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
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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.
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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!
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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)
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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
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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.
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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)
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Cue the robot arm & stuffed fish! (Bonnie & Mike)
crazy-time!
L&J and a fish friend.

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