Things I've Learned

I've only been sleeping in my new place for a few days now and I've already learned a few things about myself that I didn't quite know before. Someone (i.e. Travis) told me that living on your own would help you to learn new things about yourself...stuff you didn't even realize before. He's right. And its only been a few days, I can't imagine what I'm going to learn over the next couple of years while I live in my little apartment and finish my Masters. Anyway, so here is what I've learned...

1.) I hate dirty dishes. I mean I HATE them! I don't like them being piled up on my kitchen counter. My place isn't the neatest of places right now because I'm still moving and there are boxes piled up everywhere. I'm still trying to figure out where to put everything in my shelves and all that. But I loathe and despise leaving my dirty dishes sitting on the counter. I only have the one small kitchen sink, so washing dishes is kind of a chore. Mostly though, I leave them sitting out because I hate being wasteful. As much as I hate seeing those dishes sitting there, I hate even more thinking about wasting water just to wash a plate and a fork. So I wait until I have a good amount of dishes before I wash them. That takes awhile seeing as how I'm the only person living there. So I suppose I have to put up with the dirty dishes for awhile.

2.) I hate being wasteful. True, I am a little bit on the cheap side when it concerns some things, but mostly I just hate wasting. Case in point, I turn off my A/C (and I will probably do the same for the heat when winter gets here) when I leave the house. I like cooler temps, but I hate paying a high electric bill. This simply means that if I'm not there, then the a/c is not on. In the winter, I will actually keep my place a tad bit cooler than most people in order to save on heating costs. No worries though, if you come for a visit there will be plenty of throws lying around for you to use. I do this because like I said, I'm cheap, but also because I hope its a little better for the environment. That's what I tell myself anyway. I also have a tendency to re-use items that others throw out. For example, I bought a pack of plastic cups to use before I got my dishes moved up there. Those bad boys are lasting quite a while because I wash them like I would regular glasses. I'll do the same for disposable plates, eating utensils, and packaging. I even save my plastic shopping bags to use later. I feel like a Depression Era kid. Like I'm the little old granny lady that says, "Don't throw out that pickle jar. Wash it out. You can use it for something later." I'm not sure WHY I'm this way, but I figure it must be some bygone influence from my Grandmother (who really was a Depression Era kid).

3.) I'm not a neat freak, but I certainly like to keep things tidy. I think its because I'm a tad bit more aware of how people will view me if they stop by and see a messy house. I mean, I have a lot of stuff, but even with a lot of stuff, you can arrange it in a way to where it just looks "homey" and not cluttered. You would NEVER have guessed this if you had seen my bedroom at my parents' place. That thing looks like a tornado ripped through it. But for my apartment, other than the moving clutter, everything is kept pretty tidy. I'm even a little anal as to how things are put away in the cabinets. You know...cans go here, boxes go here, cooking stuff goes there, so on and so forth. I was a little shocked to figure this out, but maybe its not so odd. I mean, my Mom always said that my room looked horrible, but my sock drawer looked like an army drill sergeant had organized it.

4.) I hate silence. Maggie Jarvis came by to visit me one day and said something along the lines of, "I know how you are, April. You like people. You'll always try to have people around." Hmmmm...really? I always thought I hated people. No one in particular, just the general population of rude, loud mouthed folks that get on my nerves on a seemingly daily basis. However, Maggie may be right. I may like people better than I think. I guess its a Gemini trait. Anyway, I hate the silence of my new place. For now I have no radio or t.v. Truth is, I will have a t.v. but no cable. I hate spending hours and hours watching television when I could be doing something else. Something more productive. But I do LOVE music and I intend for my apartment to be filled with music all the time. Right now though, I don't have any music playing devices moved in, so its a sad and silent little place right now.

5.) I hate coming home to an empty apartment. Not that I want someone to move in with me. I actually quite enjoy knowing that it is all mine, but I will be very happy when I get my two little cats moved in with me, so that it doesn't feel so empty anymore. I can already hear Emmie's frantic meows when she realizes I'm home and she wants a treat. Or Bart's bothersome habit of trying to "fix" my hair whenever I sit down.

6.) I eat a LOT healthier at my place than I do at home. I'm not sure why this is, but I assume its because I do all the shopping. I mean, I bought my own groceries at home too, but Mom bought groceries for everyone, which means there was a steady supply of sugary treats hiding around the house. The only non-healthy stuff at my place is a pack of Vanilla Zingers on my counter and a pint of Ben & Jerry's in the freezer. But who can fault a girl for having zingers and peanut brittle ice cream. I mean, c'mon! Mostly though, everything is low-fat, fresh, whole wheat, and all that jazz and surprisingly, I also eat a lot less of it.

7.) Along the same lines of eating a lot less, I've also discovered that I can't sit still. I just can't. I'm not a lazy person anyway, but I hardly have time to do anything that would count as exercise. However, starting next month I'm joining the gym across the road. I had already made up my mind to do so, but after staying at my place a few days, I've decided that if I don't, I will go crazy. Its either join a gym or get a second job, because I can't stand sitting still for very long. I have cleaned that apartment so many times in the past three days that I'm sick too death of the smell of bleach and Lysol. I don't want to go out shopping because, like I said before, I'm cheap and I don't want to spend all my money. I could study...but who the heck wants to spend all their daylight hours doing that?! So, I'll join the gym.

So that's that, a few of the things I've learned about myself in just a few days.