Craving Order, Yearning for Structure

[judecorp]

We were productive little monkeys today who unpacked the last of the remaining boxes (except for the books, because we need to buy bookshelves), and stowed the storage stuff in the back closet. We broke down all of the boxes and put them aside, and stacked all of the empty bins and put those to the side as well. (We'll be taking them to RI next weekend to put them in my father's basement.) I spent some time reorganizing some of our bathroom stuff and cleaning out the bathroom, including the cat box. I ran the dishwasher and did all of our laundry. Jen cleaned our shelving units so I can put stuff on them, and we talked about where we wanted to put art and other decorations.

I am /so/ glad to have the boxes and bins out of the way of everything. I am so relieved to have the storage stuff tucked away. Clutter makes me so anxious. Besides, it just didn't feel entirely like a home with piles of stuff all over the place. It's now starting to look like people actually live here. Moreso when the art is up, I'm sure. And the books. Books make a place look lived-in, I think. There's a sense of permanence around an arrangement of books.

I'm also starting to get settled in here and generally feeling like this is where I live. I'm getting used to the appliances and the shower and all of those little nuances that you forget have to be accustomed to. I'm looking forward to getting a new bed (please let us be able to get a new bed soon!), because the mattress/box spring are on the floor in a temporary state and I'd like something a little more permanent.

I was telling someone today in an email that I think I have some borderline autistic tendencies because I crave routine and have the need for things to be a certain way all the time. I feel really discombobulated when I don't have a set routine, even if I might complain about said routine. Right now the days are flowing into one another and unless I have something specific (like a job interview) I may not even know what day it is. This is disconcerting to me. I need structure, dammit!

Monday: face-to-face interview with Big Sisters of Greater Boston
Tuesday: phone interview with On The Rise
Thursday: face-to-face interview with Communities For People, Inc.

Good night!

Comments

[lemur68.livejournal.com]

You totally need to see this. :D

[happy2beso.livejournal.com]

Good luck with interviews!!!!

[serenity-coach7.livejournal.com]

Maybe craving structure is a social work trait? I too get totally overwhelmed, if things are out of whack for too long.... and moving with boxes, etc ... let's not even go there ....

Regardless glad to hear that things are settling for you... and good luck on the interviews....{JOB juju Job juju Job juju} =)

[biophile6.livejournal.com]

I suspect that there is a genetic component to this...Have you ever worked with any Asperger's syndrome patients? I have wanted to clarify this, but its like mild autism.

Then again, some people or more ordered sequential and less conrete abstract in their thinking style. Theres also linear, or treed. You strike me as slightly linear, would you say thats the case?

[gimmeapony.livejournal.com]

i have my fingers crossed for you for all o' dem job interviews!

[smurfbrother.livejournal.com]

Good luck on your innertubes!

<3

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Ha - funny, but true.

I was talking to someone a while ago about the intense pressure that families and society put on people in heterosexual dating relationships, after it's been a certain amount of time, to get married. It was almost a relief (after I got divorced) to think of the fact that whenever my next relationship would come along, it would come WITHOUT the pressure to get married.

Of course, now my dad is always asking me when we're getting married. Argh!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I think today's went pretty well, but I'm so bad at being able to tell.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

It takes a certain amount of OCD to be an effective social worker, I guess. :)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

While I've never had any clients with Asperger's, I've known several people with the condition. And I don't /really/ think I have Autism (or Asperger's), but it's funny (strange, not ha ha) to see how totally freaked I get without structure. But it has to be structure of my own development. Maybe I'm just a control freak.

I'm not sure what you mean, exactly, by linear. Care to elaborate?

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Don't get a hand cramp!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Mr. Gretchen!

[biophile6.livejournal.com]

I think of linear as the ability to string thoughts together, one after another. It is very dynamic, very clear. Other types of logic that tree more take a bunch of tentative steps along every path, then pick one.

Even more abstract forms of logic work pictorially, by feel, or with images or misunderstood emotioanlly currency.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I suppose using your definitions I'm more linear than anything else. I don't tend to try a lot of options - I may weigh them out in my head but only act on one of them. And I'm so damned stubborn that I will often stick to that plan of action even if it's not going well. ;)

[biophile6.livejournal.com]

ahhh. ok.

THe sticky thing about these definitions is, theyre so restrictive. Like: Are you saying I can only think this *one* way? I suspect that a lot of people dont like it. But, as a tool and as a way to think about how to unshackle yourself, its pretty cool.

I tend to go down a zillion tangents, before I weigh in at the last moment with what will become my hard decision. Its frustrating. Most impatient people cant stand how I taste and sample, poke around. But thats me, the empirical, secular humanist of art.

Thank you for thinking about thinking with me.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I am always willing to think about thinking with you.