I went for a run tonight. Because I had to. Can't recall the last time I went running. It felt good. I like my new neighborhood. I met a friendly gay couple who live right down the street. They may have been flirting with me. I like to think they were.
What have we learned from this new housing experience? We learned that mattress purchases are one of the hardest decisions in life. I spent about three hours at Sears this past weekend deciding upon a bed. My logic is sound: I spend a third of my life on this thing, it affects my sleep which affects my energy and mood through out the day. So, it's not even about the money really. there isn't a mattress in the world that is worth more than a good night's sleep (unless you're poor, but don't even get me started on
that. I think it was Barbara Einrich's Nickle and Dimed that pointed out how difficult it is for poor people who don't have that little extra bit of help/cash reserves to get their life off the ground. I can't imagine how a working class person who doesn't own a car would manage to start a new life somewhere. how would they drive around to buy the things they need to get by in their daily life? how would they have the time to shop around for a mattress? how would they have the money to pay for anything but a shitty cheap mattress from a discount warehouse located in some dingy warehouse in the city's industrial park area? How would they pay for a security deposit on a new apartment? How much time and energy and money do they waste on public transportation? There's two groups of people in this world: the poor, and the not poor. the not poor have a dramatically easier time living. literally. when you're poor, just
living is hard. merely getting by and doing the daily things you need to do to stay alive is extremely difficult and draining. fuck being poor. and fuck the 1% and all their undeserved wealth, who don't work half as hard as a single parent holding down a full time job trying to raise her kids. when you are poor, you move into a new city and new shitty job. you use up all your cash savings to pay the security deposit and first months rent and household purchases to set up your new place. you spend all your time in public transportation going to and from work, maybe if you're lucky you have the time and money to go grocery shopping for fresh food that you carry on to the bus in plastic bags, if not, you eat shitty processed food that affects your health and well being. With all the time you spend working your shitty low paying job, getting to and from work, you don't have the time or energy to find a better job, you don't have the time or energy to go to school, you don't have the time or energy for any personal development or hobbies, you don't have the time or energy to raise your kids properly. You need to spend money to make money. if you could afford a cheap used car with all the appurtenant costs like insurance, gas and maintenance, then you suddenly have much more time on your hands adn the freedom to literally go places; this gives you the opportunity for advancement whether it be more job opportunities or education (assuming you can afford tuition), but if you spent your saving moving into your new place, and all your minimum wage earnings get burnt up for daily living expenses, and you're just one unexpected financial emergency away from being in the red, how do you save up enough money to make that initial investment? Poverty is an evil bastard that will never let you go, even if you fight and claw with all your strength, all it takes is one doctor's visit or emergency car repair to pull you right back down into the gutter. Did we come so far as a society only to reach this point?) so it makes sense to spend the time and energy to choose the right mattress. Unfortunately, I can be embarrassingly picky and indecisive, i am also greatly susceptible to buyer's remorse. We will see if I made the right choice when the two big tattooed Hawaiian guys, whom i expect will deliver my bed, delivers my bed on Thursday. But to be realistic, i think a moldy futon would be better than my current shit collection of steel and polyester padding I graciously call a bed.
