detergent and dirt plots.

i'm blogging from the laundromat. 

yes, the laundromat has wifi and i make use of it every time i come here. it's the reason i come to this laundromat, which is also air conditioned, even though it costs a bit more.  well, i don't know for sure that it costs more--the washers are supposed to take two loads and, by my non-scientific research, it seems to be basically true.  i don't know.  they cost about the same, i guess, but here i can delude myself into thinking that i am getting things done while i'm waiting for my clothes.

[blogging is productive, right? right?]

i have a love-hate relationship with the laundromat. i hate how much hassle it is to haul all of my stuff, how much money it costs every ten days or so (because no matter how much i actually aim to do it every week, it never happens), and having to plan my day around the chore.

i love the hypnotic sound of the machines. i'm sitting by one now, and if i'm not careful to keep my attention trained on the screen, i'll be captivated by the vision of the clothes agitating in the front-loading washers. don't ask me why, but i find it absolutely relaxing.  what i really love, though, is having 90000 machines to choose from and getting the equivalent of five or six loads done in an hour and a half. it always leaves me feeling amazed that so much got done in such a short time.

[this is key in my life right now, where there is just not time enough to get all that i want to do done.]

that's pretty much how i feel about my little farm.

oh no, we haven't moved out of the pseudoghetto into the country. we haven't abandoned CollegeTown for the sticks.

nope, i've fallen in love with a facebook application.

if you'd asked me a month ago what i thought of those farmville people, i would have scoffed in my particularly judgmental way and said that i didn't know why they wasted their time.

oh i know now.

there is something deeply, deeply cathartic and stress-relieving about having a little farm where all you are responsible for is planning out your plots, deciding what to plant, and cultivating it in an appropriate time.  planting strawberries? you'd better be there in four hours or they'll wither.  planting soybeans? you'll get more money but it'll take longer.  artichokes? good grief, you can take a vacation. 

musicboy loves it too, although he won't get a farm of his own and be my neighbor. but he will give me suggestions about where to place my trees and when to sell  my animals and what to plant. 

i love that it's straightforward. that if i plan well, things turn out right. that i am rewarded for my attention and my efforts. that bad things don't really happen unless you fail to do your part.

life is easy in farmville.  it's fabulously stress relieving, and i find that rather hilarious.

the fact that i find front-loading washers and harvesting fruit trees zen-like testifies to the simplicity and absurdity of my life like nothing else can.