i really needed a desk

Two days ago, I went to the office supply store to buy some new pen refills. The particular office supply store I went to has two levels, and as I descended the escalator, I saw, from afar, the most perfect little desk. It sat off in a corner, alone. It had little pigeonholes above the desktop, and a cabinet underneath. It looked like this:

world's cutest desk

I fell in love immediately. I went over to it, and touched it, and admired it, and looked around for a price tag, of which there was none. 

I had no hope of being able to buy it, but I thought I'd ask anyway. As the salesman looked at the desk, searching vainly for a price tag, I said, "It must be free!" (My mom always says this when something has no tag on it.)

"I think it's close to free," said the salesman. 

The computer showed it for $110.99, which is not close enough to free for me, as I told the salesman. So he magically hit a few buttons and suddenly it was on clearance for $24.95, which is affordable even on my pathetic little budget. (I looked up my exact job in Michigan, and it pays almost $5 an hour more than I make here. With a much lower cost of living. Durrrr.)

I bought it. 

Then I had to beg my friend S. to drive downtown with her car to retrieve my lovely new desk, which she did, because she's awesome, and I took it home, only to go to bed. (Not with the desk. It is awfully bulky and heavy, otherwise I assure you I would have snuggled with it all night long. I was that excited. DESK DESK DESK!)

I tackled it last night, sitting amidst wood and screws and "hidden connectors," (can assembly of these things be any more complicated? do they do it on purpose?) and I moved my furniture around to make a place for it. I felt accomplished. I have a little living room now, off in the corner of my studio, and the pigeonholes on my new desk are already filling with three-hole punchers and envelopes. I have storage space.

The one little problem is that spending two entire nights on the desk has left me with no food in the cupboards and utter chaos in my apartment. I am likely to trip on a random left-over piece of styrofoam at any time. Or a recordable cd in a colorful case. Or a magazine. Or a paring knife. I have the desk together, but I haven't quite organized myself around it. 

(And no, I am not sitting at my desk now. Don't be silly. Desks are for storage, and for looking cute. It's couches that are for sitting with a laptop.)