There always seems to be this running conflict, for me at least, between the new and the used.
Let me explain.
I enjoyed my old apartment, to a point. It had this charm, it was rundown, but comfy, something I would expect a poor 20-something grad-student to live in. Cheap, friendly, all that jazz. In the end though, it was too rundown, the landlord just too slummy.
My new apartment is, well, just that, new. I like it, everything works, I have a fan in my bathroom, the paint isn't peeling from steam. I feel like an adult.
Yet, just the other day I visited a friend, her apartment reminded me of my old place, though a lot less crumbly. It still has this appeal, the bohemian style. Mismatched furniture, cramped kitchens and bathrooms, the smell of patchouli and burritos, the possibility for adventure.
Now, to make a long story longer, as I am incapable of "short and sweet", what brought this on was looking for free stuff on craigslist. I am practically addicted to their free stuff page. I don't find much, but the few things I have are pretty nice.
I saw a lawn chair. Just a basic lawn chair, the kind you would remember from the late 80's early 90's in your uncles backyard at a cookout. Metal-framed with that rubbery translucent plastic for seating, in a bright teal green.
It made me think of humid summer nights, lounging in those chairs, the plastic sticking to your skin. Only fast-forward, it is the present, I could be hanging out with friends, drinking a few beers, kicking off my sandals into the grass.
Even with my new home, my new place in the world, I am still attracted to this theme of second-hand, simple junk, nothing expensive or flashy, but functional, "good enough".
I don't want to drop hundreds of dollars on brand-new all-matching furniture, just so it will "look nice". I enjoy the thrill of the bargain hunt, the charm of mismatched things, low expectations, low maintenance attitude.
Yet, I am still picky. There are some things that are just too tacky, too cheap. Things I do not want to support to source of, like the army of ceramic insert-cliche-inspirational-saying-here angels at the dollar store. I can't buy it, in more ways than one. It's the JUNK that gets to me, the junk people fill their lives with.
I am the first to admit that I have a lot of things, it amazes me how I once fit it all into one room, since now I have filled a whole apartment with the same belongings.
I feel, though, that I can justify my things. Right now I am busy collecting furniture, free furniture, because why buy something that everyone is dying to get rid of? There are a few things I would spend good money on, like a GOOD plunger, and a heavy-duty can-opener, but then again, I am all about practicality, in some regards.
Back to the matter at hand, furniture is practical, asking for a vacuum cleaner as an xmas gift is practical (and also makes me a huge dork...) and all my other stuff? If it isn't a household appliance or clothing then it is knick-nacks from my childhood and art materials.
This is my saving grace in not feeling like I am a huge hypocrite when it comes to junk. The majority of all the "crap" I have has the potential for being used to create new things, not just to sit around and do nothing.
Of course the conundrum of being a creative person means you will ALWAYS have a bunch of stuff, because if it's not material to create then it is all the creations you have made and cannot part with...
It is not just a random assortment of crap that makes me "look" eccentric, I don't buy things just to buy them, I hate that. Almost 100% the time I don't even buy this stuff, it is just a back-log of everything I ever collected from life, my grandmother, people getting rid of things.
My point being, people still BUY this shit, they still go out and buy brand new furniture, decorations, little fanciful things from home-goods to put on a shelf, whole new sets of stuff that all having a matching color theme. How long until they get bored and get the push from all those magazine covers to redo everything? Spend a shit-ton cause everything NEEDS to match.
I hate consumerism, I can rant on and on, but it's been done, I am not alone in this.
Yet sometimes it feels like we are, doesn't it?
