items in the sink

Pots, pans, dishes, et cetera–dirty, and in the sink: a job that needs to get done; a job that will get done.

Even if consecutive moments where I don’t want to attend to them pass and continuously arise, I know there will come a moment where [either] I [or my roommate] will clean them. Such a moment is occasionally coincidental with respect to scenarios where there is not enough space in the sink to insert a filtered water jug under the faucet, and where space must be made if one wants to drink clean water.

In anticipation of moments where there is no other choice but to clean the dishes, I typically wash the dishes close to the times in which I finish eating and/or using dishes, since it feels better to clean dishes at such times in comparison to cleaning dishes during times where the dirty dishes are inhibiting essential activities.

This is something I can problematize or not problematize.

It is important to note that problematizing the way I see items in the sink does not go hand-in-hand–at least, immediately, naturally, and/or in a mutually inclusive way–with problematizing me being me. It is important to note this because it can be easy to problematize oneself being oneself in such a scenario.

When I do the dishes in a timely manner, I do it for myself. I might, for example, make sure that there are no dirty dishes to attend to before I go to bed because I have reason to believe that waking up and getting my day started during the next morning will be most refreshing if there are no dirty dishes to attend to. In such a scenario, the potential for me having a refreshing morning is what moves me to do the dishes.

Sometimes, there is potential for my act of doing the dishes being perceived as an act that is for another person or many persons. This may be during a time where I am living with a roommate or multiple roommates. It is a potential that I do not enjoy paying respects to, but is also one that I recognize the benefits of paying respects to.

If I want to be mindful of other people’s senses of responsibility, obligation, and/or attachment towards certain things, then I should also be mindful of how dirty dishes get attended to at home.