When we were both in our 20s, a full-time screenwriter friend of mine had an office in downtown Galveston. He showed it to me once, and I remember thinking how great it must be to have that space, to have that physical distance between the rest of his everyday life and his creative playground, to have that privacy and freedom from distraction.
I thought about that office again yesterday, from my Day-Glo Brothers illustration-strewn lunch-hour table at my favorite branch library, not long after the 78-year-old Englishwoman with a chemical sensitivity asked if she could sniff my laptop.
I’ve had my head in a similar place all week, as I’ve readied myself for the big move out of spare-bedroom-home-office and into a corner of the dining room. Just completed that move a couple of hours ago. It’s not bad, but I must admit I am already somewhat tempted to knock down a wall and build myself a new room…
So, was the scent she was tracking indeed coming from your laptop?
I’ve had my head in a similar place all week, as I’ve readied myself for the big move out of spare-bedroom-home-office and into a corner of the dining room. Just completed that move a couple of hours ago. It’s not bad, but I must admit I am already somewhat tempted to knock down a wall and build myself a new room…
So, was the scent she was tracking indeed coming from your laptop?
Actually, she asked to take a whiff because she couldn’t smell anything offensive from her seat diagonally across the table from me, and she thought that maybe she’d finally found the computer for her.
When she got up and came around to my side, she was able to detect that certain smell and began to feel faint. She went back to her chair, talked about Elderhostel for a couple of minutes, and then let me get back to my work.
Actually, she asked to take a whiff because she couldn’t smell anything offensive from her seat diagonally across the table from me, and she thought that maybe she’d finally found the computer for her.
When she got up and came around to my side, she was able to detect that certain smell and began to feel faint. She went back to her chair, talked about Elderhostel for a couple of minutes, and then let me get back to my work.
Oh my god. I’m dying. I have never shmelled my computer before. OK, maybe after large, nearly fatal spills on the keyboard but other than that…
Oh my god. I’m dying. I have never shmelled my computer before. OK, maybe after large, nearly fatal spills on the keyboard but other than that…
Ha! I had no idea computers smelled.
It’s funny, though, just this week I was thinking that I’d always kind of longed for an office outside my home. When I was a kid, my dad got a contract to write a journalism textbook, and since the alternative was writing in a 2-bedroom apartment with 2 kids, he rented space in an office building a few blocks from home. It was just a small, plain office, and he only leased it for a few months, but somehow it’s stayed in my mind ever since. I often look wistfully at small office buildings I’m driving past, even though I’m not sure I’d always want to leave home to write.
My office now is…my lap! Before my baby was born, we had a spare room, but now it’s just me and my laptop. I do know someone with an office in a large (I think air-conditioned) shed in his backyard, and once I saw an amazing treehouse office in a magazine, but right now I’d be happy just to have a desk!
Ha! I had no idea computers smelled.
It’s funny, though, just this week I was thinking that I’d always kind of longed for an office outside my home. When I was a kid, my dad got a contract to write a journalism textbook, and since the alternative was writing in a 2-bedroom apartment with 2 kids, he rented space in an office building a few blocks from home. It was just a small, plain office, and he only leased it for a few months, but somehow it’s stayed in my mind ever since. I often look wistfully at small office buildings I’m driving past, even though I’m not sure I’d always want to leave home to write.
My office now is…my lap! Before my baby was born, we had a spare room, but now it’s just me and my laptop. I do know someone with an office in a large (I think air-conditioned) shed in his backyard, and once I saw an amazing treehouse office in a magazine, but right now I’d be happy just to have a desk!