Tuesday, February 07, 2023

the story of my bookshelves

I finally got around to transporting my bookshelves to the office. This was a Monday night thing that bled over into Tuesday night. This past Sunday, I had intended to take my shelves, but I waited too long: I started lashing the shelves to my hand truck a bit after 11 p.m., and by the time I finished, it was 11:25 p.m.: there was a chance I wouldn't make the last train out toward Daechi Station. So I waited until Monday night and started out a bit after 11 p.m. I had to wait for the 11:35 p.m. train, as it turned out. I also noticed, this time, that the handicap elevators all have yellow signs on them warning not to use these these facilities as freight elevators. Whoops. Well, I guess that's another reason to transport stuff very late in the evening. No one said anything to me.

I'd learned a lot about transporting things on a hand truck from my previous trip. I didn't have proper bungee cords, but I had nylon twine and some cargo straps that I'd gotten from John McCrarey a lifetime ago. This was enough (along with the short bungee cord from my small hand truck) to bolt everything down good and tight. While the shelves did shift a bit as I passed over the rough tiles and sidewalks, there was no danger of anything falling this time. I was able to get on and off the subway with no problem (now that I know where to position myself), and while I still made an infernal racket, like last time, I didn't have to deal with any spilled contents, so I was a lot less winded by the time I reached the Mido building.

Daecheong Station subway platform, waiting for the train. Strapped down enough for ya'?

I made it to the bottom of the back-entrance stairwell and was readying myself to untie everything and take the shelves up one by one when an ajeossi came by and said I couldn't go that way: it was after midnight. He let me into the main part of the building, though, so I could ferry my wares to a different stairwell. It took a million years to untie everything, but I used that time to catch my breath. Even after midnight, there were still students moving up and down the stairs. What kind of classes go until midnight?

At the back-entrance stairwell.

Below is the "after" picture: notice the lack of ropes and straps. I had to untie everything and ferry the shelves and cart up the stairs, one by one, after which I had to stack everything back on the hand truck. So here's the cart, ready to make that final push:

At the top of a different stairwell.

In the last shot below, I'm about to move my shelves into our little corner office. Mission accomplished. It took me a while to remember how to set the shelves up. I think they're how they're supposed to be now. I had my cell phone with me this time; I put it into my pants pocket to make sure it didn't fall out. (Luckily, I never had to bend over to pick up spillage.) Pretty much everything that went wrong last time went right this time. That's my superpower: always getting things right the second time. That's certainly true of my cooking.

final destination

So when I come into the office Tuesday morning (a mere few hours from now), I'll likely spend a couple hours just putting all my shit back on the shelves. I couldn't do that until the shelves got brought in, which means I probably should have brought the shelves in first, followed by the rest of my stuff. Ah, well. Live and learn.



4 comments:

  1. Quite the adventure, but at least it went better this time.

    It should come as no surprise that I have zero recollection of those straps or the circumstances under which you received them from me.

    And so now let's keep our fingers crossed that nothing happens in the near future requiring you to move your shelves yet again.

    ReplyDelete
  2. For some of my better students, I taught two Saturday night classes (6-9pm and 9-12am), and some still had an hour long math tutoring class from 12-1am Sunday morning afterwards. I felt awful for them, but years later, I'm still in contact with several of them who missed those classes as I often cooked Tex-Mex food for them while keeping the classes more casual, open, and just plain relaxed.

    But I thought the government was supposed to put an end to this type of extreme class time in order to decrease and prevent youth suicides.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wait... so students can't game after midnight but they can go to hagwons after midnight? Sounds like someone forgot what it means to be a kid.

    ReplyDelete
  4. John Mac,

    This was back when you lived way up that hill near Itaewon (Gyeongnidan?). You had received some packages for me or something. I think one of those loads was heavy, and you offered me those straps. My own memory is vague, too.

    Charles,

    I'd wager the forgetting-childhood thing has been going on a long time in this country. You can't let your kids be kids because they'll fall behind.

    Daejeon John,

    Another reason never to trust the government.

    ReplyDelete

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