So work weekends remind us that cohousing isn't just about living with people you know or getting to know people better, or building community, or getting someone to deliver applesauce and bannanas when you literally can't leave one room of your house.
No, cohousing isn't really about fun, cohousing is about work! Work to make decisions, work to eat, work to get the toilets cleaned and the kids room picked up, and work to get the garden planted and weeded and tilled, probably not in that order. And work to get the food turned into dinner and work to get the environmentally friendly hand rags into the environmentally friendly washer, and then, if we really wanted to be environmentally friendly, we'd get them hung up on the line and then down and folded and back in the rest room. Which is, as I mentioned earlier.
So I'd like to tell you a story about getting work done in here at Mosaic Commons. I’m a minister and the stories I hear are of course confidential, so I'll tell you this completely true story by changing some of the details, and by adjusting parts of it to be more fantastic, and of course by changing the names of those people involved. In fact, I can tell you that you won't have any idea who I am talking about...
So, in my religious tradition, the whole world was created in six days. We don't know how long those days were, maybe they were a billion years, maybe 1,575,652 years, maybe each year took a different amount of time, but there were six of them, count'm one two three four five six. And then some time to rest.
In cohousing, where there is such an emphasis on work, you might guess that we'd get things done faster. But you would be wrong.
So let me tell you the story about changing a light bulb at Mosaic Commons. So a certain person who shall not be named, but who looks exactly like Judy, noticed once, here at Mosaic that there was a light bulb out in the common house. So she asked one of those people who seem to act like they know everything, and who make up answers if they don't know everything, and still act like they are in charge what to do. We'll call that person, um, say. Liz.
And Liz said, look there is a tall man over there, sitting with his son and his cell phone doing, well, lets call it "research". Let's call him, a completely made up name, say, um. Dave.
So Judy asked Dave about the light bulb, and he said "oh yeah, it is dark in here" and he picked up his phone and wrote some things down and headed out of the room, we imagined to fix the light bulb.
And it was morning, and it was light, the first day
But two days later Judy noticed the light was still out and made a comment to, lets call him, um, Ken. And this person we are calling Ken explained in great detail that we have ballasts and the one the builder put in is not right, and the bulbs are burning out early and the problem is not the light it is the ballast. And half an hour later you have to go and you go away relieved that Ken knows what to do.
And it was evening, and it was night, the third day.
And three days later this person who likes the common house to be neat and organized and spends much of her time emptying out the lost and found, and returning glassware and flatware to there homes, this woman, I'll call her, say, Mary, Mary noticed that the light was out.
This was the sixth day.
She also asked someone who claims to know everything, and makes up the answer if she does not, we'll call this person, um, Liz. And Liz suggested she email bng and so she did. So Mary sends an email and it bounces, because she is not on the bng list. So she sends a note to geekery to say that the BNG list didn't accept her note.
And two days later she's sees a computer professional and asks for advice, and this person, shall we call this person Dwight? or Tim? or Cat? or Ellen? Any way some person who knows all about computers and the ways they go wrong, this person says "we didn't get your email, but we'll check on it".
And it was evening, and it was night, the eighth day.
So Ellen sees your email and reminds you that is not the usual email address you use for mosaic stuff, and that is why it didn't go to bng.
So the note is rewritten, and resent from the correct email and reached bng. And they order new light bulbs, and new ballasts, and they realize they need a taller ladder to get to the light.
And it was evening and it was morning, 12 days and the light bulb is now here, and that is good.
So Perley sends a note to common resources (whose email address is furnishings); common resources says yes, we'd love to buy a ladder, but they need to know what kind bng would like. So they wait for three days and Perley doesn't respond and someone notices that they forgot to include Perley in the reply, since he is not on that list he didn't get the message. So it gets sent again.
Evening, night, you got it.15 days.
Perley looks up ladders, and sends a proposal, but they seem crazy expensive so Sarah starts looking on craig's list for used ladders, but after a week she hasn't found one so now she thinks it's ok to buy a new one.
22 days.
So we order it online and it is cheaper if it is delivered to Lowes, so we have it delivered. Three days later we hear that it is in,
24 days.
Sandy says she can pick it up, but we figure out that her car is not long enough to hold the ladder. So a few days later Steph borrows the truck and goes to pick up the ladder, but she is told that only the person who paid for the ladder can pick it up. Diana is in Cambridge and can't get it until tomorrow.
27 days.
So the ladder, the light bulb, and the ballast are here and it is good.
And Ross, who I will not name, but who is very tall, walks into the common house, and says wow, it's dark. And he walks over to cabinets around the fire place, pulls out a light bulb, and reaches into the hanging lamp and replaces the bulb.
