Before you say something smartassy such as it’s about me or Somara setting the house on fire, that weak joke was already used yesterday. Maybe I should’ve gone with something super nerdy like Memory Alpha.
If you’re stumped, Alexandria is the famous library built in Northern Egypt by the Greeks of the Hellenistic Age that survived a few centuries and several fires until it was eliminated of anything good between 300 AD and when the Arabs conquered the area.
In attempt to rid our house of clutter which has plagued it shortly after we moved in eight years ago, we decided last week to convert Somara’s Office/Bedroom into the Library and my Office/Bedroom would become the joint Office. By consolidating all the media in our house to one (hopefully) well-organized room to serve this purpose, it would create a more space in the Living Room, (new) Office and Master Bedroom. I had been arguing against any more bookshelves elsewhere because it gave the house a claustrophobic feeling; it made our home look more like a Half Price Books franchise. I chose to surrender my Office anyway since I end up doing more of my writing, bookkeeping and music reviewing at coffee shops, my friends’ extra business space and numerous hotspots around Austin.
Today we could really get started. Somara’s shift at Apple now coincides with mine so we can work together on this major undertaking which will involve mutual nagging to complete it. I worked out an outline and proposed that we tackle this in small chunks as I did on the kitchen in 2005, the results will happen gradually but I think it’s better than trying to do it in several, all-day, exhausting frenzies. It’s a modified version of what my anxiety doctor calls SPACE. I am leaving his office a voice mail on what the letters stand for again. He is a doctor alright, his handwriting can be pretty hard to read.
Here is the plan on where everything will go in our Library.
Somara started on the Library which is practically a storage shed and I took the Office which will be the interim storage shed. To keep us more focused, we used a timer to sound an alarm after an hour, then took a 10-15 minute break followed by another hour and break. We wrapped it up with another 30 minutes to put everything away that wasn’t completed. When we pick up again, I’m not immediately sure. I am hoping for a couple hours during the weekdays to stay on target. We want to clear space to take measurements of the walls for shelving plans. Should the numbers (financial and spatial) go in Somara’s favor, we may be able to put a couch in there and have the long overdue Guest Room we both desire; nobody has spent the night in years.
Should I ever figure out how to make pages in WordPress, I want to make Alexandria a separate section. Meanwhile, here are a couple pictures demonstrating Before and After One.
What this room has looked like for years.
I am open to any of those cable show people coming over to help. They tend to throw in some money redecorating the joint and I’m not averse to such freebies. However, I would prefer the assistance from a friend we have who excels at organization. I only hope my humorous gift doesn’t shoo her away.
Not dramatic, but it is a start and it can only improve.