It dawned on me tonight that I have a bit of an obsession, well one of many I suppose.
Here I am around 1am [slightly inebriated] after a mildly successful party that my roommates put together and I’m up to my elbows in suds and pine sol, even though my roommates (who were too drunk to stand up straight) claimed they’d clean up their cluster of beer cans, dried puke, trash and other assortment of items left behind by our guests.
And I don’t mind cleaning up—I SHOULD mind, since of course, it was not my party [even though I knew all of those people], my beer [even though I drank half of one] or my puke [yep, I’m totally innocent there], but you know, I didn’t want to wait until 5pm TOMORROW for them to finally roll out of bed in their hung-over funks and decide to “do something about their mess”. By then, I’ll have lost my mind and well, we’d have more guests of the furry kind running around here.
So what is my obsession? It’s pretty clear to even Stevie Wonder that I am a clean freak!
I uphold a certain level of cleanlessness that borderlines OCD, but on the lighter side, my immune system is strong and I hardly get ever sick. I get legitimately sick (outside of allergies) about every two years for about three days (and I attribute that to cold weather and extreme exhaustion). Everything from my hair, my face, limbs, room, car, desk, office, you name it, I’ll probably clean it frequently just to feel some sense of sanity in my hectic life.
I also hate to feel dirty. I have to shower daily [sometimes twice depending upon what the day entails, Mexico almost saw a three shower day!]. I know people who may get around to showering once or twice a week…three times if it’s a special week. I’m sorry… it is too hot in the south to neglect too many showers, particularly in the summer months. I even have this girly obsession with smelling nice (I get that from my father, who always has to smell like he just put on cologne). I don’t often admit to all of these feminine qualities (because I’d much rather be watching football than The Hills, but these are things I cannot hide).
I suppose this all also stems from my upbringing. Why, I come from a clean freak. My own mother is just about as germ phobic as they come. She’s that woman you’ll see in public places touching things with a tissue over her hand or spraying down hotel beds with Lysol, or even obsessively washing her hands so much that they become chapped.
Not to say that my mother is crazy, why in fact she is highly intelligent, because she too never gets sick. Perhaps there is a correlation to this being clean situation. Anyway, as I grew up I guess I started to mimic her habits and here I am today, yet another hand-washing fanatic. It’s gotten so bad that my mother and I will make special Saturday trips to the mall just to visit our 2nd favorite store (Bath ‘n Body Works), to load up on hand sanitizer. You see, this is a great wonder. This magic in a bottle can be used for times when water and soap are just not available [like when we were in the jungles of Mexico—miles away from plumbing and electricity. Yep, that was that almost three shower day].
It wasn’t until we were in Mexico two weeks ago did we find out some disturbing news about our favorite friendly clean product. Apparently obsessive use of antibacterial hand soap traps germs in your hands and removes vital “Good” bacteria from your skin [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/21/health/21cons.html]…this all coming from a guy speaking in broken English. Not that I don’t find his point valid, it’s just hard to break a “bad” habit. Besides if I believed everything that I saw on the internet or television, I’d probably be a paranoid freak who did nothing more than hide under my bed. The world’s a scary place, but not everyone has creditability these days. I’m still not sure I fully believe that entire story, perhaps obsessive use can up your chances of damaging your skin, but I doubt minor use will do you any harm, at least not as much as not washing your hands at all.
In fact I think it would do you some good. I’ll be damned if I’m going to go around places now without washing my hands or using antibacterial hand soap. Do you realize how dirty public places are? Do you realize how many people do not wash their hands after they take a crap, sneeze or even vomit and then touch door handles, car door handles, windows, walls, sinks, refrigerators, stair rails etc.? It completely grosses me out that someone could pass up something so vital, and yet these are probably the same people that are getting themselves sick with their own germs (and in some extreme cases those of us who do wash our hands) I won’t get into the techs of just how they get themselves sick—but let’s just say it’s a continuous full circle. It makes me cringe! It’s enough to drive any sane person crazy just to think about all of the germs you spread simply by not washing your hands.
So to my two roommates [who are guys] that were so confused by my random burst of energy to clean up our apartment, please just let me be. Just let me get it out of my system so I can sleep soundly. And while you’re out at, please wash your hands.
Thanks.
jelainesays
