Air-Conditioner

At around midnight, Pop comes to me and says that he thinks we should put the air-conditioner on. I tell him, “I never say no to the air-conditioner.” He and Kay just went to bed, and apparently find it uncomfortable.

I’m a little annoyed, because it was actually getting cool already as a matter of natural course; we were really suffering in the afternoon. The air-conditioner is actually a little uncomfortable now, making the house too cold, and it is also loud in the big room, where I am sleeping for the night.

But the way I see it, we now have the green-light to start using the air-conditioner - Kay or no Kay. I find some consolation in this.

1945 The Big Bang of Existentialism

On the evening of October 29, 1945, Sartre gave his lecture, “Existentialism Is a Humanism”, that would become a sort of ground zero for the explosion of a new philosophy unto the world: existentialism.

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In the more than fifty years since it was first given, Sartre’s lecture, often read in the United States under the misleading title Existentialism and Human Emotions, has served as the most common introduction to his philosophy. It’s key theme, “existence precedes essence,” means that humans are self-determining, creating rather than receiving their own identity. That is, we are fully responsible for what we become: “Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself.” Arguing persuasively against essentialist and determinist thought, including religion and Marxism, Sartre clearly and simply - Too simply, he later thought - described freedom as inseparable from human existence.

-- Ronald Aronson, “Camus and Sartre”

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Cleaning the Toilet

Wow, Pop cleaned my toilet. When I saw him using my toilet on Thursday evening, because Kay was using his bathroom, I was worried that I was in for a bad scene, because I have not cleaned my toilet in a looong, long time.

Maybe he didn’t want to risk a scene in front of Kay. She is gone now. But that he cleaned it is stunning. Maybe he has simply lost faith in my moral capacity to handle the chore. It doesn’t hurt me, I suppose, that I am a lot more helpful in other ways, now that his strength and health are not what they used to be.

I intend to get back on track, though, with this chore. When we were at the commissary, I got some of those harder scrubbers that Pop said he does not want me using. I at least need the tools to do the job. As for how he does it, he seems to use a high-chemical treatment. I’m surprised he doesn’t let me in on this magic, but it is probably more expensive, and I would just as soon stay away from such stuff anyway. It’s not that difficult a job after all, if only I can force myself to make the time for it.

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2013

I just remembered that Victor should be coming soon. Maybe that's why Pop cleaned my toilet and sink. Victor will be using them.

The Natural World

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