Disorganized modern household

Peter and I both have some vague, hazy recollection of having noted the arrival of a bill for cable TV and discussing which of us would pay it, although we can’t remember now how many months ago that might have been and which decision we really reached at the time about which of us would pay it.
Apparently neither of us did.

Recently it seems that someone had the bright idea of trying to watch one of the EURO 08 games on TV, but the TV didn’t seem to be working. This was by no means a crisis, since watching the EURO 08 games is far more entertaining outdoors at an art center on a big screen with lots of other interesting people. In this way, however, we have meanwhile realized that the cable provider must have turned off the connection, presumably because we didn’t pay the bill. No one has the slightest idea how many months ago that might have happened. Television is clearly obsolete.

When we first moved into this flat and were presented with the option of cable TV and radio from the start, we hesitated slightly because of the expense, but then decided to go along with the rest of the house and get it. We thought it might be more interesting to be able to get BBC on the radio and perhaps even occasionally films in the original language, rather than just the dull films dubbed in German on Austrian television. When the boys were little and their time in front of the television was strictly limited to a total of two hours – with breaks in between – on Saturday and Sunday mornings (so that their parents could stay in bed and read in peace), it was in fact an advantage that they could choose from programs in English on BBC and Cartoon Network (for which reason they still remember the “Bodger and Badger” theme song and the death of Princess Diana that interrupted their favorite Saturday morning programs and brought all the adults running to watch the news instead of fixing the problem).

I don’t recall that we ever made much use of cable radio, however. For most of the boys’ school career, our early mornings were structured by the rhythm of the Austrian Ö1 morning program, and they needed to be out the door by the time the 7:00 headlines finished. Then at some point the radio stopped working. I wanted to surprise Peter at Christmas (which Christmas?) by replacing it, but it was not possible to buy a single radio component that didn’t cost more than all the stereo components together. At some point – I think it might have been last summer – Christopher was assigned the task of taking down all the components from the shelf where they are stacked, so that they could be cleaned and rearranged and reconnected, and I could take the radio component to be repaired at a shop where the nice technicians assured me they could do that. This has not yet happened. The radio has not been heard in our household for many moons, and the boys leave later every day for school.

Does it matter? The boys getting to school late every day might conceivably become a problem – or it might just be a family tradition, since I don’t think their father ever arrived punctually at school (or anywhere else for that matter) in his life. Although I miss the rhythm of the morning radio program, which was more soothing than my exasperated scolding now, we all get the news we are interested in from the newspaper and magazines – and the computer. We all get the music we like from CDs – and the computer. We all watch what we are interested in, at times when it is convenient, on DVDs – and the computer.

So with a household full of computers, why would we still need radio and television?

Obviously, Peter and I still need to look for this bill and pay it, because just losing it is not really very responsible, but on the whole, I think this is one household expense we could probably do without. The more uncomfortable question this raises, though, is what else we might have “lost”.

The problem is that there is a black hole at the end of our kitchen counter. As often as I have complained about things being left on the end of the kitchen counter, I am clearly outnumbered and lacking something like solidarity, or at least sympathy for the problem. This black hole at the end of the kitchen counter sucks into itself anything flat: Linux magazines, notices about “frequent flyer” miles and special offers, theater announcements, invitations to exhibition openings, the newspaper from the Green Party (always two copies), the newspaper from the Austrian Communist Party (three copies), announcements from the Young Socialists (indeterminate number), school communications, miscellaneous advertising brochures, superfluous flyers – and bills. And probably any number of other vital papers that I am not aware of.

So, basically, while we are well equipped with the most modern means to meet all media needs for communication, information and entertainment, this household is otherwise appallingly, disgracefully disorganized, and somebody needs to do something about it.

Somebody … somebody … somebody …

Lost Month

Now where did May go?

In part, of course, May went to Berlin for a few days, where I enjoyed an art marathon with friends at the Berlin Biennale. Another part of May went to Amsterdam, where I thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the Eclectic Tech Carnival that I co-organized in Linz last year.

What was more or less overlooked along the way was that I became the mother of a grown-up son: Christopher turned 18 on May 28th. Although I had discussed it with him beforehand, I'm afraid I must really be a terribly negligent mother for not celebrating such a momentous occasion with him. On the whole, it seems that Christopher became an adult (at least legally, officially an adult - I haven't really noticed much difference yet) very quietly. I'm not quite sure what to think about that.

I think I am also noticing a certain pattern: every time I go anywhere at all, I seem to end up three times the period I was gone behind in my work. In other words, I am now over three weeks behind schedule. Once again, I am convinced that our calculation of time is no longer working and needs to be reformed.

At some point in May, Christopher managed to pass French. He gave an oral presentation about May 1968 in Paris, which he obviously enjoyed preparing, and since talking is what Christopher does best, it went well enough to ensure a passing grade this semester. We are all hoping he might also be able to pass Spanish in the same way with an oral presentation on the Spanish Civil War, but that remains to be seen.

In the meantime, he needs to pass a math test tomorrow. Since Friday the house has been full of teenagers studying math together, but yesterday evening they all went off to watch the soccer world championship match at a public screening together. Today I was rather amused by Christopher's concern that he didn't receive my text message last night. I keep a text message stored in my phone that says, "Where are you and when will you be home?", which I regularly send to Christopher – and now increasingly often to Patrick as well – generally some time between one and two am. Since it was Saturday night and everyone had been working hard and clearly needed to unwind a bit (especially Seth was getting quite wound up about math problems), I didn't expect anyone to be home at a reasonable hour, so I didn't bother sending the message. However, Christopher has meanwhile so internalized this message that he says it has turned around now, and he starts worrying about me, if he doesn't get a message that I am at home worrying about him.

Peter left for San Francisco the day after I returned from Amsterdam, so it feels as though I really haven't seen much of him this month. The boys have done a reasonably good job taking over for him. Yesterday Paddy and Seth quite efficiently took care of the weekly grocery shopping for us, and today the boys made Wiener Schnitzel with potatoes as a nice Sunday lunch. However, Christopher still does a better job on the kitchen than anyone else in this household, at least when he is home to do it. Somehow it seems that the boys are especially cooperative about taking over household chores when they are studying hard. Peter will get home from San Francisco tomorrow, then I think we will all more or less stay put in Linz, at least for the rest of June. I'm afraid it will take me that long to catch up again on work.