(4:42 PM) | Adam Kotsko:

Things I Need or Will Need

1. Another bookshelf: It feels futile to buy one, since I'll just need yet another one immediately afterward.
   
   
2. A snow shovel: I keep thinking that I need to buy a snow shovel before the first big snow, at which point they will be sold out at all the stores, but it always seems to be too soon. Obviously, this trend is going to wind up with me being shovel-less when the storm first hits. I also need to get some weight for the back of my truck since someone appears to have stolen my sandbags, which I admittedly just left lying on the ground next to my parking spot.
   
   
3. A chess book: It's not enough to win -- I need to know why I'm winning. Richard should hope that I actually get this one, because I'm sure that I'll get worse before I get better.
   
   
4. A big French dictionary: I have the use of Anthony's big huge French dictionary for the next year, but it's somewhat ridiculous that I don't have my own, especially given that I own an unabridged Italian dictionary. (I have not yet "gotten around to" learning Italian, though I have now decided that there is no objection to doing so at the first available opportunity.)
   
   
5. A book about wine: I'm no longer satisfied with going to the store and trying to remember what I got the last time I was there with a knowledgable person.
   
   
6. Some new clothes: All of my clothes are pretty old, but definitely not old enough to be "vintage." My heart grows discontent with my customary "jeans and a t-shirt" wardrobe -- I can pull together something "nice," but only for a couple days at a time.
   
   
7. Cutlery: In the process of moving out of the Bourbonnais house, I gave away all my silverware and much else to Jared Sinclair. (I can't even remember how much I gave away.) Now I have bowls, plates, a frying pan, a pot (or two?), a bottle opener, a can opener, and a knife block. That is not a recipe for a complete kitchen. When I move out at the end of next summer, I'm going to throw myself a Bachelor Shower -- or else hope that Anthony and Hayley have the same mindset that I had upon my last move and short-sightedly give away some crucial kitchen equipment.
   
   
8. A job: My situation is thankfully far from desperate right now, but over the course of this semester, I will need to work in some capacity or other. Last time I was at CTS, they had a posting for a 20 hour a week maintenance job -- that wouldn't hurt in terms of sprucing up the old resume while making a little spending cash. I do have extensive experience in maintenance, and I can mow a lawn like you would not believe.
   
   
9. An apartment with a good academic library nearby: Hyde Park would be the obvious choice, but I think I could get away with hanging out in DePaul's library as long as I didn't cause a scene. Of course, neither venue is known for its rock-bottom prices. Seemingly every year, a fellow CTS PhD student sends out mass e-mails for some decently priced studios around 67th and Lake Shore -- which isn't as bad as some might think (i.e., those who have the mindset that one is automatically robbed and/or raped upon going south of Congress).
   
   After six months of strenuous experimentation, I am now very familiar with the transportation options in the greater Hyde Park area, such as they are. I don't think that selling the truck is going to be a very realistic option no matter where I move, though, unless they extend the Metra to Kankakee. (If it stopped at or near the Amtrak station, that would be ideal.)
   
   
10. A burrito: I think El Cid is going to have a visitor this evening.

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