No Room for the Bookcase
I've been meaning to purge the piles of last quarter's work since June. And since many think I spend summer holding down the couch and eating bon-bons, it seemed a good time to rise up and take on the challenge of organization. But I couldn't do it until I had a place to put the piles. Therein lies the true stumbling block: I needed a bookcase.
These piles have been neatly collecting dust and pet hair (from Ichus, the cat and Sadie and Magic, the dogs--none of which live in my 10x10/1k a month apt., but their fur is everywhere) for several weeks. I've managed to ignore the piles because they were strategically hidden under my kitchen table, which serves as my primary workspace. Again, the apartment is small. So G and I drove to the closest WalMart (miles and miles away, as SB is too damned good to have anything close to a super-store other than Linens 'n Shits), bought a low-quality bookcase and made him put it together while I went out for dinner with girlfriends. Little did I think of WHERE to put the bookcase.
Truthfully, there is only SO MUCH room in my humble abode, leaving two options for bookcase placement: under the bed or outside. Really, there are two possible areas of "wall" to work with, but one requires taking a box-cutter to the bookcase and the other would block a third of the light that comes into my apartment through one of three windows. I opted for slicing the new bookcase and forcing it into the corner, behind the futon and over the first of two outlets in the place. (Are you getting the picture of limited living space here?)
Now that the bookcase is functional--thanks to G (even though he complained about its placement)--all I have to do is fill it. Four days later (no kidding) the bookcase is only half full and the kitchen/office/storage area--where the stove and computer printer are located, making perfect sense--looks a mess. Why you ask? Not only did I have to pull out the hairy piles of work from last quarter, spread them across the floor, color-code, alphabetize and collate each, but I had to pull out ALL THE WORK I've done over the last two-and-some years and do the same!
For the normal person, this may have taken a good day's work. But for me, it turned into a 9-5 job, including trips to RiteAid to buy several white three-ring binders with clear pockets on the front and spine so as to ease labeling and naps to recuperate from the trauma of revisiting my MA and all the writing and reading I've EVER done since. (Read: a whole lotta shit). I've filled two copy-paper boxes with papers to be recycled and have finally managed to pool most of my academic work (including readers, textbooks, teaching paraphenalia, etc.) into one six-foot plywood "with attractive wood laminant finish" bookcase.
I'm still trying to sort through the aftermath, as the bookcase is happily filled and organized but many, many documents and books are left in a path of destruction. There are texts I'm not sure I want to part with and files with old handouts and the like that I'm afraid I might need in the future. So it may take me a full week to complete the task that began as a simple musing like, "Gee, I should file those papers" and turned into an adventure of control issues, defeat and hopefully soon: triumph.
These piles have been neatly collecting dust and pet hair (from Ichus, the cat and Sadie and Magic, the dogs--none of which live in my 10x10/1k a month apt., but their fur is everywhere) for several weeks. I've managed to ignore the piles because they were strategically hidden under my kitchen table, which serves as my primary workspace. Again, the apartment is small. So G and I drove to the closest WalMart (miles and miles away, as SB is too damned good to have anything close to a super-store other than Linens 'n Shits), bought a low-quality bookcase and made him put it together while I went out for dinner with girlfriends. Little did I think of WHERE to put the bookcase.
Truthfully, there is only SO MUCH room in my humble abode, leaving two options for bookcase placement: under the bed or outside. Really, there are two possible areas of "wall" to work with, but one requires taking a box-cutter to the bookcase and the other would block a third of the light that comes into my apartment through one of three windows. I opted for slicing the new bookcase and forcing it into the corner, behind the futon and over the first of two outlets in the place. (Are you getting the picture of limited living space here?)
Now that the bookcase is functional--thanks to G (even though he complained about its placement)--all I have to do is fill it. Four days later (no kidding) the bookcase is only half full and the kitchen/office/storage area--where the stove and computer printer are located, making perfect sense--looks a mess. Why you ask? Not only did I have to pull out the hairy piles of work from last quarter, spread them across the floor, color-code, alphabetize and collate each, but I had to pull out ALL THE WORK I've done over the last two-and-some years and do the same!
For the normal person, this may have taken a good day's work. But for me, it turned into a 9-5 job, including trips to RiteAid to buy several white three-ring binders with clear pockets on the front and spine so as to ease labeling and naps to recuperate from the trauma of revisiting my MA and all the writing and reading I've EVER done since. (Read: a whole lotta shit). I've filled two copy-paper boxes with papers to be recycled and have finally managed to pool most of my academic work (including readers, textbooks, teaching paraphenalia, etc.) into one six-foot plywood "with attractive wood laminant finish" bookcase.
I'm still trying to sort through the aftermath, as the bookcase is happily filled and organized but many, many documents and books are left in a path of destruction. There are texts I'm not sure I want to part with and files with old handouts and the like that I'm afraid I might need in the future. So it may take me a full week to complete the task that began as a simple musing like, "Gee, I should file those papers" and turned into an adventure of control issues, defeat and hopefully soon: triumph.
posted by Hootah at 10:24 AM
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