I set today aside to clean up the basement somewhat. I only do this maybe once or twice a year. To think of it, I really should do it more often, just for the zen of the house altogether. It is, after all, my home's foundation, and should really receive a little more attention than what I give it now.

I boxed up all the old paint cans down there, so they'll be ready to take to the hazardous waste dump. I also junked a bunch of miscellaneous old crap, including some… ahem… “writing” from my more emo-centric, gothier-than-thou phase that occured sometime during late highschool through college. (Seriously did I really write that crap? God, how lame was I!) I had no problems getting rid of all my semi-nekkid black and white photocopies of Trent Reznor and lame ass artwork. I rediscovered some fun things though, like old photographs, sketchbooks and a few boxes of comic books.

Anyway, after vacuuming up layers of cat fur, endangered species of spiders and other miscellaneous particles, I will now jump into the shower and clean myself up. After that I will consume a generous bowl of the mushroom stew I cooked up in my Crock Pot. I've been smelling it simmering all day and it's making my tummy growl.

The Cyclist (myself) turns onto a one way street, the wrong way, staying to the right, like she does every day when she goes to work.

The Hummer is travelling down the street with the rest of traffic. The hummer is in the left lane (the Cyclist’s right).

The Cyclist and the Hummer approach eachother fast.

They will meet where a car is parked on the right side of the road. The Cyclist will have to squeeze between the Hummer and the parked car if the Hummer continues to travel at the same speed. The gap will be very narrow and she will have to compensate for the wind pressure from the Hummer. She could maybe go up the sidewalk, but there are pedestrians. And she could slow down and let the Hummer pass… but probably not.

The Cyclist and the Hummer are aware of eachother. The distance between them is closing fast.

The Hummer slows to a near stop and the Cyclist glides by the parked car, past the Hummer and proceeds the wrong way down the one way road. The Hummer beeps angrily. Cursing is heard by the Cyclist.

I win! wooooooooooooooo!

*note: I as a cyclist do not condone reckless cycling (or driving). Please kids, do not try this at home.

I've had this little nylon tape cassette case for years… to think of it, a lot of years as I do think I phased my last cassette late in high school ('93ish for all you young'uns) This zippered and padded nylon case with the brand “Maxelle” screened across it carried 10 tape cassettes in their plastic cases snugly once in the 80's or early 90's. It at one point was sold with the blank tapes in them as a gift set of sorts, that I know. I may have received it as a Christmas gift from a relative who knew that I liked to make mixed tapes of my favourite musical theatre arias. I may have purchased it myself at a sale at Zellers or Radio Shack. After I stopped using tapes, I started to use this case for other things like keys, make up, and miscellaneous junk. In recent years, it stored my Gameboy games. Last year, I bought a neat little case for my DS, that could hold all my DS cartridges. The old case has been drifting around my home ever since, empty and collecting dustbunnies. I keep thinking I've put it away but it always manages to turn up in different places. In my living room, under my coffee table. On a shelf by my computer desk. Upstairs in my bedroom, tucked in a plastic basket. This morning I noticed it was in my kitchen.

I looked at it and contemplated it's existence in my “zone”. I noted that it had once carried my DS games so I checked inside and reminded myself that it was empty except for a ball of cat fur. This black nylon case was essentially purposeless now, and for some reason, it's mere presence this morning simply annoyed me. It was like a bad tenant that stopped paying rent, wouldn't clean itself and wouldn't stay quiet. So I toughened up and ousted the object into my garbage bin.

I've been thinking about it frequently… how did my house accumulate all this useless crap? Why do I make excuses for things like that cassette case? Why did I hold on to it for so long? And I looked around and I could see a number of things that had outlived it's usefulness and couldn't even be classified amicably under euphemisms like “kitsch”, “schmaltz and/or “eclectic decor”. I figure sometime soon I have to take a hard look at some of these deadbeat tenants and just steel myself up and evict them. I don't want to be one of those people that are tied to little, useless things forever.

Posting quickly while my computer is otherwise occupied…

The Conservative leader in Ontario, John Tory, wants to fund faith based education in Ontario. To get right to the point, in my opinion, this is bullshit. I just fail to see how segregating kids could be a good thing. The idea to me just seems incredibly preposterous, and yes I am 100% in favour of no religious institutions receiving government money, and this includes Catholic schools. I was raised in a Catholic School environment, and there were so many things I regret about my early years. I wish I was exposed to more cultures, more people, more ways of thinking. And the students in my school had issues too… segregated religious education did little to curb those “issues”. College was a refreshing change of pace when we didn't have to stand for prayer at the beginning of every day, but why do we have to wait that long until we experience different cultures and ways of thinkings.

So, yeah, I vote: bad idea. I was sooooooo close to being able to respect the Conservative leadership in Canada, but Tory just set it back with this idiocy.

I think I might be a voyeur. But not in the way we like to think. I'm really not so interested in seeing the kinky things that people do as I am in the normal way they live. I'm interested in the mundaneness of every day life. I'm interested in looking through lit windows at night to see how people live, how they've arranged the furniture, what they're watching on T.V. I think this is why I get a kick out of seeing show-and-tell pictures of other people's homes, and why I prefer simple personal blogs like those in livejournal. Apartment Therapy has become one of my favourite sites to hang out at lately just for this reason.

I'm more intrigued by normal people like myself. Rich people in fantastic, big mansions, living fast-paced celebrity lifestyles are boring. As much as I dig eclectic artsy lofts and avant garde architectural design, I still can't relate to that as much as I can to those who live in simple apartments with Ikea furniture. I'm curious about people in my age demographic and the homes they live in. And I'm not quite embarassed by it, I think most people are curious too, otherwise they wouldn't be reading this.

I'm not sure if it's because it relates to my interests in home decorating, art and design or if there's more to it. At the least I don't think i'm weird and creepy, at least not yet.