My life as a museum exhibit
May. 8th, 2002 06:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyspriteMy apartment is cleaner than it's been since I moved in.
Not that this is a bad thing, or a drastic change - the fact that I could turn it from standard to spotless in one evening is, in my opinion, a point in my favor. Even so, it seems almost a little spooky. It simultaneously looks more like my mental image of My Own Place and a sterile, un-lived-in display. There are still little touches to show that someone lives here... a few dishes in the sink, my eternally-cluttered desk, but it doesn't have the same feel.
Last night I told my landlord that I'll be moving out by July 1st. She responded by telling me that I need to have the place showable by the next morning. I understand, and I don't mind. If anything, I feel bad for her. She's a nice person and this is a nice apartment, and I don't want to cause her any difficulty. I feel bad about having to move away.
But... the thought of turning my house into a display for people to walk through ooks me on an intrinsic level. Strangers wandering through, staring at my pictures, petting my cats, peeking into my pantry and closets. I know they're just looking at the space, but at the same time, right now this apartment has my flavor and my life all over it. You can tell so much about a person by looking through their living space.
I don't want to feel like a museum display - 'Ladies and gentlemen, we now bring you to the lair of the rare and exotic PerkyGoth Veterinarian. Note how she marks her territory with partially finished cross-stitch projects, and lays out the boundaries with Charles DeLint novels. As you can see, her diet consists mostly of low-fat yogurt, sandwiches, hot cereal, and a disproportionate amount of homemade baked goods and diet coke. This specimen has failed to breed in captivity, surrounding itself instead with small surrogate-child objects, mostly cats and stuffed animals.'
Gaah. I like my landlord, and I want her to find a new tenant, but I do wish she could wait until I'm gone and the apartment is a neutral space again....
Not that this is a bad thing, or a drastic change - the fact that I could turn it from standard to spotless in one evening is, in my opinion, a point in my favor. Even so, it seems almost a little spooky. It simultaneously looks more like my mental image of My Own Place and a sterile, un-lived-in display. There are still little touches to show that someone lives here... a few dishes in the sink, my eternally-cluttered desk, but it doesn't have the same feel.
Last night I told my landlord that I'll be moving out by July 1st. She responded by telling me that I need to have the place showable by the next morning. I understand, and I don't mind. If anything, I feel bad for her. She's a nice person and this is a nice apartment, and I don't want to cause her any difficulty. I feel bad about having to move away.
But... the thought of turning my house into a display for people to walk through ooks me on an intrinsic level. Strangers wandering through, staring at my pictures, petting my cats, peeking into my pantry and closets. I know they're just looking at the space, but at the same time, right now this apartment has my flavor and my life all over it. You can tell so much about a person by looking through their living space.
I don't want to feel like a museum display - 'Ladies and gentlemen, we now bring you to the lair of the rare and exotic PerkyGoth Veterinarian. Note how she marks her territory with partially finished cross-stitch projects, and lays out the boundaries with Charles DeLint novels. As you can see, her diet consists mostly of low-fat yogurt, sandwiches, hot cereal, and a disproportionate amount of homemade baked goods and diet coke. This specimen has failed to breed in captivity, surrounding itself instead with small surrogate-child objects, mostly cats and stuffed animals.'
Gaah. I like my landlord, and I want her to find a new tenant, but I do wish she could wait until I'm gone and the apartment is a neutral space again....
