Journal jawtheshark's Journal: Giving up my last personal space 11
One of the biggest "problems" in our apartment is our "Office". Essentially, it's the "small bedroom" that I used as an office when I went to live there. When SmilingGirl moved in, her desk came in plus 5 humongous bookcases she let made by her uncles who are carpenters. She always lived in an environment where space was no issue and she didn't realise that these bookcases would make the room feel like squeezed.
I pretty much stopped using my desk because it became hard to access and just made an account on her computer for my surfing and email needs.
Having too much time on her and and armed with a self-help book called something like "Feng Shui - Cleaning up your life", she started throwing away tons of stuff. First came the kitchen: the Microwave my parents bought for me had to go and also plenty of kitchen appliances she bought with our money that we rarely or never used. I just come back from the recycling centre feeling like I just dumped hundreds of euros there because she bought stuff we never used.
Today, the office will be cleaned up. Essentially this means: all my stuff has to go. I'll probably manage to save the big-ass printer (wobbegong.sharks) and jawtheshark.com (tiger.sharks) for the moment. Without jawtheshark.com we don't have internet so, that'll be easy. Of course, my long-term plan is to get rid of jawtheshark.com too, and migrate it to my parents server. (Well, not really, what's going to happen is that I replace their P-III 800MHz with my AMD64) So willekens.lu and jawtheshark.com will be back in my parents basement. Buy a wireless router and be done with it.
Everything else, my desk, my books, my CDs, everything I have in my cupboard will have to go. Some stuff, I'll manage to put in cardboard boxes and store it in the basement. I'll also have to part from tiger.sharks, my beloved AMD MP 2400+/4Gig of RAM. My model M keyboard? Has to go too. My trusty 15" LCD screen, has to go.
What will be left is a backpack containing my crappy laptop.
I give in... She has won... Perhaps the extra space she gains will give me another 6 months of no-complaining because she hasn't got a house (which we cannot afford)
I also have half a dozen of salvaged machines. I hope to find a good home for them. Perhaps a charity will take them. It breaks my heart to throw away these Windows XP (or Ubuntu) capable machines just because she needs more space.
I always said that I would do all this when a child would be under way. I didn't ever think I'd have to do this because my wife needs more space.
Where do I turn in my nerd badge?
I pretty much stopped using my desk because it became hard to access and just made an account on her computer for my surfing and email needs.
Having too much time on her and and armed with a self-help book called something like "Feng Shui - Cleaning up your life", she started throwing away tons of stuff. First came the kitchen: the Microwave my parents bought for me had to go and also plenty of kitchen appliances she bought with our money that we rarely or never used. I just come back from the recycling centre feeling like I just dumped hundreds of euros there because she bought stuff we never used.
Today, the office will be cleaned up. Essentially this means: all my stuff has to go. I'll probably manage to save the big-ass printer (wobbegong.sharks) and jawtheshark.com (tiger.sharks) for the moment. Without jawtheshark.com we don't have internet so, that'll be easy. Of course, my long-term plan is to get rid of jawtheshark.com too, and migrate it to my parents server. (Well, not really, what's going to happen is that I replace their P-III 800MHz with my AMD64) So willekens.lu and jawtheshark.com will be back in my parents basement. Buy a wireless router and be done with it.
Everything else, my desk, my books, my CDs, everything I have in my cupboard will have to go. Some stuff, I'll manage to put in cardboard boxes and store it in the basement. I'll also have to part from tiger.sharks, my beloved AMD MP 2400+/4Gig of RAM. My model M keyboard? Has to go too. My trusty 15" LCD screen, has to go.
What will be left is a backpack containing my crappy laptop.
I give in... She has won... Perhaps the extra space she gains will give me another 6 months of no-complaining because she hasn't got a house (which we cannot afford)
I also have half a dozen of salvaged machines. I hope to find a good home for them. Perhaps a charity will take them. It breaks my heart to throw away these Windows XP (or Ubuntu) capable machines just because she needs more space.
I always said that I would do all this when a child would be under way. I didn't ever think I'd have to do this because my wife needs more space.
Where do I turn in my nerd badge?
Only her? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
She'll be dumping stuff too... mostly books as far as I can see...
It's only most of my computers.... it's not as if I'm going to miss them... :-(
Be careful (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
You're probably right. But it's my decision... It's the only way to gain space, and is my stuff really important? It's just computers and books...
She is already dysfunctional and my goals is to come to a state where I cannot remove anything more out of the apartment. At that point, she'll have to give up or drown in her own crap. My goal is to have my stuff in a backpack, everything I need will be in there.
Re: (Score:2)
Best of fortune to you with this. It's a very difficult situation.
Re: (Score:1)
Let's just say I used both slashdot and multiply to vent my frustrations. I'll be over it in a few weeks, no worries...
ebay? (Score:2)
It seems a bit sad when only one has to give in - OTOH, there's fights that cannot be won. We're cleaning out the house of a shortly deceased elder couple and there's two main things I learned:
Stuff that is not used any more is to be disposed of. Not necessarily right away, but it shouldn't linger around forever. I've got three complete Pentium class computers lying around. Time to trash them,
Re: (Score:1)
I'm going to store the Model M at my parents. It's too valuable for me. I'll attach it to their server as a form of prestige ;-)
eBay takes too much time.... and considering the postal posts, most people won't even bid.
There is something I didn't tell on slashdot. She had a nervous breakdown and best case she'll be working half time. And I'm not "well paid". I earn a 3100€ which is enough to live from.
Give and take (Score:2)
I've never met you. But from what you've written, you and I seem very much alike. I understand (and even to an extent, agree with) your logic about clearing your stuff out to make more room for her. But a statement about giving in, and letting her win? To me that's rather ominous. It shouldn't be a battle to be won or lost. I appreciate that you're trying to do what you can to help her. But you can go too far, to the point where you're making yourself unhappy, and ultimately, th
Re: (Score:1)
That was more of a drama-queen statement. Getting rid of stuff can be quite emotional you know.... I feel much better now, that most stuff is stored. It's not a battle... She is very happy now and the office really looks cleaned up. The rest of the apartment is a mess though, because all the crap is stored everywhere until the recycling centre opens on tuesday.
CD's and books are in the basement right now (note: never use IKEA cardboard boxes... they break.. ;-) ) I'm throwing away stuff I have kept f
Uhm.. no.. (Score:1)
So there. Johndiii already said what I think too: it won't stop. Instead, she needs to learn how to deal with the real-world. I don't know the far-reaches of your cleanup, but it reads like she stops short of scratching you out of her equation.
The Feng Shui is not necessarily a bad idea, but