Nesting, redux

I have been inspired by pasley's recent commitment to cleaning, one room per day. So next week, when I am officially on vacation, I am going to do something similar.

See, while I do have a very awesome person who comes in and washes floors, I have a significant problem with clutter, and piles of things teetering on various flat surfaces because I don't know what to do with the stuff. Also, I bought bookshelves back in April and have yet to find the time to organize all my books properly.

So next week I'm going to tackle one room at a time, and organize them all to within an inch of their lives. Some rooms will be easier than others. The bedroom, for instance, I figure will take one hour, two tops. Same goes for the other room in the basement, which in any case will have to wait until furniture gets in there before it can truly be organized to my satisfaction. Other rooms, like the living room and kitchen, will likely take half a day each. They're not in bad shape, but they do need some TLC.

If all goes well, by the end of next week I will have a clutter-free zone to call home. *crosses fingers*

Tiananmen Square: 20 years later

I was ten years old during the events at Tiananmen Square. I was just starting to understand that there was a much bigger, wider world out there than my little corner of it, and that Very Bad Things sometimes happened there.



In the late summer/early fall of that year, a young Chinese art student named Shui Bo Wang came to live next door with my godparents. No one told me for some time that he had come because of recent events, assuming I knew, but eventually I figured it out on my own.

When Sunrise Over Tiananmen Square came out, I watched it with tears in my eyes.

I am godmother to his eldest daughter, now ten years old, although I have mostly fallen out of touch with the family except for sporadic contact a few times a year. Still, every year at least on this one day I am reminded of one story among hundreds and thousands, which brings it all home.

Something to be said for gardening

Although I was enthused at the idea of having my own veggie garden, I must admit that I never expected to enjoy gardening quite this much. There is something wonderfully peaceful about going outside and simply puttering, pulling a weed here, fussing about a plant there. I even enjoy watering the garden with my new hose.

Perhaps it's the "new shiny" aspect of it all, but I think I'm going to enjoy this in the long term as well.

Once I'm off night shift, I think I'll be spending a lot of time in the garden. :)