Today was a flurry of Craigslist posting, a frenzied attempt to get rid of almost all the furniture in my apartment. It's something I've been dreading for the past couple of weeks, a huge bruise on my to-do list. So starting at 9AM, I diligently photographed, uploaded, priced, described and posted my way through the day.
Be careful what you wish for, they say. By 2PM I had posted about 2/3 of my stuff, but already had a flood of unread Craigslist emails waiting for me. By 3PM, two people had come by and suddenly my comfy reading chair (IKEA Poang, the best), and my bicycle (I don't want to think about it, it's too sad) were gone. I was overwhelmed at the thought of myself spending my last days in LA in an empty apartment, eating on the floor and having only my mattress to sit down on (goodbye couch, goodbye dining chairs). I took down the floor lamps I had posted, because thinking about doing all that in the dark was just too much to handle.
We live in a time (read: recession, backlash of excess spending) where living minimally is smiled upon and considered wise. People tell you not to get attached to material possessions. For me, it's not so much that these cheap pieces of IKEA furniture hold sentimental value (except the bike. sigh). There is no way I'm bringing anything other than clothes and shoes to NY, so it makes perfect sense to get rid of things. It's the uber-literal dismantling (in IKEA's case, the disassembling) of my life in LA that's getting to me. Seeing the home you've created be taken away piece by piece is...(10 minutes of blinking cursor...can't think of the word to describe it. Difficult? Yes. Heartbreaking? Yes. Cathartic? Somewhat. Necessary? Yes.)
Stay tuned tomorrow for some fun Craiglist oddities and observations.
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