Monday, January 28, 2008

Apartment Advantages

The advantages of having my own two-bedroom apartment are numerous, but I'm thinking of one that pertains to my success as a student: my office.

Since I am one person with a two bedroom place, I made the logical decision to make one room my sleeping quarters and one room my office/craft room/guest bedroom. Last week I worked to get the office organized, setting up my books, my computer, putting all of my crafty stuff away in the closet, adding lots of books to Library Thing*, etc.

It's a cozy space--my boss gave me a nice, comfortable desk chair (which I really like). The room is a good workspace: well-lit, plenty of room for my stuff, everything within easy reach.

Its chief advantage, however, is that it's small and not easy for Lance to hang out in. Not that I have any problem with Lance hanging out with me, oh no...but when I'm trying to read or do homework while hanging out with Lance, this is usually what happens:
Lance: Hey Jenn, listen to this cool thing!
Me: Dear, I'm trying to read.
Lance: Yeah, I know, but...it'll only take a minute!
Me: *Sighs* Okay, what is it?
Lance: [Tells cool thing]
Me: Hey, that is pretty cool...but I need to read now.
REPEAT every 10-20 minutes....

OR...
Me: Oh!
Lance: Hmm?
Me: Isn't this cool?? [Talks about cool thing I just read]
Lance: *Feigns interest* That is pretty cool**.
Me: Blah, blah, blah, I love books, blah, blah, blah. Oh, I guess I should read now...
Lance: Yes, you do, so we can do something fun.
REPEAT every 10-20 minutes
I was working contentedly in my office for a stretch of uninterrupted time last week when I realized that having a separate work space is definitely worth the extra cost of living alone***. Lance was contentedly playing on his laptop without feeling the need to share cool stuff with me or talk to me while he was cooking. I didn't distract him with random English facts. And I got lots of stuff done, which gave us more time to do things other than have me panic about the amount of homework I had. Offices rock.

*I'm about halfway done, I think. Bring on the books!
**He takes much more interest than he needs to--he's supportive like that.
***Besides the other 1000 awesome things about living alone.

2 comments:

Quiet Moments said...

Aww, Jenn, you are so cute. It is nice to have a work space to claim your own. And it is incredibly cool to do all your homework really fast so there's more free time to have fun. Wait...perhaps I should be doing study stuff now and practicing such a philosophy...nah. *grins*

PossumCrepes said...

It would have been neat having a workspace if Kerry and I had kept the townhouse. Ideally, it would have housed both our computer desks, a few bookshelves, and a writing desk facing the window that looked down the row of patios.

But that didn't work out. Might not have worked out anyway, given the way we perpetually put off organizing. We have yet to get our current apartment completely functional, so I hesitate to think how long it would have taken us to master two floors.