I don’t know why I used a title that sounds like some foreign character in a movie, but it felt a little more entertaining that a simple “the couch is gone.” And why the masculine pronoun for it? Because in languages that assign a gender to inanimate objects, couches tend to be masculine: el sofá (Spanish).
What couch? Where? Since I set up my home office in 2017, there’s been a futon couch in it. When I was laid up due to multiple hernias in 2018, I spent a lot of my laid-up time sleeping on that couch or watching “Justified,” “From Dusk ‘Til Dawn: The Series,” and “Continuum.”
But as my home office moved from a man cave to a real working space and hobby space during the pandemic, I brought in more shelving, another table for my MIDI keyboard (which I’d planned to learn to use much better during the pandemic). And my 120 sq. ft. space turned into a maze. The couch was not functional for anything but laying down and the only one who used it for that was my terrier, Tulip.
Things got cramped and filming for work purposes got harder. In Developer Relations or Developer Content, streaming and making videos is now a part of the job, and if you’re working from home, you need a “studio space.” I was able to simulate one, but it was VERY restricted by the clutter, both in where I could place things like backdrops and the camera angles I could use.
This week, I’m rearranging my home office to be a better studio space for filming videos as well as a less cramped space for doing everything else. This is so I can hit 2023 running. I know, I could hit the ground running any day of the year, but starting things on important dates, especially the beginning of a week, a month, or a year has been proven to give people a little extra psychological boost.
The couch, which had been mostly blocked by my music table, is now out in the hallway opposite the laundry room and the music table is up against the wall. The maze through different pieces of furniture and shelving is opened as well, so it feels like WAY more space than the couch occupied opened up.
We’ll try the couch in its new location. If it feels too cluttered there, it will go in the list of summer garage sale stuff (or spring cleaning dumpster bag contents).
The primary benefit is that it will be much easier to set up backdrops for filming video and have more camera angle choices. As much as the AI background eliminators are amazing, the 3-5% they miss ends up being very noticeable to me. Getting a solid color backdrop in place will be nice.
I still have hours of work to do a proper declutter, move a few more things, figure out some camera placements, and adjust the lighting to accentuate them.
Until I find the role I want (and that wants me) 2023 needs to be the “Year of Shameless Self-Promotion”: more blogging, videos, art, etc. If I’m not applying for or interviewing for jobs, I’ll be trying to learn and demonstrate technical or artistic skills and do some work on audience development for my personal brand.
What are you doing to get ready for the new year?