Hello, Workspace

I watched Under the Tuscan Sun the other night, in the middle of the night.  There is a scene where she talks about introducing yourself to a new house and figuring out how to make it into a home. It shows her moving a desk in front of a window and making her workspace.

My office is kind of multi-purpose.  Lucy's crate is in here.  There is lots of racecar stuff in here: photos, trophies, magazines.  My books are in here, one giant bookcase and one smaller.  Inexplicably there are two closets.  One is Monica's closet, where everything gets tossed until "later" and the other, smaller closet is the Racecar Closet.  It has an actual set of rear tires stored in it.

I used to have a student desk that someone gave us and an old, old CPU.  I wrote an entire book and hundreds of posts with those.  But with time, the CPU died and the desk wasn't functional anymore.  But I wrote much more back then so I was trying to figure out what has changed.  Some of it is just life but that excuse doesn't get anyone very far.

Now I have a giant oak desk that weighs approximately one million pounds.  I impulsively bought it from Craigslist years ago, much to Kevin's dismay.  It's totally fair, it's six foot by four foot in size. I could easily make it into a daybed.

When my cpu died, I replaced it with my old work laptop   This has been fine but not great. The shift key is moody. I tend to lean over when typing, not a good look.  My dinosaur laptop is so old that it runs Vista and no longer receives updates for anything.  I fully expect it to deep sigh one day and never turn on again.  But I love it and I don't want a new laptop.  I do have a newer one that Windows 8 ruined so now it's just used for the racecar.  Even when it was new, I was "meh" about it.

I think I need keyboard.  I covet the steampunk ones but could never justify the cost for a good one.  I'd be happy with one of those ergonomic ones that everyone but me hates. But LOOK:

And my chair is also from the old house.  It doesn't really fit this too-big-desk or me.  I need to find an alternative but I just never think about it until I sit in it, like I am now.  I really want an old school mid-century modern desk chair to match the desk but not enough to search and pay what is bound to be good money for it.

This is not a good example but it's the style.  I've seen them in Yellow or Orange

The lighting in here is perfect, the window looks at the rock garden so it's not distracting, it's at the back of the house, away from everything. It's mostly a great room.  If I'm alone, Lucy will hang out with me while I write. I have a small stereo back here but prefer to write while wearing my headphones to thwart the a.d.d.  Said certain puppy makes this impossible though.

The desk tends toward being a catch-all.  It's cluttered and my brain can't function in clutter.  This is a simple fix but I know that will create other projects.  Some things are from my old job and I am just not as invested in my job to drag it into my office.  Some might say: let it go then.  Some might shut it.

I've tried to relocate out to the kitchen table but there are too many distractions there.  I can only manage that when I'm on break and even then only with mild success. I don't think I will ever be the kind of writer who sits in a coffee shop and writes. Even with headphones.   I don't understand those people at all.

My vision won't allow me to type on a tablet and that's super frustrating.  I don't know what I'm going to do when that will be the only option.  I've used what i call "speak and spell" on my phone but that can create interesting and hilarious editing needs.  My work computer is shiny new and I have two monitors, fast internet, and that is really a special kind of heaven.  But: work computer.

So, I'm thinking I'm going to clear surfaces and see what I can reconfigure.  I'm going to surf craigslist for an old chair.  I have to research converting back to a cpu and screen set-up. But if we're being honest, we know I'm totally going to wait until my beloved laptop breathes it's last.  And if I do decide that is the way to go, I'm going to need a cool keyboard. Obvs.

The point being, for a place where I spend a lot of time, I need to re-introduce myself to this space and figure it out.  As long as the desk doesn't need moving.

I swear the carpet isn't pink, it just photographs that way.
And yes, there are pillows everywhere because a puppy used to stand on my desk.

you thought I was joking.