At last it’s happened; it’s happened at last. After living in the same location by myself for over twelve years, I have to throw a holiday party.
The problem is, my loft is very large, and it is very easy to put something large down and forget about it for say, twelve years. Let me explain. Imagine you put an elephant in a corner of your loft and because of the space you have, you find you don’t even notice after a while. You will find you then tend to put more elephants down around the place because they are never in your way. Okay, I don’t have any elephants, but I have a lot of space and a lot of junk that is never in my way. The thing is, it’s a bit unsightly when I do notice it, and a bit embarrassing when having friends over for the first time (which is usually when I notice it).
I’m not a pack rat. That is to say, I’m not one of those people who will someday be buried alive under one of the floor to ceiling stacks of newspapers dominating my living room. I must stress, when nothing is in your way, you don’t feel cluttered.
The thing is, now I’m cleaning for the party. Whoa, wait, after all this time, why a party now? Well, simply, it’s my turn. Everyone else has hosted the holiday party already. It’s kind of funny in a way. I’m hosting the annual holiday party for a group of my friends, all of whom live across the Hudson River from me in Rockland County. They all have homes in nice suburban neighborhoods. I live in a loft in the middle of a quasi-urban town above main street. Okay, not funny, just an observation.
Anyhow, I’ve started the cleaning process and it’is a bit daunting. For starters, I’m getting rid of a bunch of trash and will be hiring some men to haul it away. Right now it is in a couple of piles whose magnitudes are much larger then I wish to contemplate. Again, I’m humbled by what I have let accumulate. And this is just the beginning. I have a whole room I’m leaving as storage which will be cleaned out after the gathering.
On top of cleaning, I’m adding some minor repair and redecorating work. Again, twelve-plus years of mild neglect requires some extra attention to be made presentable. My bathroom (no, I haven’t gone without cleaning that) was painted pink from the previous tenants. I am not much of a pink fellow. Since it’s the smallest space in the place I think I’ll be able to beautify, I’m going to give it a shot and paint it a more manly blue.
There’s also the built in counters I’ll have to deal with. The counters are built in, the tops aren’t. Aren’t as in they aren’t there. It’s never really been a problem for the way I live until now. They will most likely be the serving area for the buffet. That is, once I figure out what to do with them.
Ultimately, the people coming over are my friends and I don’t really need to impress them. They know who I am and like me despite that. And to be honest, the loft space itself is rather impressive, so the first time visiter won’t really notice it’s flaws. None the less, as it is the first time here for many of them, I would like to make it as presentable as possible. If not for hem, then at least for me.
Truth be told, I’m enjoying the cleaning process. I’m purging my apartment of old items I don’t need or, in more cases then I’d like to admit, even want. It is a bit of a liberating feeling.
Now the hard part is what to do with everything I’m not getting rid of. Well, I’m sure I’ll find some space for it somewhere.
