rant

My roommate Miriam took her bff to Laguna Beach this weekend. She decided that they needed a cooler to bring their lunch in. Because that would be the proper thing to do. She is so manners-y and appropriate and proper sometimes, I hate it. Why not just bring your food in old paper grocery bags, like everyone else? Well she ended up buying a cooler at Ralphs.

Today it is sitting on our kitchen floor.

She also just came into the living room and announced that she had cleaned the kitchen last night and already it was a mess and could me and Alyssa please make sure we clean up our stuff. Well as soon as the My So-Called Life (the best show ever) episode was over, I went into the kitchen to see what the fuss was about. WTF. The counters were clean, the oven is clean, the floor is clean, and there are several dishes in the sink that don't have food on them but need to be washed. I was like, "Miriam, the kitchen isn't that dirty." And she comes back with, "Well, there are dirty dishes in the sink. A clean kitchen is really important to me." I answered, "I know, it's just that you made it out to seem like it was really a mess, but it's not. We just finished making dinner." And she replied again that she cares about a clean kitchen, blah blah blah. Miriam, remember how yesterday you left your steamed vegetables in the steamer on the stove overnight and then all day long until you came home? Do you remember this morning and every morning when you leave your coffee strainer and grinds in the kitchen sink? Do you remember how you took your leaky watermelon out of the refrigerator and left it on the counter for two days? Do you remember last week when you left your half-chopped broccoli on the cutting board on the counter and left to go to work?

I am a very clean person, but I care more about organization than I do about lack-of-germs. I am usually very good about cleaning my dishes. I ALWAYS at least rinse off the dishes if I am in a hurry, thus never leaving food in the sink. I sweep the living room quite often, and I rarely leave my personal crap (receipts, bills, opened mail, keys, wallet, phone) all over the living and dining room, like Miriam is prone to do. I am BY NO MEANS perfect, and yes, sometimes I leave messes.

And then....I asked casually if we are keeping the cooler, mainly because I didn't know if Miriam had bought it or borrowed it. She says no. I ask what does she mean. And she says she is returning it. And I ask to where. And she says to Ralphs. After you've used it?, I say, with total disgust in my voice. Yes, she answers, she doesn't want to spend twenty dollars on a cooler. I roll my eyes.

WHAT THE FUCK. I know I hold people to really high standards. I expect other people to follow the rules as I do, because the rules are there to protect us and safeguard us and keep most people's best interests in mind. But how can she expect me to be so considerate of her, and make sure I keep the kitchen spotless for her, and remember what she feels is really important, if she is the type of person who buys a cooler, brings it to the beach, and returns it to the store when she is done?