I should get some Spandex! These clothing bills aren’t exactly tax deductable.
Seven organisms reside in our home. Four humans and three felines. And we all knew this day was coming. The day when my personal Nerd Cave would outgrow its own four walls and leak into the rest of the house. As Dan Patrick might opine, “you can’t stop it…you can only hope to contain it!” But while I’m quoting folks, remember what Bill Clinton said…”It depends on what your definition of ‘contain’ is.”
It’s a problem that probably faces every nerd collector/hoarder type out there sooner or later. You’ve been given/allowed/granted a specific amount of space for your crap–a basement, an attic, or, as in my case, a spare bedroom. Four walls in which your various hobbies, loves, and interests must be contained. There aren’t too many significant others out there who are enthusiastic about a Star Wars-themed kitchen. But what does one do when you’ve simply run out of room?
It’s no secret I like me some “stuff.” I’m the opposite of “minimalist” when it comes to my hobbies. If there’s such a thing as a “maximalist,” I’m in that category. The mo, the merrier. My collector persona is very much like a black hole in space. Once a game, comic, movie, book, miniature, magazine, or “collectible” enters my gravitational field, it’s probably never getting out. “Downsizing” just isn’t part of my genetic make-up–unless you count that time the house burned down.
So what’s my point? Here’s the deal. A couple months ago, I was in Hobby Lobby looking for an 11×17 frame and I happened to duck down a back aisle. What did my nerdy eyes behold but these beauties:
Classic Comic Book Cover Art @ Hobby Lobby
I’ve mentioned the little voice in my head who screams, “DUDE! THAT MUST BE YOURS!” Well, he definitely fell in love with these. But they’re HUGE–24″ x 36″. Where on Earth would I possibly hang them? Not in the Nerd Cave since available real estate on the walls in there is at a bare minimum. So I snapped a quick iPhone pic for posterity and went about my business.
A couple of days later, I showed the photo to my wife and much to my surprise, she really liked them. And speaking of my lovely wife, it’s been brought to my attention that I may have painted her in a harsh light when it comes to the Nerd Cave <cough cough HotCocoaBangBang cough cough>
But in reality, she’s pretty liberal and supportive when it comes to my “thang.” It was her idea to surrender the guest bedroom in our new place to me after we lost everything in the fire.
So we were both loving the classic covers artwork but the obvious question was “where would I put them?” And she busts out with, “Hang them in the hallway outside your room.” We’d talked about that subject before and she’d signaled that she was cool with putting some stuff out there as long as I kept it classy San Diego (i.e. NOT Hot Cocoa Bang Bang).
As you can see, there’s already been a bit of mission creep with my adornment of the Nerd Cave entrance (which is a work in progress):
My realtor is going to LOVE this if we ever put our house on the market.
So, a few weeks ago, the whole family was in Hobby Lobby for something or the other. I was in the checkout line with the kids and my wife was browsing the clearance aisles near the entrance when she signaled me to come over quickly. I was hesitant to give up my spot in line and said, “This had better be good…” Boy was it. They had one each of the comic cover paintings left in stock and they were all on clearance for $35 each (down from $70–HOODY HOO!!!). We had that “yeah, but where would we put them?” conversation again briefly and she said, “Hang em in the hallway. Just do it.” Which, as you can see below, I did last night.
The walls are bare no more!
Dazzled by my photography?
Obviously they really tie the hallway together and my bride actually quite likes them there. And as you can see, there’s plenty of empty space just awaiting further acquisitions…perhaps a Frazetta here, my original Dave Cockrum Batman page there? And now that I think about it, that ceiling is wide open for something to hang from it…
As always, thanks for stopping in and…stay nerdy my friends.
Copyright 2014 It Came From The Nerd Cave