Monday, July 13, 2009

Highs and Lowes


As some of you might remember, a few months ago I moved from my one bedroom apartment in Inwood to essentially a room in an apartment in Brooklyn.

Financial woes of a few years ago that I am still very very slowly coming out of put me in a place of essentially being evicted.

I put up a long struggle. But in the end I realized I was struggling hard for a crappy apartment that was only pissing me off more and more each day.

So here I am...taking the opportunity to simplify my life, regroup and live in an apartment that's actually kind of pleasant even if the neighborhood itself has a ways to go yet.

Also, I am rediscovering Brooklyn which is a very pleasant experience.

I spent much of this last week putting up shelves and organizing the small room I have in his apartment and figuring out how the placement of the eventual loft bed. Yes...I, a man in my late 40s, will have a loft bed for awhile. The room is that small and A loft bed beats a mattress on the floor any day.

The hardware stores in this area of Brooklyn are alright, but shockingly lacking in certain basics, so yesterday I made a trip to the Lowes. I would have taken a quick bus trip to Home Depot, but when the president of the HD declared that business owners who vote Democrat should be shot, I decided that as an American, it was unacceptable to let an obvious totalitarian have any of my money.

And so...for the first time in a long time, I went to a hardware superstore. Or as I like to call it, Heaven.

As a kid I used to lose my mind when my mother took me on her endless shopping trips to Macy's, Alexanders, etc etc etc. But when I walk into a place with 50 foot high shelving full of lumber and brackets and wires and power tools and wet vacs. Sections devoted to kitchens and bathrooms. Doorways and ahhhhh GODS the smell of lumber.

Did I mention lumber? The smell of it? How wood feels in your hand and the sweet sound of drilling pieces of it together to bring a vision to light? MMMmmmm.

All I needed was a package of small brass brackets that I couldn't find in my neighborhood but I had to spend an hour and a half just....being there, looking, building things in my head, fantasizing about a house I don't own, or the horse ranch I dream of having and how I would build the fencing.

And yes I thought about the loft bed too, but I let my imagination run with ideas for the many uses a good strong loftbed can have.

Yes, I was thinking about sex...in a hardware superstore.

I admit it. I'm a guy.

2 comments:

KB in NYC said...

"Yes, I was thinking about sex...in a hardware superstore.

I admit it. I'm a guy."

And that's why us ladies love you guys. Innate flaws not withstanding.

HA!

LOSTPLUM said...

I'm not a guy, but I am a very handy girl, and oddly enough I get very excited by hardware stores too! I love the smell of lumber, and I must admit I'm pretty good at screwing! ;)

(and here is too all the great men out there who love manly things!)