So actually it just takes one person about five minutes to replace a light bulb.
No, cohousing isn't really about fun, cohousing is about work! Work to make decisions, work to eat, work to get the toilets cleaned and the kids room picked up, and work to get the garden planted and weeded and tilled, probably not in that order. And work to get the food turned into dinner and work to get the environmentally friendly hand rags into the environmentally friendly washer, and then, if we really wanted to be environmentally friendly, we'd get them hung up on the line and then down and folded and back in the rest room. Which is, as I mentioned earlier.
So I'd like to tell you a story about getting work done in here at Mosaic Commons. I’m a minister and the stories I hear are of course confidential, so I'll tell you this completely true story by changing some of the details, and by adjusting parts of it to be more fantastic, and of course by changing the names of those people involved. In fact, I can tell you that you won't have any idea who I am talking about...
So, in my religious tradition, the whole world was created in six days. We don't know how long those days were, maybe they were a billion years, maybe 1,575,652 years, maybe each year took a different amount of time, but there were six of them, count'm one two three four five six. And then some time to rest.
In cohousing, where there is such an emphasis on work, you might guess that we'd get things done faster. But you would be wrong.
So let me tell you the story about changing a light bulb at Mosaic Commons. So a certain person who shall not be named, but who looks exactly like Judy, noticed once, here at Mosaic that there was a light bulb out in the common house. So she asked one of those people who seem to act like they know everything, and who make up answers if they don't know everything, and still act like they are in charge what to do. We'll call that person, um, say. Liz.
And Liz said, look there is a tall man over there, sitting with his son and his cell phone doing, well, lets call it "research". Let's call him, a completely made up name, say, um. Dave.
So Judy asked Dave about the light bulb, and he said "oh yeah, it is dark in here" and he picked up his phone and wrote some things down and headed out of the room, we imagined to fix the light bulb.
And it was morning, and it was light, the first day
But two days later Judy noticed the light was still out and made a comment to, lets call him, um, Ken. And this person we are calling Ken explained in great detail that we have ballasts and the one the builder put in is not right, and the bulbs are burning out early and the problem is not the light it is the ballast. And half an hour later you have to go and you go away relieved that Ken knows what to do.
And it was evening, and it was night, the third day.
And three days later this person who likes the common house to be neat and organized and spends much of her time emptying out the lost and found, and returning glassware and flatware to there homes, this woman, I'll call her, say, Mary, Mary noticed that the light was out.
This was the sixth day.
She also asked someone who claims to know everything, and makes up the answer if she does not, we'll call this person, um, Liz. And Liz suggested she email bng and so she did. So Mary sends an email and it bounces, because she is not on the bng list. So she sends a note to geekery to say that the BNG list didn't accept her note.
And two days later she's sees a computer professional and asks for advice, and this person, shall we call this person Dwight? or Tim? or Cat? or Ellen? Any way some person who knows all about computers and the ways they go wrong, this person says "we didn't get your email, but we'll check on it".
And it was evening, and it was night, the eighth day.
So Ellen sees your email and reminds you that is not the usual email address you use for mosaic stuff, and that is why it didn't go to bng.
So the note is rewritten, and resent from the correct email and reached bng. And they order new light bulbs, and new ballasts, and they realize they need a taller ladder to get to the light.
And it was evening and it was morning, 12 days and the light bulb is now here, and that is good.
So Perley sends a note to common resources (whose email address is furnishings); common resources says yes, we'd love to buy a ladder, but they need to know what kind bng would like. So they wait for three days and Perley doesn't respond and someone notices that they forgot to include Perley in the reply, since he is not on that list he didn't get the message. So it gets sent again.
Evening, night, you got it.15 days.
Perley looks up ladders, and sends a proposal, but they seem crazy expensive so Sarah starts looking on craig's list for used ladders, but after a week she hasn't found one so now she thinks it's ok to buy a new one.
22 days.
So we order it online and it is cheaper if it is delivered to Lowes, so we have it delivered. Three days later we hear that it is in,
24 days.
Sandy says she can pick it up, but we figure out that her car is not long enough to hold the ladder. So a few days later Steph borrows the truck and goes to pick up the ladder, but she is told that only the person who paid for the ladder can pick it up. Diana is in Cambridge and can't get it until tomorrow.
27 days.
So the ladder, the light bulb, and the ballast are here and it is good.
And Ross, who I will not name, but who is very tall, walks into the common house, and says wow, it's dark. And he walks over to cabinets around the fire place, pulls out a light bulb, and reaches into the hanging lamp and replaces the bulb.
So actually it just takes one person about five minutes to replace a light bulb.
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