A Promotion And An Introvert's Dream (Pt 1 of 2)
 

I was recently promoted at work and given the largest desk on the floor which is affectionately referred to as "The Fortress of Solitude" by my team. It's off by itself with four enclosed walls making it an incredibly quiet and private space which is a dream for an introvert like myself. My supervisor was confident placing me there because he knew I could work independently but would also continue to supervise and interact with new members of the team to assist them as needed.

I wasted no time in making the space my own - a home away from home. I ordered a few antique art pieces, a Persian style rug, I printed custom posters and had them framed, ordered limited edition lithographs, and had a second bronze bust of Beethoven cast to match the one I use in my home office for use as headphone stands in each space.

To ensure that each of the pieces would function well in the space, I took a moment between tasks at work to sketch out a rough template of the work area’s measurements and where I planned to place/hang each artifact. Here’s the (very) rough layout.

https://i.imgur.com/e5vbM0vl.jpg

It took a few months for all of the art works to be created, printed, or to ship from their nations of origin, but it's all come together. The final step was to replace the boring wheeled plastic desk chair with something more my style. Thankfully I scored a vintage red armchair for just $7 at a local garage sale.

Here are a few shots of the results.

https://i.imgur.com/qcG5EuJl.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/h8sL7pOl.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/rE8YYRql.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/ACDxzwpl.jpg

The last item has just arrived and is now handsomely framed on my office wall. This is the limited edition bonus A2 lithograph from Brian Eno's new Extended Edition of Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks, exclusively shipped to the first 250 persons worldwide to submit their orders upon the announcement of its release.

https://i.imgur.com/sz9OrqOl.jpg

The print showcases the lunar surface depicted on the original album cover from 1983. The piece is a perfect complement to the official Hearts of Space nebula poster I ordered from the ambient radio program that has been wishing space fans safe journeys for nearly forty years.

https://i.imgur.com/OZziLj4l.jpg

The Beethoven bust turned out fantastic and really adds a refined touch to the space -

https://i.imgur.com/F1D2xvml.jpg

My dual desktop wallpaper is a photo of the century-old chalkware "Nipper" statue and 1911 Monarch gramophone proudly displayed in my dining room in celebration of "His Master's Voice," the legacy of RCA, and the history of recorded music, and a small cast iron figure of Nipper sits humbly between the two monitors.

https://i.imgur.com/VsqdUtgl.jpg

Also on display is my recently-acquired "His Master's Voice" antique art mirror -

https://i.imgur.com/66YKGBIl.jpg

To be continued in a moment with pt 2…

A Promotion And An Introvert's Dream (Pt 2 of 2)
 

continued from Pt 1 above...

a portrait of James Joyce, mantel clock, and I found a vintage lamp and shade to complement my burgundy-and-brass theme -

https://i.imgur.com/yiGQWUNl.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/1Y8YMaol.jpg

a collage I assembled of influential figures in the history of experimental music titled, "The Rest Is Noise" -

https://i.imgur.com/tVHg2GRl.jpg

DJ Food (Strictly Kev)'s poster of all the releases from the late Pete Namlook's ambient FAX +49-69/450464 record label -

https://i.imgur.com/sbQdSVQl.jpg

an engraved tea chest -

https://i.imgur.com/d8kiAhfl.jpg

and a limited edition t-shirt graphic I framed of post-rock legend Godspeed You! Black Emperor's Faulty Schematics of a Ruined Machine from their majestic F# A# ? LP -

https://i.imgur.com/i8CC9yXl.jpg

There is also a fun antique style console radio clock -

https://i.imgur.com/Wy9pgeVl.jpg

and I produced a high-res scan of Brian Eno’s sheet music for his seminal Music for Airports LP and formatted the layout to frame beautifully in a 10x13 frame above my desk.

https://i.imgur.com/DMQBqvZl.jpg

And on the far wall behind my desk I’ve framed the Apollo print and a classy 24” x 36” portrait of Miles Davis taken in 1948 in NYC from the Herman Leonard Collection.

https://i.imgur.com/T3pGC5pl.jpg

The Persian style area rug finishes off the space nicely, and makes it feel extra cozy.

https://i.imgur.com/DlzWoT1l.jpg

It's a serene work space and really makes me feel at home.

Not bad, me boyo.

Incredible Book Find of the Day
 

Just a brief post as the discovery was too much fun not to share...

While hitting up the city with a dear old friend, I happened upon this copy of JOHN CAGE – I-VI (The Charles Eliot Norton Lectures delivered at Harvard in 1988–89), a 464pp oversize hardcover.

An aggregate web search returns the lowest-priced copy at $93.99. Or $269.00 new from Harvard University Press.

I paid $18 for a mint edition.

It was just waiting on the shelf for me to come by and claim it. And I will definitely give it a loving home beside my other Cage essentials. <3

https://i.imgur.com/J9RNlNAl.jpg

You can also store your condoms in there, that'd save a lot of time.

Someone else remarked, "is this your office or your bedroom?"

And our former CEO exclaimed, "this is nicer than my house!"

Evidently the cube has become infamous around the entire two-store office building. And several women have stopped by asking if I'd decorate their work space.

I take it as a good thing.

As soon as I saw your post quoting ISB's post I thought the same thing. There was no other reason I could think for you responding to it.

This is kind of weird to say but I don’t think I’d ever get any work done in there. I’d be too busy drinking coffee and smoking big cigars.

WTF are doing now that you get such a high society office?

I mean, I actually had an office once but it never occurred to me to decorate it. It’s really kind of a bad ass power move. I mean that’s definitely YOUR office.

If I ever get an office I might do that. (Too lazy)

PS Please **** one of those secretaries in there, mad man.

That's honestly as big an office as I'd want tbh. I any bigger than that and it's just company space for me to look at. But that amount of space is enough for me to consider mine in my own head.

Thanks OH (and everyone) for digging the cube. I'm definitely the only one in the building to go to this extreme length of customization of my work space. The most other people do is thumbtack up a few family photos or Scotch tape a few quick-reference printouts for reference. I went all out to make the space mine.

To answer OH's question, I work in IT at the international headquarters of a company with 8-900 offices in the US and Canada. I'll leave it at that to reserve a degree of privacy.

You're quite right. It's just the right amount of space. I can focus and get my work done. (Any anyone whose followed my writing can likely envision the insane amount of productivity I set myself to achieve at the office.)

On a semi-related note of productivity - this morning I successfully implemented a dynamic drop down with conditional formatting into my 180+ tab Master Workbook where I jot down all the albums/films/books I've been meaning to take in and made all of the tabs instantly accessible from a single auto-alphabetized menu on the home tab.

I also threw in a script to rescan the workbook for new data to incorporate automatically into the drop down every 60 seconds.

I don't **** around.