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(October 06, 2007)

I'm not only catching up on my Diary writing, but also on my reading. I last left some people in mid-action. So McC and the houseboy have successfully moved and the new place looks great. I have that exact baker's rack. Instead of Elvis in the bathroom, I have Lucille Ball in the kitchen. I don't have a porn shower, but I've got a Finding Nemo bathroom.

I'm inspired, I'll take some pictures too!

I love my apartment. You know, the building is like a hundred years old and it is merely a one-bedroom, but I really LOVE this apartment. I love the shape of the rooms, I love the alcoves and the angles. I love the number of closets. I love the high ceilings. I even love the hardwood floors. I love the view out onto Comm Ave. If I wish anything it is...I guess I wish that we had one more large room (or two small rooms), and the bathroom could stand to be a bit bigger. It isn't insanely small. It isn't as small as my Marion Street bathroom (which was twice the size of my Trull Street one!) but it's a long rectangle, leaving scant room for furniture. Square rooms are better. Or L shaped. In a long rectangle you got no options. I've always wanted a bathroom that could fit a hutch for linens and supplies and an organized trio of hampers.

But Hub and Kelly came over yesterday (more about that in the next entry!) and in their marveling about how nice the place looks, I was all, "yeah, I really think so too."

I took some pictures. In doing so, it occurred to me that our place bears the spatial philosophy of a mobile home. It isn't enough to have a coffee table -- the coffee table has to be useful as a work/eating surface and also hold games, oversized books and small electronics. It's nice to have stuff on the walls, but why not make the stuff your musical instruments and collections? Floor-to-ceiling space can't be overlooked either. That was a problem before I moved in, Joe had bare walls and short furniture. Go high with your shit! We have these high ceilings, so why not stack shit until it's eight feet tall.

In the below shot, this is what you see when you come in the door. I found that lamp at AJ Wright, it is an homage to an old telephone. I thought it was cool. That plant is still alive -- it's like ten years old. Hub's place of work sent it to him in the hospital when he had his appendix out, so we used to call it "appendix plant." It's been clipped a hundred times. That's my cordless drill sitting on the wicker linen trunk. It was a present from Joe. I don't give a crap about jewelry -- I want tools.

Below is the kitchen. Every item that can be hung from a rack is hung from a rack. Next I'm going to check out pot/pan ceiling racks, I think I have a way to make the pots and pans situation better (the cabinet they're in becomes a pan-alanche every time you need one). The kitchen island was iffy at first (Hub and Kelly reminded me that the last time they saw the place was the day HE moved from Marion Street and brought me the kitchen island!) In Marion Street it was an island in the center of the huge kitchen, but here it sort of defines the kitchen area by straddling the otherwise dead space between the living room and kitchen. Very useful. I'm out of potatoes, those are cough drops in the potato basket. Hm, time to get more onions and garlic too. Lucille Ball isn't in the shot, she's nailed to the wall above the baker's rack. The canisters hold tea, sugar and Crystal Lites.

This is taken from the kitchen looking back into the living room. I was sitting in front of the laptop before I got up just now to take these photos. I'd shoved the table aside so it's askew. You can just about see my red coffee cup. And Orson Lebear. He's been with me since I was ten. Those are Joe's digeridoo's on the wall, and a steel drum his sister brought him from the tropics, a painting my mother did and some of my nun collection. Nuns. Did you see the nun hand towels in the kitchen? And how cool is that coffee table that opens up, huh? The light switch is for the bathroom light, the bathroom being to the left. ('the fuck is up with the grime around the light switch? A pause while I hit that with some 409, and no I'm not re-taking the shot, you live with the wall grime.)

Below is looking into Joe's studio. That's Joe doing what he's usually doing on the weekends. The curtains close if need be. Windows span the whole wall, looking out onto Comm Ave. Today the shade is drawn against the heat (hi, 80 degrees in October?) His studio has a big double-closet.

Basically the room next to this living room is our bedroom. It's the same size, with two big double-closets. Off the bedroom is another alcove -- that is MY studio, same window set-up, looking out onto Comm Ave. (It's a godawful mess right now, but I'll straighten it up and take some pictures of my studio too.)

The Finding Nemo bathroom. We need toothpaste and mouthwash. That's Joe's pink comb that he's had since he was a teenager.

Long rectangle. Totally tiled, floor to ceiling. Who does that anymore? I installed that white peg rack.

Well that's half of it. Home!