Moving Shop

The author of this webpage has consolidated his sites…The Jargoncomputer’s webspace

Downtime

I am tired. I am stressed out, and yet I can not sleep for more than two hours at a time. Between managing social interaction in the house, and attempting to accomplish various goals/objectives, I have had very little time to get serious about sleeping.

In many ways, I am reluctant to succumb to the beast that is sleep. I always feel as though I am wasting my time, yet, on the other hand, I realize that my body requires this act to function properly/efficiently.

Sleep in and of itself has become an expression that registers in this household. If one sleeps early, one is inevitably pissed off or avoiding others. I lie in bed, close my eyes, and by remaining still for two hours, I suggest to my roomates that something is wrong, that something is askew. In all reality, the only thing I am worried about is sleep. I feel as though we may all end up destroying each other. We are competitive without acknowledging it. It has definitely become a game of I can stay up later than you jamming out on the web, or I don’t need more than three hours of sleep before work. Unfortunately, I do need sleep, I do need rest. I need a way to rejuvenate sore limbs, and a sleep-deprived mind. If only I could find a means of being productive while sleeping.

Streaming Satisfaction

In the pursuit of music that moves, I began researching numerous streaming sites. After many frustrating experiences, and several grueling hours, I developed a passion for that which can only be called by its name…Pandora. Pandora is easily accessible, and extroardinarily easy to use. It allows one to search for particular artists, and subsequently, to stream songs by that artist and by artists of a similar nature. Essentially, one is permitted to store these stations as one would store artists on an I-pod. In addition to providing this associational framework, the website permits one to rate songs on a rather reduced Roman emperor-esque system of thumbs. Thumbs up, the music plays on and the website registers your affinity. Thumbs down encourages the songs abrupt end, and determines its fate on your playlist. Overall, the best part about this website is the ability that one has of finding obscure artists, and the potential for realizing even more obscure artists. I recommend that those truly interested in music, begin streaming immediately. You will not be dissapointed. Currently, I am listening to M. Ward.

Expressing Conflict

 

Inevitably, conflict arises. It works itself under the skin, and festers as irritating pockets of anxiety. Eventually, these chasms multiple, and cover the surface of one’s body. They become more noticeable; the anxiety becomes more pronounced. No longer can one avoid the numerous stresses which daily life presents. Whatever the size and nature of the problem, the pores on the surface become irritated. One can not always avoid running into a wall, or stumbling clumsily down the stairs. Inevitably, conflict arises.

Instantly, that which has festered under the first and immediate layer of skin is expelled. It spouts uncontrollably in ugly yellow ribbons down your exterior, and across the floor. It canvasses everything as it sprays your friends, your family, the audience of onlookers. The floodgates open and the tide spills forth. Even after the pusy residue of conflict remembered is toren from the body in rubber-texture streams, one experiences little relief. One is left to walk the same hallways, the same corridors, the same stairs, steps, etc., that one walked previously. The caloused skin slowly covers the wounds, and one begins again. Inevitably, conflict arises.

In an attempt to express this most appropriately, I revert to the cliche. “People are different.” Living with others accentuates these differences. They are extracted as slivers from broken skin. The matter in this space is directly related to that which is expressed above. With friends, one avoids arguments, one takes other alternatives. One abandons situations. Simply, one avoids. Instead of relying on that which is so entirely prevalent in daily life, conflict, one finds other means for expressing that which is felt. One cleans the bathroom in order to suggest that it needed to be clean, that it should be cleaned regularly. One barricades the door, and hopes that his/her absence is registered. Absence can express discomfort or annoyance. My roomate is knocking, more later…

A Graduated System of Navigation

Inevitably, new spaces have the capacity to present one with a complicated series of obstacles. Arguably, one of the most significant challenges exists in relationship to orientation or navigation. Although we are all, undoubtedly, familiar, even confronted, with basic issues of navigation (navigating from one locale to another, to a new restuarant, etc.), it is easy to overlook the dramatic extent of orientation issues. The art of navigation is distinguished by a complex and graduated system.

Often, one begins navigating an area on the basis of rather meaningless or degraded information. If I make a right here, I can access I-94 from the WSU campus. Mapping websites such as google and mapquest both provide the degraded information necessary to successfully move from one area to another. In the arbitrary distance of 2.3 miles I should take I-75 south. Although these directions (ways of navigating) are significant in assisting one in traveling to a new job, a used book store, or an interesting restaurant, these directions are incredibly detached. Presumably, one does not feel an attachment to the 2.3 miles traveled or the side streets one encounters.

As time progresses, and one becomes more intimately acquainted with a particular locale or space, one trascends the various graduated levels of navigation. One’s experiences contribute to the associations that arise concerning particular streets, junctions, landmarks, rooms, etc. Experience necessitates a different sort of navigation. One still makes a right turn to get to I-94, yet that right turn gains significance from the associational framework that arises over time.

Similarly, the act of navigating this house has, undoubtedly, been a graduated experience. During the preliminary stages we developed particular mental constructs that helped us to remember what drawer the forks and knives were in, where the painter’s tape was located, what wall sockets had grounds, etc. As time progressed, areas of the house began to signify. That which we have collectively/individually experienced in the house, has contributed to the development of more complex, and, arguably, a more significant mode/means of navigating.

One learns different strategies for avoiding the congestion that frequently occurs around the kitchen table, and which rooms are most tolerable during the hottest summer days. Much of what occurs is beyond the simplicity of the physiological. I navigate away from the comfort of my room to the green couch, which is equally as comforting mentally. I am learning how to move more efficiently/effectively, while discovering the way in which a house becomes a home; the way in which rights and lefts become more significant that the reduced nature of mapquest directional cues. I learn how to navigate in relationship to inclination, mood, desire, etc. The navigational cues have become so entirely entwined. They are rapidly becoming less detached and less debased.

Furnishing a Home

Well, we have been at the house approximately a month. Sitting in the “conversation” room, I slowly survey all of the items that we have collected. Each item contributes to both the way we live in the house, and the way that we interact with each other. While we are adapting to the new living conditions, our decisions are altered by that which we collect. The four couches that canvass the living room have determined its existence as a conversation room. The couches refuse the space typically alloted for television monitors, or stereo-systems. Although the conversation room was amongst preliminary plans for the house, the acquisition of the couches determined the fate of the room, and subsequently, the distracting speakers which the green couch displaced. It is like this throughout the entirety of the house. Chairs, art pieces, shelves, and various lighting fixtures alter what can be considered an existence.

The notorious green couch: I found this couch within the first week of living in the house. As I was driving to work, I noticed the glint of the sun off of its plush green exterior, and a cardboard sign denoting its value; “free.” This piece of furniture spoke immediacy; it was a “must have.” Currently, it is located in the conversation room. It is positioned immediately below an art piece entitled “martial arts.” Noticing the bland nature of the freshly painted walls, I decided that I would take it upon myself to construct something to correspond with the long nature of this piece of furniture. Approximately a week later, I found found five pvc pipes of various lengths and decided to place them at different angles to one another. In this way, it is evident that the couch influenced the art piece. Correspondingly, the art work determines the position of the couch on this wall. I find that I orient much of my work in spatial relationship to the furniture which adorns each room.

The next few posts will be dedicated to exploring this interaction with “home.”