So, here's a picture that gives a good idea of the size of the void above our futon / couch. Then there's the same area from a diffrent angle. Finally, here's what it looks like straight ahead.

Also, just to give some perspective, here's the other side of the room. (And that other side from another angle.)

If you're wondering why I didn't just take a picture of the whole thing, well, it's because the living room wasn't clean enough. My girlfriend didn't want me taking pictures of it with dirty clothes on the floor and trash left out. I didn't really have time to clean, so I just took pictures of the clean parts. For an idea about the total space of the living room, you can check out the floorplan.

So, that's the my place. Next week I'll be getting my next paycheck, the first one with my raise on it. I'll get to find out exactly how much extra this will come to after taxes, insurance, and the like. Basically, this is how much I'll have extra, and I plan to horde it all away until I have enough that I can make serious offers on the pieces that interest me.

So, besides that, life is continuing on. Tonight I'm going to partake in a massive cleaning effort. The entire apartment floor needs to be swept and mopped (it's stained concrete), dirty clothes need to be cleaned, and I need to cook dinner while maintaining the spotlessness of our kitchen (that my girlfriend spent several hours cleaning Monday night.)

I'm very interested in getting the apartment cleaned and organized, even though right now I must admit that I'm considering escaping it. Sure, my girlfriend and I seem to be doing well enough now that we'll stay 'till the end of our lease, but recently, I've been bitten by a bug that doesn't want to let go. I've been thinking about how these are my college years, that I'm at the age where I should be finishing them, that eventually I'm going to be too old for the crazy shit that happens in college.

So, I've been thinking about ways to increase my crazy-shit potential. I considered remaining a theatre major, but I'm far too out-of practice to return to the field, and besides, there are other things I want to learn. There were some other options that hit me, things I could do, but all of them seemed like it wouldn't work, that I would be coming in to it too late.

Finally, I thought of something. Something I could do while still working my two jobs, while taking classes, that would increase my crazy-shit potential many-fold. I could move into a Co-Op.

See, there are several co-ops around the university area. They're not dorms, and so all the dorm bullshit is put aside. I could get a room all to myself, and the rent would be about what I'm paying right now. Best of all, the Co-ops are constantly doing crazy shit. There's the Annual Liquor-Treat Party in October. They have clothing-optional day at the pool every week. Also, the fact that food is collectivly purchased and cooked, combined with the fact that there are a good amount of hippy-types at the Co-ops, means that I would be eating healthier food. Everyone I've known who lives at a Co-op for a year ends up ten to twenty pounds lighter (and generally much healthier) when they come out. Oh, and then there's the fact that having house-meetings, communal chores, and the like will put me in touch with a fair number of young ladies who would be living in the same place.

Okay, so right now this is all escapist fantasy. I have no idea if I would really do this (particularly since I have a ton of crap I'd have to move in, and perhaps the situation with my girlfriend will have made a turn into the much better range...) Still, it's fun, and there's nothing wrong with that...