feel terribly guilty. I get to wash the daily grime off my body everyday. But my stuff doesnâ^À^Ùt get to do that. It relies on me for that. Donâ^À^Ùt we all need some special attention, a little loving care? A good scrubbing? By not cleaning, I feel like Iâ^À^Ùm not only hurting myself emotionally, but Iâ^À^Ùm hurting my stuff emotionally, too. Like Tina!
, cleaning makes!
 me and my stuff happy. And it also helps keep my allergies from acting up. 

So, now that winter seems to have said, "Goodbye suckers!" and spring has said, "Hello lovely people!" my life renewing process can begin. I can purge, and I canâ^À^Ùt wait. Tonight, when I get home after my monotonous day job, Iâ^À^Ùm going to head straight for the mop and bucket and clean my floors like theyâ^À^Ùve never been cleaned before!

These are some albums I like to put on while cleaning because of either their length or upbeat tempos:
The Clash, London Calling 
Stepping Out: The Very Best of Joe Jackson 
The Strokes, Is This It?
XTC, Skylarking
Pulp, Different Class

***
On a completely different note, I got tickets to see Wilco/Sonic Youth at Central Parkâ^À^Ùs Summerstage Concert Series! I could care less about Sonic Youth. Itâ^À^Ùs Wilco I want to see. Iâ^À^Ùve been a fan for ages and, sadly, Iâ^À^Ùve never managed to see them live. Theyâ^À^Ùre my favorite band, excluding B&S of course, and Iâ^À^Ùve never seen them live. What kind of fan am I? 

(Whew! I just barely managed to insert B&S into this otherwise non-B&S-related posting.)

Sarah Thurmond 
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