[Imported] Just trying to keep things clean

I learned a valuable lesson today, and I would now like to share with you my new found knowledge. Pay close attention, because it's incredibly important for one's pride and modesty:

If you decide to wear a skirt one day, please pay attention to the weather beforehand, specifically wind speed.

Oh man, I was so excited today. I don't remember the last time I wore a skirt. It's been MONTHS. But the forecast called for a high of 67^o, and that was all I needed to hear to convince me to allow my inner thighs rest from the weary, suppressive world of those suffocating things called pants.

And boy, did they get themselves quite a healthy breeze today. More than they had bargained for, I'm sure.

Now, luckily I was able to keep my skirt down for the most part, but I spent most of my walks to and from classes holding my skirt bunched up tight around my legs, which TOTALLY ruined the whole cuteness factor. Once in a while, I'd relax my grip as the wind seemed to calm down, but within seconds, another gust would come from wherever gusts come from, and I'd just barely wrangle the flying fabric in time to prevent any free peep shows for my 25,000 fellow peers. The thing that worried me most, though, was that I wasn't even wearing cute underwear. No, they were more like the Dang-when-was-the-last-time-I-did-laundry, Oh-well-these-will-have-to-do, Good-thing-no-one-will-see-them variety.

I mean, like I said, I successfully avoided any accidental exposures (not that there weren't a few terrifying close calls...), but oh how sad I am that my skirt could not be enjoyed to its fullest potential. Too busy keeping my lady parts covered.

Ahh well. Spring will be here soon, bringing along with it a myriad of days (wind-free days, even!) on which I will be able to wear skirts sans the Marilyn Monroe impressions.

And speaking of laundry (a couple of paragraphs ago, but stick with me) and other things that I've been meaning to do, please feel free to gasp in horror at the following picture:

This is my closet. My shamefully messy (though small, which is a decent excuse, I think) closet. The spaces beneath my bed and dresser look similarly terrifying, and I've been meaning to clean them out and organize them for mon- uh, well, let's just say a really long time. I always thought of myself as a generally rather self-disciplined person, in so far as I have great patience, I don't usually succumb to the allure of instant gratification, and I tend to work hard for things I genuinely I want and/or care about. But then I think of all the areas in my life I absolutely suck at getting myself together on - organization, studying, responding to e-mails, blogging on a regular basis - and then I scoff (yes, scoff I say!) at whatever pride I momentarily had in my ability to make myself do responsible things.

So! Why am I showing you a picture of my closet? Because I'm recruiting you, The Internet, to help me clean it. Not literally - I have every physical ability to get the job done - I just need the motivation. All you have to do is make sure that in one week's time, I post a picture of my clean closet on here for all to admire and applaud me for. And then I'll post a photo of the space under my bed that week, and the process will repeat. Only at the end of that week, I must show both a picture of a tidy under-the-bed area AND the closet. Otherwise, that thing will be right back to the mess it's in now. This will continue until I've got all the living spaces that I use neat, tidy, and under control; and I figure that maybe by the end of this little clean up experiment, I'll be SO used to keeping things clean (thanks to all ya'lls keeping me accountable and everything) that it will have formed into a habit by then, and I will rid myself of my slovenliness once and for all.

You all are welcome to join me and fight whatever area of your life you feel yourself to be a total loser in. After all, I didn't come up with this idea on my own. I stole it from Life in a Shoe who also recruited all her willing readers.

Just remember: one week. Gotta be done by next Wednesday.

Good luck. I know I'll need it.

P.S. Don't worry about me not living up to my end of the bargain. I've got a pretty sizable guilt complex, so as long as I've got at least one person expecting a clean closet of me in seven days, it'll get done. Otherwise, I'll feel so terrible over how deeply I'm sure I betrayed that person, how utterly disappointed they must be in me, oh-why-do-I-always-hurt-the-ones-I-love-boo-hoo-hoo that I won't be able to sleep until it is done. Yeah, it's pretty handy complex to have. I enjoy it. Good times.