New stuff is new

I've been "doing" a lot of educational stuff to move my career forward. The other day, I had to film myself for a couple of auditions for a student film. Not all auditions are in person, unfortunately. Not everyone can coordinate schedules in an appropriate audition space. So sometimes we self-tape. My experience the other day was my first time self-taping in California (I had done one self-tape on the #WrongCoastForMe, and it was really really horrible.)

The other day wasn't as horrible. It still wasn't particularly good, but I ended up with two clips where you *can* see and hear me, and I *did* perform the lines that were given. So we'll see. The good news about all of it was that it'll no longer be "new" if when I have to self-tape again. #HowDoesItGetAnyBetterThanThis?

But sometimes, new stuff is actual stuff. Yesterday, Stephen and I took a little walk, just to get some steps in and also to get some fresh air. As we exited our building, we noticed a complete chest of drawers sitting in the alley. So we walked past it, discussing where we'd put it, in our tiny apartment, if we were to think about adding it to our furnishings.

Stephen's been a touch under the weather for the last few days, so when we got back in from our walk, he sort of "wound down" so he could go to bed relatively early, since he'd have to go in early to work today. So I assumed the chest of drawers would end up in someone else's apartment. But just as he was heading to bed, he suggested I go down and take some measurements. Hmm...

It's 4'4" wide, which was the biggest detriment to us bothering to bring it upstairs, unless it was also #SuperFuckingHeavy. While measuring it, I also removed all the drawers, so I could investigate the pulls and the tracks, and lift the damn thing as well, to gauge the weight. The drawer pulls were mostly tight enough but could use some tightening. The tracks were all in great shape. The dresser itself had one front leg that needed some tightening, and the center-back leg needed some realigning. The only detriment I found in the alley was the 4'4". But my favorite number is 4, so could we find a "home" for this piece?

I measured the wall in the kitchen next to the fridge: kind of a snug fit, and where would we relocate the stack of bins to? I measured the hallway wall, and figured that would work, at least temporarily. But what will a chest of drawers hold in a hallway? Hmm... Stephen eyeballed the living room wall with the entertainment center, and mentioned some rearrangement there. That would definitely give the piece "purpose" (hiding all the not-currently-in-use electronics, etc.), but would also require moving the two small toy chests elsewhere, so where? I told Stephen to sleep on that one, and I planned to spend today doing the tightening/cleaning that it would require.

Which means, YES. We brought it in last night, set it in the hallway with drawers sitting on top, so the cats could give it a good investigation and approval overnight.

And I've spent my morning listening to educational stuff whilst cleaning and rearranging and tightening and sorting and whatnot in the kitchen. We'll see what Stephen thinks before we put anything in the drawers, but I'm pretty happy with the idea of it holding Corningware or serving dishes or other kitcheny stuff, kinda like a china cabinet would (but having no Chinaware, we have no need of a china cabinet).

What do YOU think of our NEW thing? Are you a procurer of new stuff that's actually someone else's old stuff?