Caffeine-Aided Plans to Self-Improve

First off, look down and check the timestamp of this post. Yeah, I'm still up. I guess such is to be expected when one consumes possibly illegal amounts of both sugar and caffeine in one day. But luckily, I paced myself with these substances, as well as eating well and drinking plenty of (clear) fluids, so I am not crashing. I am, however, growing tired. Hopefully I will make myself go to bed before I start to see daylight.

Really though, I think I can't sleep because I'm feeling so full of possibilities. Okay well possibilities may be the wrong word — creative or inspired could both do as good descriptions. Over these past few hours, I realized that I kinda like my computer set up like this, all low to the ground and minimalist. Shortly after my last post I remembered the giant floor pillows I spent ridiculous amounts of money buying faux-fur fabric to slipcover them with. So the numb-ass problem is fixed. I think I want to go for my décor being a bit more minimalist. I'm too broke to achieve this the rich person's way of buying everything from Swedish design companies, so I will have more of the appearance of a thrift-store minimalist. I have a lot of stuff and I see a lot of it as stuff I don't really want or need right now. If I can contain myself to bringing in to my bedroom only the objects and items I need as I need them, I will learn a lot more about my habits and what I use to maintain a comfortable life, as versus what I think I "need".

I think at heart I'm a minimalist, but in reality I'm a pack-rat. I blame it on my artistic side; I always see some creative use for "trash" and therefore can't justify getting rid of it. What if two weeks after I toss something I begin a project for which that object would have been just perfect?!(!!!) Nonono, that can't happen. Not only am I a creative pack-rat, I'm an emotional one too. I tend to attach fond memories to objects, and therefore can't release the object for fear of losing the memory. But I'm really trying to grow beyond that; I think the amount of my possessions I couldn't stand to part from but never cared enough about to unpack after moving to this apartment is a good indicator that I might be phasing out of holding on to useless stuff. Perhaps it's a growing up thing.

But in that, I have a feeling that I'm about to become a lot more attached to my computer. Yet I think this too will be good, for I have yet to feel like my computer is solely Mine. I got it while I was already living with the (ex)housemate, and he and I began using it simultaneously. I undoubtedly owned it in a financial sense, but still. I've always felt a need to cover my computer-use tracks... a habit I picked up from sharing a computer with my mom. After this move is complete, I really won't be sharing this computer with anyone — and that is something completely new to me. I plan on changing a few system settings, especially in Firefox. One of the things that first attracted me to this browser was it's ability to be set to "record nothing, remember nothing". And no matter how useful I knew it would be, I could never bring myself to allow history of my web browsing to be recorded. But now, I'll be able to change that setting and when I am trying to remember that one well-designed site about shovels I saw last Tuesday, I'll be able to look it up. This is good.

There are some other things I want to start up in my room. I want to have my coffee maker in there on a book case, and use it to keep water hot for tea. I also want to have all my teas (and hot chocolate) and accessories (you know, honey, sugar, mugs, etc.) there with it. A little self-contained café. Yet I won't go so far as to have a mini fridge nor my microwave. Heck, I don't think I'll even be using my TV or stereo. My mom is preparing the house to be sold and because of this I won't be able to hang anything on the wall using nails or tacks. So I plan to prop a lot of stuff up against other things, and make prodigious use of my rather large magnetic white board and bulletin board. I am quite set on using that sticky tacky blue stuff to display my postcard collection though. Also, I will need to keep more clothes in my dresser than in the closet. This will mean more folding of things that don't require being hung, being aware of what's there and making sure to maximize my use of the space with only my favoured clothing items. One thing I want to start doing that I believe will help me make the room my private getaway is to, when I leave my bedroom, wear a pair of black Asian-print flip-flops I have adopted as house-shoes at this apartment. Then when I go back into my room I will put these shoes on a little red bamboo mat I will keep by the door. I have a set of these placemats that I will use to designate important areas in my room that I need to keep an eye on, and by wearing shoes outside but not inside the space I will hopefully become more diligent in presenting my best self when in public and making the most of my alone time to relax. If possible I want to work out a way to have just the mattress in the room, and not with its accompanying box spring and frame; then I won't be able to hide my junk under the bed (heehee, we're all guilty of that aren't we?). And in case you haven't figured it out by now, I plan on implementing a lot of Feng Shui practices in the room, yesiree.

Right. So it's getting late. Or early. Depends on your sleep habits. Either way, I should go to bed. I still have a lot to do in this apartment, and I don't want to O.D. on caffeine. So I'm gonna go take my vitamins and totter off to a makeshift bed of floor pillows and a blanket (I'm actually looking forward to the coziness). After I finish my tea.