I got home from a visit to family in Kentucky on Thursday and immediately started moving stuff around in the apartment. My brother lent me his electric piano, so I found a place for it in the second bedroom/office, moving the wingback chair to the master bedroom and the file cabinet to a new spot under a desk.
Yesterday I went a little crazier and moved my computer and standing desk to the office as well. I now have three desks in here: the lawyer-style desk my laptop is now on; my hutch desk for paperwork; and the standing desk, which is now a multipurpose project area. These desks are arranged in a three-sided square, and I sit in the center. The piano is off to my left, next to the bed. It would be ideal to have it right next to my computer, but this will do for now.
Then today I decided to clean up the set of shelves in here. I took Sean’s comics down and sorted them and ordered some more binder sleeves and backing boards. Then I started rearranging books in the living room to make room for the comics out there so I could put books more relevant to my goals in here. Now when I look past my monitor I see rows of Japanese-language manga and light novels, Japanese study materials, and a selection of English-language books I’ve been meaning to read.
In between bursts of moving and organizing, I’ve been playing the piano. I have a book of Clementi sonatinas, two of which I learned as a teenager, so it’s been fun revisiting them. I also have a copy of Clair de Lune, which is not coming back as easily as I’d like. I first learned that piece at the request of my late grandfather, so I definitely want to get it back up to performance level. Of course I still know Fur Elise, so I play that whenever I start to feel overwhelmed. There are a couple of other pieces from my former piano days that I halfway remember, so I’ve been playing what I can recall of those as well.
Today I also finished up the coursework for the introductory Python course I’ve been taking on Coursera. All that’s left is to take the final exam sometime before November 19. I’ll start reviewing tomorrow and see how I feel about my grasp of the material. As usual, I’m least confident about designing algorithms, but I think that sort of ability would come more easily if I spent more time learning the features of the language. You’ve got to know what tools you have to work with before you can expect to efficiently solve problems, after all.
I’m really happy with my office arrangement. I think this environment will be more conducive to getting things done. As I continue to add goals and plans, I’ll start looking at filing systems that can help me keep track of where I am and where I’m going.