The Downside of Owing a BIGGER Space

Source: xkcd.com

I am not sure about you but when I am anxious, one of the things I like to do, besides unapologetic-ally munching on your packet of chocolate chips, is to write. It allows me to restructure what's inside my head, to reorganize this entropic, neurotic mass of semi-solidy watery gueye thingi that is my brain. It helps to keep calm when i am obviously not, to maintain my composure when I am not so composed and to get myself to do something when I am really pretending to be busy.

It is just the way i am folks, call me weird but its not as if it's all that bad to write your thoughts down. 

I guess this new found restlessness that I have had to deal with in recent weeks, or perhaps the last few days has strangely branched out from a very unexpected source; my room. It is fascinating to understand that a change in your immediate environment can have such a profound impact in how you behave and on your usual habits.

So, what has changed?

You see, I was living in this place called Nokdu, 20 minutes away from my lab and about 10 minutes away from the main gate. Life was ok. I had a decently cold place which was fine on summers but brutally cold on winters, had a personal shower cum toilet (bathroomish), a personal induction pan where i could occasionally try out new recipes for my curries and drop them on my guests and so on. The space was enough but just enough; my friends used to call it cozily small. To give you a perspective of how small, I would have to say that a bed wouldn't fit there. Ok, i am being dishonest here, it would but there would be no space at all to move. I had a sofa bed and I would wrap it up every morning to create space or if I had one of those days where I had a handful minutes to reach the lab, I would  just let it be. 

But then, last month, things got a little...spacier. I wasn't prepared for this change.

For the past six months, I had been on the waiting list for BK international house, a one room apartment styled dorm with full option (you have the kitchen, a massive bathroom, a varanda and so forth). If you ask me, the bang to buck ratio is spot on. For a graduate student, it cannot get better than this. Or that's what I thought in the beginning.

Here's the thing; bigger space means you are allowed to bring more people in, have a greater curry party and so forth but there's a cost to all that. 

The cost of bigger space:

I cannot believe I am complaining that I have a bigger place but when you have more space than you know what to do, it can get on your nerves. There are too many drawers, to many cupboards, too many shelves empty and you just can't find things to fill them up.  Not to mention that I threw half of my empty beer bottles away while I was moving. Should have just brought them with me and put them on display hoping that they wouldn't fall on my head when I am sleep walking. 

The cost of maintenance:

Bigger space means losing more time. It's not just cleaning bigger floors, it's also doing the dishes (more guests, more dishes), taking out bigger trash (have to go all the way down) which I haven't, cleaning out a much spacier bathroom and so forth. They all require me to sit down and work on them. No wonder people hire "help" to do these work for them. I will probably have to stop eating if I did. 

The cost of gas:

It's winter and it's bitterly cold. Only last week the temperature dropped to brain freezing -12 (add some unexpected gush of wind to it) and that only means one thing; bringing up the heat. And let me tell you, in seoul, gas is not cheap. I just wish sometimes Korea had some natural resources to show for but they have been blessed with absolutely nothing. My friend, who lives a couple of floors down below, ended up paying a whopping 25% of his monthly rent for gas. In beer terms, that's 10 very expensive, juicy IPAs.

Very, very expensive indeed. I still can't figure out how my friend manages to own a two bedroom apartment and two rabbits and manage to keep it sexy.

I really can't.