Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large. 

I got a couch

Recently I finally bought a couch for my studio space - after over two years of first moving in. FYI: the inflation crisis have reached the furniture space as well. I had no idea simple armchairs are so expensive. Even the vaunted IKEA value pricing cannot salve the situation. You’re looking at $400 starting for a typical chair. Get additive like I did - I bought a chaise-style lounge chair with side armrests - and the final bill was over $900. This thing had better last a very long time.

The primary reason for getting the chaise is so I can relax in front of the television. Now that I’ve converted to sitting on the floor for my office/workstation desk, I need an actual chair for entertainment watching (I no longer have an office chair). It is indeed nice to be able to lounge on a fat couch after a hard day’s work, or on a lazy Saturday afternoon. Perhaps I can even take a nap! I loathe to get in bed without first showering, so I could never take naps on my actual bed. I realize most other folks don’t have such quirky idiosyncrasy.

A comfy couch does introduce a new problem: utter laziness. Soon as I collapse into the chaise’s warm embrace, I really don’t want to get out of it. Just this past week alone, I missed two days of morning writing, simply because I lounged on the chair first to drink the morning coffee. It’s too easy to zone out and be lackadaisical. Which is why I’m typing this out right now, on a Saturday - got to make up for the missed days!

I think the strategy going forward is to only be on the couch after I’ve done the day’s work. The enjoyment of doing nothing should only come after having done something. There should be no reward without first the work!

Grayscale.

I try KonMari method

I spent this past weekend cleaning out my room in accordance to the KonMari method. I tossed away anything that I haven't used in the past year, and for things of sentiment/ornament, I kept only those that "sparked joy." Following those restrictions led to quite the production, as I literally spent the entire Saturday sorting and collating, resulting in 10 trash-bag full of junk. My closet has never been so barren yet utterly organized. 

You know how you never realize how much stuff you've accumulated until you need to move? The KonMari method does the same thing, only this time instead of moving the stuff to a new place, much of the stuff is headed for the trash-bin. Of the 10 trash-bags I threw out, three was clothing, which is amazing because I've always thought I skew towards the frugal side when it comes to clothing allowances. Turns out even someone like me who seldom buy clothes can still end up with three bags worth of items not worn in the past 12 months. 

Packing for travel will be much easier, because nearly all the clothing I now own can fit inside the 29-inch roller bag. 

A room that's gone through the KonMari tidying method is absolutely transformative. When I woke up on Sunday morning after laboring all day Saturday, there was a strangeness to the room that I've never felt before. It had the impression of the halfway point between my room of old and a freshly-cleaned hotel room. It was a new strange, but it felt instantly comfortable and inviting. Everything single item within the room, without reservation, elicited a positive interaction/reaction, and for me that's the ultimate magic of KonMari method. 

Henceforth I shall be much more deliberate in keeping things that don't make me happy away from my room.