A Meditation on Space

I live in a tiny apartment. And I dig it. I have a great location over a graphics studio downtown - I am walking distance from everywhere. I am 60 seconds from the nearest major highway. And I have church bells right out my window -- and I am one of those sick monkeys that really digs church bells.

What I do not have is space..

As a result, I use every spare inch of my place for utilitarian purposes. My music collection and book collection are under the bed. My air conditioner in the fall and winter serves as a support for the "shelf" that holds my pots and pans. I do have an elevated storage area in my hallway: an extra foot of clearance above the ceiling lined with a relatively deep shelf - I refer to this as my "basement." This is where I keep my Christmas decorations. Halloween decorations. Tools. Master reels from old recordings. Ad astra.

This way of living is (in a sense) profoundly "un-American." I am not interested in accumulating any more possessions in the traditional sense. I would love a Kitchen-Aid mixer for my kitchen, but I have nowhere to store it. I would frankly love a lot of things. I have come to loathe "gifts." If you like me, do not buy me a "gift" of the sort that comes from a "gift shop." I will re-gift it. Gifter beware.

This has profoundly affected my entertainment behavior. I used to spend all my money on CD's and DVD's, but in recent times, I have sold nearly all my music and video collection in favor of using Rhapsody and BitTorrent services. I will discuss this later in a post entitled "A Meditation on Ownership," but I don't need to OWN my music. I just want to listen to whatever I want whenever I want -- and even in my new "space-driven economy," I can. And it is wonderful. Okay - MOSTLY wonderful. It would be nice to have an X-Box or a Wii system. No matter how you cut it, that is a major space taker. And say what you like about the convenience of watching movies online, nothing beats watching them on that big ol' TV.

There is some risk in owning a bike in this environment. It is especially hard having a bike for my daughter as well. I currently live in the hope that no one gets annoyed with me keeping two bikes in the downstairs landing.

Managing trash and recyclables is also a space-expensive task.

So is playing the cello.

But you know what? I can make it work. And not only that, I LOVE it. My place is cool, trendy, cozy, and I have everything I need. I enjoy living this way. But if you want to get me a gift, the safest bet is to get me something that gets me OUT of the apartment, not something to clutter it!