On Chicken Soup and Bathing

After we got home from the library, Ephraim and I were in agreement about something we will not be likely to agree upon again: that we both needed a bath. I'm not sure how many days it had been for either of us, but I had only changed my clothes once since leaving (not wanting to have a giant pile of moldy clothing to deal with later) and when I moved you could smell it. I won't say anything about Ephraim since I should only speak for myself in this type of matter.
Ephraim had also gotten an attachment for the end of the hose which would allow us to leave the outside spigot (which was the only one that worked) running while the hose had its own little switch.
"Ephraim, I'm proud of you for thinking of that." I said. I was really glad he had.
"Well," he said, modestly chuckling. "I mean it's obvious."
"Not to me. I wouldn't have thought of it." It sounded like I was praising him, but I was actually thinking of how dumb I was.
Hey, no. I answered myself. You can be as smart or as dumb as you want. Keep sharpening your mind and you will stay sharp!
Well, I was pretty excited to get a bath (I call it a "bath" because my definition of "sponge-bath" is very different in that you do not get clean). So Ephraim pretty much let me go first.
I went inside to test the hose (I also am the one with the house keys) and so I put the end into the tub, which is a plastic tub that you store things in. Then I turned the little black thing that turns the water on--it's attached to a sphere that has a hole through it, so it can turn inside the tube, on or off.
And water exploded out! It splashed up in my face; it felt good. I started laughing and cleaning the tub because it was dirty. When I was done I put about four inches of water in and carried it off to the only room it feels okay to do anything in that has a curtain. It used to be a walk-in closet.
Well, by the time I was finished I felt cleaner than I had in a really long time. You don't know how good it feels until you stay stinky and sweaty and sticky and dirty and see the dirt layering up on your arms and neck. Then if you take a really good bath and get really clean, and only then, will you understand the delight! I thanked God for water.
Then I washed the two changes of clothes I'd dirtied, and hung them up, and I'm wearing some of them today because they're all dry now.
"Every time I rinse my clothes in new water it's dirty," Ephraim said.
"That reminds me of a time in our past," I said with a chuckle. The most frustrating thing about handwashing clothes in Laguna Verde (or Valpo as it is, technically), is that no matter how many times you dump the water and rinse the clothes in clean water, it comes out a dark, murky brown-grey.
The whole experience is a little like that, except we're doing more destroying and less building right now. But maybe that's why I felt like the whole family should be here: I know we could do it together, because we've done it before. But I think Ephraim and I can, too.

Anyway.
After that while Ephraim took his bath (even he does that occasionally) I went into the bathroom, taking with me a crowbar and two hammers.
"Do you like demolition work?" Ephraim has (accidentally) asked me that five times now. I counted. It could be more, but definitely not less.
"Yeah," I said every time. Taking things apart? Hitting sheet rock with hammers and punching holes in the wall? Tearing things apart till I pant and sweat? Yeah. Yeah, I like that.
You people that know me might be a little surprised to hear this, but... after finding out about the cockroaches and discovering the desire to squish and twist each one I see underfoot, I started wearing shoes. No, not flipflops. Enclosed shoes. These are old shoes, chosen for myself by myself for the thinness of the bottom sole and the fact that they are too large for me and therefore wide enough not to squish my toes together. They are the healthiest shoes I could find, and yet you all know that I would never agree to wear them were it not for the extenuating circumstances. They are somewhat uncomfortable, but I try to walk correctly and my feet are not too bad at night.
Furthermore (although slightly less surprisingly), I have been wearing gloves. I cut my hands five times on screws and nails and a piece of chipped porcelain from the bathtub before I relented and put on some gloves Ephraim had been telling me I should wear.
I guess he was right; it does make things easier. But today I was standing in the bathroom and I put my foot straight down on a nail and of course it went through my shoe. I don't think it went through my foot though! I've always said my feet are stronger than shoes and always better, and of course they are!
Enough of that.

Don't get tired of reading, it's interesting! Come on!
Late on the night before last we took out my tent and set it up. Ephraim got things in there and some camping pads to lay on and he has been sleeping there.
You will not believe how much more comfortable it is in the car now! I have (more than) twice as much room! I went to sleep a little late last night reading manga, but now I'm on the last one they have here... I'll just switch to something else I've been wanting to read. Oh, and I wrote something really good in my notebook today, but you don't get to hear it because I didn't bring it. Pooh for you. (That means, Too bad. Or sometimes, I don't really care. But in this case it means Too bad, I'm a little sorry for you.)

I met a guy wearing a bright orange karate uniform in a store with a very bright orange belt.
"Do you practice martial arts?"
"Yes," he said.
"Me too." I smiled.
"Oh. Yeah, I go to" (I forgot the name) "___ Tae Kwon Do. What style do you do?"
"Kajukenbo Tum Pai... it's a soft style..." I said. I knew he probably wouldn't have heard of it and wasn't sure what'all to say exactly.
"Where at?"
"Near Portland."
"Hm, long ways away."
"Yeah, I just moved here from Washington. Nice meeting you."
"Yeah." He walked away with his bags.

It was in that same place that I was making an account with the people so I could rent a movie. It's Hastings. So, I gave the guy my driver's licence and started filling out a form.
After putting in the stuff I knew for sure, I said.
"Uh, sorry, I don't remember my address. I just moved here."
"That's okay," he said. "Just put the address that's on your licence."
"Okay..." After a little while I said,
"Sorry, what's the date?"
"It's the twelfth."
"Thanks."
Then I realized I didn't know the month either.
"Um, I'm really bad with remembering things like this; what month is it?"
"Me too," He said, just trying to make me not be embarrassed, which I was half-pretending to be, and half actually was. "It's October."
I paused, realizing there was one other thing I wasn't sure of.
"It is 2015, right?"
McKennaugh will like that story.

Today, I took another bath.
Hey, I was sweaty and I could see the dirt on my arms again. I needed it!
But Ephraim said,
"Again?"
"Yeah," I said. "I like being clean."
"Wow," he said. "You're like an obsessive-compulsively-clean person."
"How often do you bathe?"
"Whenever I get dirty."
"Ephraim, we sweat a whole lot every day in this hot place. Look, the sweat gets on us and the dirt sticks to it! We're gonna be dirty every day!"
He didn't say anything but he didn't take a bath.

Oh yeah, and chicken soup! When the power turned on we made broth, right? Well, today, we had some really delicious vegetables cooked in that and rice. I think we're having vegetable-chicken soup tonight too.

Wow, that was a super long post. Almost unnecessarily long, but I had a good time writing it. You know, people, I really love writing and music. I think they are really important and I want to be great at writing. Only one other and myself are the only people I know who would be happy constantly writing.
Enjoy and don't be bored by the length of my posts. You know it's all good stuff.