Ya Bunch of E-bags!
The second Urgoth the Defiler story is now live, “Urgoth the Defiler: Deuce Ex Machina.” What’s a little flower theft among friends?
Having had a frustrating weekend as a result of my apartment, I got to imagining my dream house. It definitely does not take the form of a big-ass timber & drywall mansion. Maybe because I’ve lived in too many geriatric homes, like in the basement of a cockroach-infested Victorian-esque pile or the small farm house with a distinctly bowl-shaped second bedroom, but I don’t see bright, shiny new houses as they are. I always see them as they will be: decrepit, full of rotten wood and with a thousand niches opening up like so many vortices into an insect-filled plane, through which our six-legged enemies seep like water through stone.
Gross, in other words. And insects will always find a way into our homes. Hell, we like to live there, all warm and toasty and jammed with food so it makes perfect sense. But beyond building several thousands of inter dimensional highways into the Lairs of the Insect Lords, what repels me from standard construction is the sharp line between inside and outside. Even back when I struggled with the dynamics of figuring out why not to push on both bicycle pedals at once I felt a deep sense of longing after the day was through and I was hustled inside the house. Just like the toys that I’d pack up into my toybox, so I felt put away and dormant until I set foot out the door first thing in the morning. And unlike those toys, I didn’t even have a plastic, spring-loaded missile launcher molded onto my arm with which to entertain myself, just a whiny voice and an increasingly annoyed older brother.
So in the classic gambit of spending my adult life pursuing everything I ever wanted as a child (Hey Mom, guess what? I cook bacon at 2 in the morning just because I want some bacon.) I’ve been looking into homes that don’t come with the sharp black line of inside and outside so that I don’t have to put myself away at night, so I don’t have to “go inside when the streetlights turn on.” After scouring through architecture websites and magazines, I’ve also come to marry that desire with my emergent enviro-hippie attitude towards home building.
I’ve been researching low-impact homes, the sort so green that certain wavelengths are hurled away from them with such force that they make a tiny crunchy sound when they hit the cornea. I’ve stumbled upon earthbag housing (an article at Mother Earth News and a detailed book on the subject) which, although having some classic architectural elements (i.e. doors and windows) doesn’t make me think of being put away. Earthbag construction is just what it sounds like. The builders (i.e. me and anyone who can be lured with beer and pizza) stuff bags with dirt and build layers of them held together with strands of barbed wire, and put a plaster seal over the whole building, wall, or whatever they’re constructing. You’re living with the earth all around you and it also saves tons of pollutants from being produced. If you’re careful with construction you can even build the structure into a hill or create a living roof over it. Plus, you know, you get to play with dirt and fucking barbed wire.
Sure, it’s labor intensive and not everyone has the time to build them; and yes, there are still plenty of bugs surrounding the dwelling, but hell, at least I didn’t go out of my way to hasten the coming reign of the Insect Lords.
