UIUC
Roadtrip / Apartment / Wanderings

Urbana, IL Apartment 2006

Part of beginning life as a grad student (PhD program in cognitive psychology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) has been setting up my very own spacious 2-bedroom apart, all to myself, in the nice neighborhood of Urbana, and with rent about 1/3 what I was paying in L.A.. Since it's my first time living with no room/house-mates, and since I'm digging in for the long haul of 5-6 years, I totally went all out.  The place is a haven of jerry-rigging, makeshifting, repurposing, MacGuyvering, wild-west styling, and atypical/awesome decor.
~jason r finley 12-27-02006

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My new 2-bedroom apartment (all to myself) in Urbana, Champaign. Within days of arrival. it was meager means for a while	then at last the movers arrived with my stuff from LA and it was box city for a long time	desk assembly in progress. i sat on that damn camping stool for WEEKS before finally acquiring a proper chair
i wasted little time before retrofitting the whole place to my specifications. like this shelf i installed in the water heater closet to store toilet paper and kleenex	further retrofitting: tall shelf, belt hooks, and transparent tupperware drawers for clothes	Dude, I can even haul back packages and stuff on my bike! This is outside my apartment.
wtf SNOW!!!!! (this is the outside of my apt)	the kitchen is a showcase for wild-west style home improvement. note the atypical dish-drying rack	everything useful is in its place: visible and available. can't count on myself to be mentally organized, but i CAN set up an organized environment!
ahh, the bathroom. with no sink counter or drawers, i had to figure out a way to jerry-rig everything to the walls and keep it all conveniently at-hand. i totally succeeded.	the hallway to the 2 bedrooms	closeup of the shelf i installed, with photos of J&L, and my alarm clock (which i must wake up to turn off, since it's not next to the bed)
my sweet bike hangs conveniently near the door, not taking up much space, next to shelves that display some decorative relics	in the living room: scifi bookshelf, curio shelf, matrix-inspired lamp, etc...	the rest of the living room. check it out! that's the table where i (sometimes) do stats homework
and what the heck's going on here?? i discovered the FABRIC STORE!	bedroom #2 is my office/study! note the super tricked-out customized mega-desk, ergonomic chair, and the sky/underwater-like decor! i had no clue what the hell i was doing, but i think it worked out.	and bedroom #1: with my reading/sleeping chair, bed, and out-of-this-world theme.
there's a galaxy of glow stars on the ceiling	here's the back corner	Now the place is ready for some official tomfoolery. Cue the rubber chicken! (Erica & Laurel)
Cue the robot arm & stuffed fish! (Bonnie & Mike)	crazy-time!	L&J and a fish friend.

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