A Simple Matter

If you've been reading this blog, you've noticed that what I've talked mostly about is me being very clean and Mikey, well, not being very clean. I find that is our biggest issue in living together.

When we first entertained the idea of moving in together, we both told each other the same thing. We were messy living at our parents' houses. Both of us wanted to turn that around. Start fresh. Make new habits, be clean, and take care of our house.

The reason why I wrote the blog was because after my whole depression, I took stock of myself. I realized was being messy, lazy, and becoming a slob. I came to terms with the fact that I wasn't being true to my word. I said I wanted to turn things around and I wasn't. It was time for a reality check. From that point forward, I've kept true to my own vow.

Mikey hasn't. From the very moment we moved in, his room has been an absolute mess. Even when he was first moving stuff in, he just kind of chucked it all into his room. He had the same piles of laundry (I'm not sure whether they're dirty or clean) on the floor of his room in this house that I would see whenever I went over to his mom's. I'm sure he told himself he'd clean it all later, but he still hasn't.

What he does with his room is fine. That's on him. If he wants to lock himself in there, shove potato chips up his ass and leave the crumbs on the bed, that's totally his decision. I don't care about the mess in his room. I only mention it as a reflection of him as a person. And because it's his mess that spills out to the rest of the house, which is problem for me.

He'll bring his headphones and iPod out to the front room when he's playing drums. Then he'll leave those items on the drums or on the table. He doesn't shut cabinets or drawers when he's done. Puts his dirty dishes in the sink or leaves them on the counter. He's had a mass of books spread out in the front room that he said he would take care of a month ago.

The other day, he even yelled at me because I was putting the frying pans in the same cabinet with the pots. He said to keep them in the oven, and we'll just take them out before we use the oven. However, when he cooks his copious amounts of eggs everyday, he'll leave the frying pan sitting on the stove instead of putting it in he oven where he specifically said it needs to go. Most of the time, too, he won't even wash the pan, but leave his egg residue in it.

He can be messy all he wants in his own room on his own time. But his mess becomes my mess. He teases me for being "gestapo" when it comes to this house being clean. But truth is, I'm not mad that he doesn't dust, vacuum, or scrub anything. What irritates me is the simple matter of not putting things in place, and not cleaning up after yourself when your done or putting stuff back when you're done with it. How hard is it to place the fan in the closet when you're done using it, instead of leaving it in front of the front door for someone to trip over? How hard is it to take an extra 10 seconds to place your dishes in the dishwasher instead of leaving them in the sink? Is it really so difficult to take your headphones back into your room when you're done?

What's really irritating about it is that he'll do other things. So I know he has the time. He'll spend an hour playing on the XBOX, but he'll suddenly have to leave to go to work or somewhere else and doesn't clean up. Apprently he has enough time to dick around and play video games for hours on end, but doesn't have enough time to take a maximum of 30 seconds to simply throw his trash away or clean up after himself.

These are skills we are supposed to learn as children. And in that regard, his parents failed him. I pity Mikey's future wife.