The View Up Here

Since my last post, I've been able to upgrade my digs with some things I needed, thanks to my downstairs neighbor as she was moving out.  I'm sorry I didn't know her before she left, as she is my age and is an artist and art teacher. We traded contacts, so hopefully we will be able to connect again. She gave me several things from her studio downstairs, including a floor fan and a desk fan, some lovely coffee/tea cups (you know, I have a collection boxed up back home), a handheld steam cleaner, and a few other bits and pieces.  Just that very morning, I was thinking, gosh it would be nice to have a steam cleaner since I don't have a dryer or an ironing board, to get the wrinkles out of my cotton blouses.    As my apartment reaches completeness (I still need a proper desk lamp), I'm shifting my attention from "stuff I need" to "how to live."   Azaleas at the bus stop near my academy My schedule here is backwards from what it was in Rochester. I go...

Remnants of the previous occupant's life are still present in this apartment, despite the makeover. The artifacts of his journey of self-development are still kicking around:  his Korean language books (now on my shelf, for which I am grateful) and a stack of emergency first response and CPR books still on the floor of my office.  In the entrance way cabinet, a drawerful of cords, tools, tape, even a soldering gun. Many power strips that he must have used for his gaming set-up. He also left a monitor here, which I'm using at this moment. In fact, that monitor has made it possible for me to replicate, more or less, my office set up from my last home. I just needed speakers and a desk fan to outfit my desk for writing and working (and watching videos). I bagged up several handfuls of redundant flatware and cooking utensils. I found some pillar candles, which I have put to good use.  I wonder sometimes how he is (I met him for one day to help me learn the ropes at the academ...