Bathroom Woes

I cannot stand our bathroom. I really truly hate it. There are stains and weird permanents on the walls that bug me to no end.

I have fantasized repeatedly about getting our bathroom’s yellow tiles with the impossible-to-clean windows, four shower/bathtub spigots (!) and everything else in there redone: a team of undercover contractors would come in, strip it from ceiling to floor and transform it into a true haven, equipped with pedestal sink, subway tiles, NO 1920s hamper or clothes hanger, ambient lighting, chic storage, a window screen to accompany the new window (!), brushed nickel hardware and fixtures, a stone bathtub with jet stream and heating pipes that are easy to clean.

Since this dream is currently impossible, I have decided to smooth things out a bit with sealant. I am trying to get rid of much of the ugliness by applying caulk along the edges, where the wall meets the tiles, for example, and smoothing it over as to get rid of the jagged creation that exists there now that is not only unsightly but traps dirt. Yuk! I also used a toothbrush yesterday to clean the top of the bathtub tiles where they meet the wall above our heads. Gross! Gross! Gross! They will get a good caulking soon. Next I filled up some spaces between some tiles where the grout has disappeared with this same caulk. I kept imagining little creatures behind the tiles somehow entering our world through these gaps. How is it possible that grout would disappear???

I did gain a bit of solace yesterday before I got caulk-happy by washing the shower linings and floor mats (twice!) in the hottest water, washing the floor and toilet thoroughly, wiping the dust off the plant leaves, and, like I mentioned, using an old toothbrush to get into the crevices. I wish that I had the time and wherewithal to do this every single week but now this task is relegated to when I have decompressed from a big school or work project. I was propelled by a big event that is now over and the need for a clean bathroom to get through finals and other projects.

The first apartment Neibaur and I lived in was brand new and it was such a treat to get to start from scratch and know that any dirt embedded anywhere belonged to you and was probably not that old. Regarding that bathroom, I suggested to Neibaur that we hire someone to clean our bathroom every week ($30 well spent, no?). He didn’t think it was a good idea and so just took the task upon himself. This time things are different because it is really difficult to know which dirt is new and which is old and we are both supremely grossed out by the process of finding mystery things to clean for which you can be pretty sure that a good cleaning will still not be good enough. I am getting grossed out just writing about it. Neibaur’s default bathroom job is now to change the shower filter and mine us to get overwhelmed by the yuckiness and throw myself into the crevices.

Outsourcing such things cannot come soon enough.

Spring Noise

Neibaur and I had forgotten what comes with spring in our neighborhood: painfully loud merengue from across the street, painfully loud conversations in foreign languages, painfully loud [insert activity that is somehow magnified when coming from the sidewalk across the street]. These noises hold us hostage, are above curfews and very slowly but painfully climb up the walls, creep through our windows, fill the air, and occupy our minds until dislike for all humanity is magnified into our hearts. Scary! Our “landlords” once told us that they would blast the soundtrack from Cats as a response to the relentless loud and repetitive music. We are looking forward to enjoying the hum of the air conditioners.

The Pope is Coming

The Pope will be coming on Friday. Curtains have been installed to block sniper vision, tickets have been distributed for his speech at the General Assembly and thoughts have been racing through my head. I have deep respect for religious and spiritual teachers and leaders and a soft spot for the Pope. If I do get to catch a glimpse, I will be thrilled.

In the meantime, this inevitable event reminds me of the unique opportunities available to us here in New York. Not a day goes by that I don’t send a vibe of gratitude to be here in this city, walking on these streets; these streets whose quality and essence give great meaning and depth to the choice we’ve made to be here. Every corner turned an opportunity to be seized. I hope we’ve seized many by the time we leave.

Utah

My spring break was spent visiting Leonora (sister one year younger than me) and Taylor (brother 3 years younger than me) in Utah. It has been a while since I’ve been to the promised land. I’ve always thought that Utah is a great place to visit, but I don’t have a desire to live there. I don’ t really have anything important to say about the trip. It was just good to see my family. Every once in a while it is good to reconnect with the people that you come from; I realized that it is a very safe place to be. I felt validated in a way that I’ve never experienced before.

Here’s a list of some of the highlights of the trip:

• visiting the Raj-mahal (supposedly if you know Provo, you know that this refers to the 7-11)
• witnessing Taylor receive the exact same lecture from Mom, Grandpa Cannon, and Dad regarding the abrupt ending of his friendship with some girl named Renee – Taylor didn’t enjoy these so much
• making random videos of events that might look funny in slow motion on Taylor’s new camera (including trying to scare Leo and trying to make Taylor sneeze by sniffing pepper)
• rocking out on Guitar Hero
• seeing Grandpa McCarrey laugh hard when Leo, who stayed with me at their house, called him from her cell phone downstairs and requested that he bring her breakfast in bed (she calls him Joe)
• hearing Leo’s plans to build a shack on the corner of her future home’s lawn in which Grandma and Grandpa McCarrey will live and be fed water and crumbs from the dinner table delivered by Leo’s children – Grandma loves this idea… really
• seeing the homes that Mom and Dad lived in in Provo (which I had never seen before)
• hearing Grandpa Cannon tell how the first time that he heard his father, Tracy Y. Cannon, play the organ, it brought him to tears. He said that it was the first time that he had ever been moved by a piece of music.
• Carl’s Jr
• hearing Taylor’s band play
• getting massaged with Leo by Aunt Cheryl
• seeing a ridiculous movie (Penelope) with Leo and Cheryl about this girl cursed to be born with a pig’s nose who can only get her real nose back when she finds someone to love her for who she is. SPOILER ALERT: It turns out that all she needed was for her overbearing mother to love her for who she was. I haven’t seen that movie before
• it snowed… twice
• seeing a bunch of missionaries in the airport getting ready to leave Utah and feeling unexplainable feelings of empathy for their circumstances
• someone having seizures on the plane ride back to NYC and having missionaries running down the aisle of the airplane yelling, “Are there any doctors on board?!”

~N