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So, I was thinking about Jeff and the house situation because of the cat pee situation and it reminded me of a conversation that we have yet to have but has been I think brewing or at least maybe I'm ignoring it or I don't know.
As anyone who knows me knows I have a big StarWars action figure collection. It is up on my wall over my computer, which coincidentally is in the living room. Now part of Jeff's issue with living in our house is that the "shared" spaces are sort of lorded over by Becca and I. I mean ALL the furniture in the living room is ours. And all the pictures and everything in the living room is ours as well. He sort of feels like the house isn't really "homey" due to this fact and I think to a certain degree he is embarased by some of this stuff.
When becca and I decided to stay in our current apartment we expressed an interest in getting some better furnature in the living room. Maybe making things a little more grown up...or at least have less of a hand me down feeling. Jeff showed enthusiasm for this plan. This plan however will cost money and the main reason that Becca and I decided to stay in the apartment for the time being was to SAVE money. We especially wanted to pay off our credit cards. We've been doing pretty good at this so far. In fact since we decided to stay I've knocked nearly 2500 bucks off my credit card debt (not to mention about 600 bucks off my student loans.) So we haven't made great in-roads towards buying new furniture because neither of us is in a ding dang hurry to run up our paid off credit cards any time soon. This is also the reason we haven't been making an effort to do any large scale vacationing this summer.
Of course I wouldn't stop Jeff from buying some new couches if he felt so inclined...but anyone who knows Jeff will be quick to tell you that him spending any large sum of money on home furnashings would be akin to the Pope spending a lot of money on skimpy G-String bikinis...not impossible...but highly improbable. So one day he left me this message on my voice mail that said something to the effect of...in the interest of making the house more "grown up" why not take down the action figures. Now he prefaced this with the qualification that as I knew he was totally "down" with the action figures and that he was totally "into it" but implied that he was perhaps in the minority of people who would accept such an admittedly bizare habit.
I called him back and told him truthfully that Becca and I had discussed it and that we hadn't decided what we were going to do with the action figures.
This was no joke. We really hadn't decided what to do with them...but the cold chill of obstinant umbrage began to form like a fist in my stomach. For those of you who might need insight into why a grown man would hang children's toys on the wall here is my take on. I'm not a huge Star Wars fan. Oh don't get me wrong. I loved the first three films...but not more than say I loved the Fifth Element or Dune or Star Trek or some other Sci-Fi movie. A New Hope and Empire Strikes back are excellent excellent movies...but even return of the Jedi is a little lame. I"ve never been a big fan of the first twenty minutes of the film (and I am one nerd who thinks princess leia was hotter in her tight white hoth gear than her "slave outfit"). What I like about them is their sort of nostalgic pop cultural signifigance. I think when people come into the house they go, "Oh Cool. Look at all those things!" And they either think, "I remember having that guy" or they think, "Wow I didn't realize they made the fat x-wing pilot". But even if they think, "what the hell is wrong with this guy...why did he waste his time collecting all this shit." That's an appropriate response. If I had some Maplethorpe up on the wall I'm sure some people wouldn't "get it", but that wouldn't stop me from wanting it on the wall...I have it up there for myself. Not anyone else.
The crux of the situation is that I'm not even sure who it is Jeff is trying to impress or who it is that would look at these things with a disapproving eye so much so that it would negativly impact him. I can only assume that the person who disaproves is Jeff himself. But then we get into the sticky situation of who gets to decide what sort of stuff goes up in the "public areas". And to that I say...fuck it. I took all my shit down from the wall leading to Jeff's room...there is still a lot of space in the living room for other wall hangings...I would let Jeff put up whatever he wanted and if someone was to say "what the hell is that incredibly mature looking decoration doing up there?" I'd say...don't ask me, it's Jeff's. Which is what I'd assume he'd say to anyone who asked him about the stupid immature action figures. "oh that shit" he'd say "that's god damned T. Ryan's lame ass shit, what a retard...but what can you do...I mean I do share the house with him...at least he let me put up my "My Dinner With Andre" poster." Which for the record I would let him put up despite my own personal feelings on the film...he has just never asked me to put it into the living room. Or anything else for that matter.
So I submit it to you. I can't be objective on this one. What do you, my readers think. Should I respect Jeff's feelings and take down the action figures in place of something like an oversized "vintage" poster for French Absinthe or should I just arrange them so they occupy less space overall and perhaps establish one section of the wall that is the "action figure" display area.
I'm curious to find out what you think.
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