Sappy Story

It started last summer and it's doing it again ... this tree that hangs over my driveway has been leaking sap or something onto our cars overnight; and I swear it covers the whole car in sticky nastiness. The tree's been there about 30 years and still looks relatively healthy, but for some reason it pisses all over the driveway at night.

Normally I would be against sacrificing nature for something as trivial as a dirty car, but I was getting fed-up and chopped a couple o' limbs off it tonight ... that'll teach it =P I'm trying to save money right now and constant car washes, and potential for paint and rust problems on a car I plan to keep a while, were just not helping. In the end, it made the tree and driveway look better anyway.

We've lived in this house my whole life and a lot of the plants in the yard are starting to get out of hand. Actually the inside got out of hand a long time ago. My parents, being pack-rats, have accumulated so much junk that it's hard to move around. In the basement, there's literally a narrow path that can be followed to get around in a semi-square; otherwise, the rest of the basement is just filled with .... stuff. I almost had it clean a few times. It was looking really promising just before I left for Taiwan, but when I came back, it was worse than ever. I used to try my best to keep this place tidy, but I think I've given up. My parents are too set in their ways now ... they're not willing to part with things ... and they don't seem to understand the concept of depreciation because they seem to think everything is still worth what they paid for it decades ago. I wouldn't say my house is dirty ... we somehow manage to keep it clean ... it's just not tidy ... it's ... cluttered! Let me give more examples, I can't sit down and eat anywhere without taking time to clear space from a table; our kitchen table doubles as an office desk, with a computer in the kitchen too because we can never seem to find room for anything despite the house being ample size; and the upstairs hallway has so much furniture there that I sometimes have to walk sideways. It gets frustrating. Ironically, the living room is the room that is lived-in the least, and my parents insist on keeping that one tidy. It doesn't make sense to me personally ... seems like wasted space. I think we should make that room an office and tidy up the rooms that we actually need. The real problem is that my parents won't let us discard anything, and even if we were to sell it at, say, a garage sale, they would ask for more than an item is worth. I see so much potential in this house, but I've given up on trying to uncover it.

I'm really thankful for my parents though. They do a pretty amazing job of keeping a roof over our heads, providing for us, caring, instilling values, etc ... I just wish that they would realize that sometimes cutting off a few branches is necessary.