April 8, 2005

• Ten Years at Home With Baldmike and Cancerboy Dept.

  
  

  Welcome Home:  “This is where I..hang out…”

  
  

  A few days ago we got a notice from the management company that manages our duplex that they were going to have another “inspection” tomorrow, so to make sure the units were “clean and respectable”. Last time this happened up to six people would march through the houses one by one and check every thing out. There were no buyers. The current owner bought the complex and immediately wanted to sell about two years ago. He made minor changes, but for the most part, our house looks like it has been lived in for a decade, and the earlier owner didn’t even fix the place up from the six months it was vacant after the last tenant before us moved out.  It was used as a crack house in the hood when vacant. The door locks are all broken where the doors were kicked in. But it’s home sweet home. Anyway, I had to “clean up” so that a bunch of people can traipse through here tomorrow, so what better time to show you exactly what they’ll see. Welcome to my home, dear blogger community and potential new owners of the place I’ve lived in for the last decade.

  
  

  

  
  

  Xanga just “announced’ that they made the photo service better. As far as I can see it isn’t better on the blog entry, but when you click on the photos the ones that open in another window are larger than they used to be. I use really large 1152×960 photos just as the camera takes them, so the photos in this actual entry do not look as nice as they used to on Xanga. But the photos when clicked look a lot better. I’ll probably have to “prepare” the photos before posting here in future to make sure they look good on the blog.

  
  

  The living room shot from Joel’s doorway. You can see three of our original San Francisco Concert posters from The Avalon Ballroom in the late 60s. Big Brother, Jefferson Airplane, and to the far right, the Grateful Dead. On the wall in back is a mirror I and a friend made one afternoon back in the 70s. Some of my DVDs and VHS tapes are in the bookcase in the far right corner. It’s painted green because all the walls were painted Gumby Green in my room in  “the Frat House” when I lived there with Bob and Mike in the 80s. I never repainted. Notice all the couches and chairs are different styles. Joel collected most of them. The couch to the left was in my room in “The Frat House” and then Joel inherited it. It’s the most uncomfortable couches I’ve ever sat in. The Lazy Boy chair is mine. The mess on the coffee table and sofa is Joel’s. It’s one of the few things he has to clean up for tomorrow.

  
  

  

  
  

  This is the view from (above) my Lazy boy in the living room. This was my “command center” before I created the “Media Room” to escape Joel’s smoking and the screaming neighbor kids. Kris Mutt is on the left. He was a stuffed dog sold during the 87 Christmas season at Target Stores, my last Christmas in the retail industry. The “MikeVideo” logo on the top of the 60″ bigscreen television used to be on the back window shelf in my 66 Cadillac Sedan de Ville. A friend of mine made it for me on a jigsaw. Malcolm rests on the floor as usual.

  
  

  

  
  

  The first bigscreen, my vinyl record album collection is in the bookcase to the left. Malcolm is in the middle of the room. You can plainly see that  nothing has changed much in 10 years, Joel and I just put the mixed bag of furniture we both had “collected over the years” where it suited us best.  He had lots of different chairs and tables, I had lots of bookcase units for my collections and video and audio gear. A lot of visitors have mentioned they liked the layout. The living room used to have lots more figurines until I created the “Betty Boop Museum” in my “rooms” in the back of the house.

  
  

  

  
  

  Shot from the dining room, you can see my DVD collection in one of two “video bookcases” on which I used to have all my videotapes when I lived in “The Frat House” with Bob and Mike. As the DVD quantity increases, the VHS tapes get moved to other places. I never watch any of the 500 or so movies I have on  VHS tapes.
  

  
  

  

  
  

  The kitchen sink. Usually there are a lot of beer bottles on the counter where I put the box for my latest toy, my second Tivo that was installed two weeks ago. Note that the cabinet doors are stained. Like a typical house where two guys have lived for ten years. I think the last time I cleaned the cabinets was five years ago. I don’t think Joel has ever touched them. There’s a “cathole” in the mini blinds in the lower right hand corner of the window.

  
  

  

  
  

  “The Media Room” shot toward the northeast corner. My Lazyboy is in the center of the room. The chair is covered in an old tee shirt I got in Toronto when visiting my late friend Dan. In the left corner is my custom television cabinet which was made for my 32″ Toshiba television when I lived with Pat in the early 90s. I had one of the very first “big screen tube televisions” and it weighed a ton. Two people have to carry it. It cost $1700.00 “on sale” in 1989. Now I store my CD Roms and magazines in the cabinet I had made for it. The RCA box on top of the television cabinet is my first VHS video camera, made before they invented camcorders. It still works. My computer and a “Betty Boop Museum” shelf are in the corner. The framed money is the first dollar I ever earned in 1970 sweeping out the local 3 Day old Dolly Madison Bakery in El Monte. I keep the window covered because I watch movies in the dark.

  
  

  

  
  

  “The Media Room” shot from the ceiling. The door is on the right, and to it’s right is one of the curio cabinets in the “Betty Boop Museum”. If you look closely, you can see my bald pate in the lower right hand corner. I am standing on the computer desk, vicariously balanced on my swivel chair, which can twist at any moment. You can see a bit of my Lazyboy, and pillow behind my head. Above the media stack are my Myron Waldman autographed sericels. The black and white Betty Boop sings “I’ve got a language all my own” when you push the button.VHS tapes of every Betty Boop cartoon ever made plus more DVDs line the top of my HDTV. The velvet curtains on the sides of the cabinet are used when I watch “square” movies and television shows.

  
  

  

  
  

  My bedroom shot from the bed. The dresser is an antique and was from the days when I lived with Pat. Pat is in the “Pat Shrine” on top of the dresser, and the “Buddy Holly Shrine” is in the picture frame hanging above the dresser. My original “Acid” poster, created in the late 70s hangs on the wall. Gumby peeks out from behind the dresser.
  

  
  

  

  
  

  My bedroom, showing the old quilt Pat’s stepmother gave me hanging in front of the window (I like to keep the windows covered in our neighborhood), and the unfinished “Betty Boop Museum” bridge which was to be my headboard. The two bookcases are from Ikea, and there was to be a bridge containing books and memorabilia above my pillows. My night stand is an old unused 12″ floor standing speaker. A painting by Regina, my last paramour, hangs above my bed. Each of those bookcases cost $179.00 (on credit) at Ikea and I had to put them together myself. I got to be a pro at putttng Ikea-like furniture (called K-D for knockdown in the industry) together back when I worked for FedMart Furniture to Go in 1978. I don’t just make my bed for photos and inspections, either. I make it every morning after I wake up even before I shower. Should I show you my closet? I took a photo, but I’ve already posted 9 . Make sure you click on the photos to get the real experience.

  
  

  Well, that’s the old homestead. I hope you enjoyed yourself, and come back now, y’heah? There’s always some cool music playing or a great old or brand new movie on the HDTV. If you want something to eat, we’ll have to go out. I don’t use the kitchen. 

  • 10:30 pm
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