STORAGE CRISIS

I promise I'll get to more substantial stuff soon (like moving and starting my new career, little things like that), but I need your help, people of the internet.

I just moved into my new apartment (pictures soon, once it looks civilized!), and it's in a great location, big rooms, hardwood floors, FIRE ESCAPE, but the one thing it is desperately lacking is storage.

There are 2 closets in the whole place, one in my bedroom that will barely fit my clothes, and another in the living room, where I'll be keeping some seasonal stuff, vacuum, etc. The problem is that I'm left with a lot of loose odds and ends that were previously kept holed up in closets. Things like folders of papers, class notes, a guitar, rocks from AZ... you get the picture.

What do I do with this stuff?! There is space to store it, but it would just be thrown in the corner for all to see. Any suggestions?

And, the biggest problem of all, I think, is the kitchen. It's a big area, but there are only a few cabinets above and below the sink. I currently have them filled up with my dishes and pots and pans. There is a large pegboard on the wall from the last tenant (maybe 3'x3') where I'll hang my mugs and maybe some pots or anything that can be put on a hook.

But there is almost ZERO counterspace! Only a couple square feet. I have a small fold-out table set up now with my microwave and coffeemaker, but I have a box full of previous pantry items and nowhere to store it now! Spices, baking things, mixer, crockpot, etc... What do I do with this stuff??!! :(

I've seen carts with wheels on them that people use for kitchen storage... anything else you can think of? I am not opposed at all to building things either (but don't know how far I'll get with a $30 toolset). My friend Steven has a cool spice rack on the wall he built, which is sort of inspiring me to take some initiative for something similar.

If you have any advice, suggestions, or commiserations please leave a comment!

Amazing Photos

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Man on Wire

Last night I hung out with an old friend and some new friends, and we watched a Sundance film called Man on Wire. My friend Nate introduced it by saying it was "a documentary about a tightrope walker", and that it was "riveting". I had a hard time believing any documentary could be riveting, but we watched it nonetheless.

All I have to say is it was riveting, and that you must see this movie. It details the life of Phillipe Petit, who had an impossible dream to walk a highwire across the twin World Trade Centers in 1974. The story impacts you in a way that simultaneously makes you feel totally insignificant and unaccomplished, as well as completely in awe of the beauty of human inspiration.

The cinematography was superb, the soundtrack fantastic, and the storyline was told in a very capturing way. Wikipedia says "Film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 100% of the 150 reviews they have collected have been positive. It is currently the best reviewed movie on the website." It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary. I highly recommend this movie!

Poem of the Day

Two blog posts in one day?! Outrageous! Both of them of no substance, too.

I have always admired and loved the poetry of E.E.Cummings. This is one of his most well-known poems, not as radical in style as most, but still characteristic.

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i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

-i carry your heart with me, E.E. Cummings

Nobody

Recently I'm finding myself in the situation of having to say lots of goodbyes to good friends. I've had a lot to think about, and a lot of time to do it while driving to and from Baltimore. I listened to The Battle for Everything on the way back, which I haven't done in several years. I've always loved the beginning of this song.

Take off your shoes
Take off your self
Take off your rented mental health
Take off your raincoat, settle down
Take off your nightmare and your frown
There is a place for you to go
To see another ringer in a rock show
Take my pretense for a time
Cause I wanna say to you

I'm nobody
Without you, buddy
You, buddy
My long-lost friend

-Five for Fighting