I really don’t have anything to say, so of course I decided it’s time to do a post here. I’m not giving up on this site, I’m really not. I changed to a super-minimalist theme, because all the new ones are so LOUD. Like, they have gigantic fonts for the titles of posts, and extra large fonts. They are supposed to be set up to be read on anything, but on desktops they’re like loud advertising signs screaming at you to buy. Very gross and depressing, if you ask me. I’m going to hunt around and see if I can’t get one of those older themes to work on this site. They might not work so great on a phone, but at this point I don’t care. No one reads my blogs anyway so I might as well set it up just for me.
OK, OK, that was such a nothing to open with. Perhaps I should put up a few of my so-called plans and things I want to do in the coming year, which almost here! Anyway, here’s a few things I plan to do Real Soon Now:
- Figure out how I want what I’ve taken to calling my “middle room” to look like. Basically it will be my office/library/studio as soon as I get it put together; right now it’s a mess.
- Sort out my shit, mostly in said room. Finally get everything I want on display out of boxes, and things I don’t want to display into boxes and into my closets. And finally, donate stuff I don’t want to keep at all.
- Do more photography, film and digital. I don’t know if I’ll continue in film photography much once I get the old stuff I have used up. It’s expensive, and I do have digital cameras and the phone.
- Write more, not just this blog, but get back into fiction. Even if it’s not any good, writing makes me feel better. Twitter… is okay, but it’s a waste of time at least the way I’ve been doing it.
- Do more art, before the art supplies I’ve got moldering in the closet deteriorate.
I also want to explore the area around me more, get out (as soon as weather permits) into the national parks nearby, drive to the cities I’ve been going on and on about — I mean DC is right there and I have gone there not even a full handful of times since I moved up here. It doesn’t look like I’ll be able to move to Florida unless by some miracle a job opens up in one of my companies branches down there, otherwise I can’t afford to quit and get a new job, not at my age. Hopefully this year I’ll make it down on a visit, maybe even as far as Miami. Cross fingers, etc.
All that being said… I don’t think I want to stay in this apartment another year. I love it, but I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s just too big. I don’t need this much space. I was happiest in a studio with maybe some extra space, like the last one I had in Florida with the screened-in patio. I won’t find that here, but if I can find a more modern building to move into, that will also be a plus. Old houses have “character” which mostly means lots of crumbling wood and plaster, dirt and dust everywhere which is beyond my capabilities to combat (I just took two antihistamines because the dust in here is so much), weird, uncomfortable issues like the shower being this rigged-up thing that *works* but only just, etc.
I’d like, ideally, a studio, or at most a one bedroom where the kitchen was open to the living room not enclosed in another room like in more old fashioned apartments. This one is only semi-enclosed, so it’s not bad, but it’s also tiny and the cupboards don’t close properly, etc. I will miss the huge windows and the trees, but there is ivy growing through one window in the kitchen, and the wasp kingdom in one window in the middle room means I can’t ever open that window.
I’m not so sure I’ll succeed, however. Rents here are ridiculous — obviously this is considered a suburb of Charlottesville instead of a town an hour away across the mountains, and they seem to think everyone here can afford $1200 per month for a standard apartment. But I’ll at least look. It can’t hurt to look.