Violating the Sanctity of The ManCave

Lately I've been feeling unhappy with my laptop. Not with the laptop itself, although a new video processor would be nice. I didn't feel grounded and I mean that in the psychological sense, not the electronic one. I was a gypsy. I would check my email in the bedroom but they tell insomniacs to move anything non-bed related out of the bedroom. I would blog from the living room but sitting on the couch for a long time hurt my back. I occasionally wrote from the kitchen table but quickly discovered that being in the kitchen for long periods of time is not ideal for those watching their calorie intake! Once or twice I even websurfed from the patio and that has its own set of complications. Which leaves the third bedroom, or as we alternately call it: the office, the library, the 'other' and (to D's chagrin) the ManCave.



The ManCave is where D's desk is; where he does his videogaming, his trumpet practice, where he hangs out. I carved out a small niche on the love seat where I would sit with my laptop. But the more I used it the more I realized I wasn't happy there either. It wasn't the best posture for my back or my legs and I didn't have any space to put out my earphones, the camera, or to prop up a book I was typing research from, etc. I was just not happy being desk-less anymore.

So I broached the subject with D and to his credit, he agreed pretty quickly that we could rearrange the room to provide a desk area for me. One of my requests was that we should face each other. I was tired of always looking at the back of his lovely head. Our first thought was that we could use one big desk or table and sit on opposite sides of it. We went into Wal-Mart and priced tables. We ended up getting two student desks for about the same price. Buying the desks was the easy part. Disassembling and reassembling all the electronics was a pain in both our rear-ends. We still need to purchase some cable tubing to make it look respectable.

I know it's stressful when anyone moves into an occupied space and has ideas on how to change things around. I could tell D was trying hard to be fair and accessible and it made me love him all the more for it. I told D that if he really hated it or if it did not work for us that we'd re-arrange again. And in all honesty, he'll have plenty of time alone in the room as I'll still take my infamous skin-shriveling bubble baths and my reading too. I thought we got along really well during the transition and never once did we approach the black shame that was The Wallpaper-Hanging Incident.



We ended up doing some Fall-cleaning too. We trashed the dozens of VCR tapes that we have not watched in over 4 years. Now that the trunk is empty, D is storing his instruments inside of it and they don't take up floor space. We turned D's old desk into a laundry folding station in the kitchen area.



I think we made some positive changes to the house this weekend. It feels excellent being at a desk again. Now I can make mooney-faces at D, although I try not to distract him when he's in a challenging part of his game. The only one who's upset at the whole endeavour is Alex, who used to sit beside me wherever I parked myself. I'll just have to train him to be a lap cat or he can snuggle up with Feni.