Photo: New York City (Oct 2009). Text: November 2011.

It took a year, but we’ve finally cleared all of the boxes from a small, trapezoid-shaped room that we’d hoped would serve as a guest quarters where we can also read, listen to music, and play music (we have instruments but can’t really “play” any of them). Sounds idillic, and it is in its own way, although one can’t really call it a guest room as its too misshapen to fit a proper bed or a standard-sized pullout sofa bed for that matter. The floor is covered in pastel pink and hospital green linoleum tiles that I understand were a popular choice during a certain era, but still…

Everything about the way this house was designed and constructed is completely illogical. It’s charming, to a point. Thankfully we are both adaptable when it comes to awkward living conditions and have become adept at fixing minor disasters as long as they are not electrical. Honestly, we’ll suffer through just about any inconveniences for the yard. The yard! [Edit: This yard became the beloved garden for 11 years.]

We found a small sofa-bed(ish) that I suppose is better than an air mattress, although it has been off-gassing like a mother-fucker these past few days. We’ve got our stereo hooked up and functioning again. Hooray! Vinyl. Cassette Tape. It’s been a revelation. I’m rediscovering music that’s been forgotten over the last year (or more).

At the time of writing this the room is awkwardly uncomfortable, smells like cheap adhesives (sets my allergies off), and is looking like the low budget hangout of a dude-bro who lives in his parents’ basement and plays video games all day. Did I mention that it also houses our handheld video game collection? All we need to complete the look is a sheet instead of curtains. The convenient, close-to-my-office-because-I’m-too-lazy-to-go-downstairs tea station I installed is the one detail that betrays the look.

Still, it’s nice to have an extra room, regardless of its foibles and I like it enough for now as a place where I can dance to mixed tapes made in the early 90s and watch the complete Twin Peaks series on stretched out video tape.