So I obviously haven't posted in a long while, and I figured, "Hey, why not do it while I have a minute free today?"
I've been working on cleaning up my house lately. I've had projects that I've been wanting to work on for, I don't know... the last 6 and a half years or so. A friend came to breakfast a few months ago and lit a fire under my ass to get started on that, and I had a new roommate move in last week, so I've been getting some help with motivation, as well as just an extra hand to keep things moving.
The first project (which is now complete for the most part) was tearing all of the carpet out of the house. There are still two closets left (I'll probably take care of those tonight), but aside from those, I've done the den, the music room, the hallway, and all three bedrooms. The next project will be sanding the stucco crap off of the walls in the kitchen because I hate it and want it gone. I *may* start painting the rest of the house while doing the sanding in there because I have a feeling it will be mundane and take a while.
I also came to the realization a few weeks ago that I needed a new dresser because my clothes wouldn't all fit in the dresser/closet at once. After thinking about this problem, it struck me that the problem wasn't a lack of storage space, but a surplus of clothing. Thursday morning, while I was waiting for my roommate to text me that he had a U-Haul to move his furniture over, a visitor stopped by my house with a pink bag for a clothing drive for the HOPE for Domestic Violence shelter. I took that as a sign, and, on Friday night, I bagged up 3 and a half bags of clothes for them, which were picked up Saturday afternoon. So hooray! I got rid of a lot of clothes that I didn't wear/I didn't like/didn't fit, plus I got to feel good about myself for helping someone else. The downside? I threw in all my work clothes.
*gasp*
In addition to cleaning my physical house, I've also been working on cleaning myself up as a person. Not as in giving up vices (because I like some of my vices, and I'm lazy and lack the willpower to get rid of all of them), but as in making myself into a more presentable person.
I've started going to a new barber shop where a man known as "Razor Rob" has been "guiding" my hair and beard into something besides a frizzy mess. He has convinced me (using terms such as "professional" and "fuckable" in relation to how I *should* look) that I should take better care of my personal grooming and appearance. As a result, I have finally stopped using body wash or bar soap to wash my hair (I'm even using conditioner...it makes my hair feel nice), and I even comb my hair and beard at least once a day. On top of all of that, I've even started playing with beard oil and pomade, though my experiments so far make me look like a small child combs my hair...
After a few months of being Razor Rob'd, I decided to go get some new dress shirts last weekend. For those not in the know, this was the first time I've ever gone clothes shopping by myself (I always had my mom and/or my ex-wife with me before). I met a very nice lady at JC Penney's named Sherry, and she measured my neck and arms, had me try on a few different styles of dress shirts (I honestly didn't know there were different styles of dress shirts...) then found two for me. I told her I would be back to rebuild my wardrobe from the ground up.
That brings me back to throwing out my work clothes. After the bags were gone (so I would not be able to go pull the clothes back out and pretend like nothing happened), I went to JCP and was outfitted with 4 new shirts and 2 new pairs of pants. I also learned that there are different "fits" of pants. All that "New Year, New Me" crap? I'm making that shit happen. Hell, I even went back and deleted some of my blog posts that consisted primarily of me bitching about how poorly I thought my life was going because I'm not dwelling on that shit any more. It's time to stop being pissy about the past and start being optimistic about the future.
Part of my "transitional period™" as I'm calling it has also been to try out new things, go to new places, and stop being a boring schmuck sitting at home, playing video games, and wondering why cool things never happen to me. I finally visited New York, I caught up with college friends, I've tried new bars and restaurants around town, tried new recipes (and made up a few)...and it's been a blast. I've been kicking myself for not starting this sooner, but now I'm turning that frustration into a fervor to get caught up. I'm tired of being jealous of everyone else living life while I keep myself shackled to the belief that I can't do the same damn thing. I'm doing it, and I'm gonna keep doing it, because screw it: I want to.
