In the Hizzouse

Well, I called that one. The week after I start blogging I get buried in work and leave my loyal readers with no indication of the cause of my absence. Please accept my sincerest apologies.

Last time I left you with a fleeting glance at the mess I call home. Today we'll take a closer look at my crib.

My apartment is on a hill. Everything in Washington is on a hill. I don't think I've seen a flat surface yet. What this means is that my building is three stories on one side and two stories on the other. Tall in the front and short in the back, sort of like a reverse mullet. You can guess where I live.

Business

Party!

My ride. Sweet, no? When I ride through town, people occasionally roll down there windows and yell out compliments. "Yo, dude! Nice bike!" They laugh and speed off. I'm happy to spread joy.

I'm still a bit new at this. It looks like today's pictures will be presented in Amazing Blur-O-Vision! They should look fine if you click on them, but you probably don't have much need for a high resolution image of my front hall unless you want a good look at that light switch. Which you might. It's a pretty nice light switch.

The living room, complete with a TV that's so small you can only watch it from a foot away. There's also a nice-looking speaker system that's not plugged into anything, a Wii, and an Xbox 360. All the electronic/entertainment stuff pictured belongs to the twins except for my little stack of DVDs.

In this picture you're treated to a rare insider's look at our junk mail. The kitchen table is sort of a dumping ground. The twins went to a Super Smash Bros. Melee tournament this weekend and dropped their GameCube controllers here when they came home. You may also notice backpacks, shoes, and pizza boxes. Zac bought some ping-pong paddles and balls a few days ago with the intent of turning the eating-table into a tennis-table. While I was initially a bit worried that this would interfere with my meals (no one wants a ping-pong ball in their Forsted Flakes), it's actually encouraged the kids to keep the table a bit neater.

This is the kitchen. It's sort of a dumping ground. As we explore more rooms, you'll see that this is a common trend.

A pretty typical scene. If you visit, be sure to wear sandals when you go in the kitchen unless you like the crunch of crumbs between your toes. Filth aside, it's a nice kitchen. That window points to the living room and through that door we have...

A laundry room! I don't have much to say about it, but I wasn't expecting to have a washer and dryer in my first apartment.

Back in the living room. No one really uses the futon (Zac's), but the chair (mine) is a great place if you're into sitting, especially since I got it for free. I went to a garage sale and it had a big "FREE" sign on it. The guy there even helped me get it home. It was in good shape, but they still suggested throwing something over it, so I covered it in my spare sheets. Look for more low-budget decorating techniques from Jake every Thursday at 8/7c on HGTV. Past my chair is the balcony and the box for the twin's TV. It's been there for a few weeks now. Why? I don't know. Must be the new trend. The box look is in. Waaay in.

A very junky side table covered in my junk. I would say that book is only semi-ultimate. My school's library has a whole section of video game history books. I feel nerdy enough about checking video game history books out of a library. I feel nerdier knowing that I've already read about half of the books multiple times.

I have a fireplace! Nah ne nah ne nah nah! Take that, dorm-dwellers!

That air mattress from the last post? A thing of the past. But it's not just a bed...

It's a Transformer!
(Warning: link contains a riding mower who says a bad word)

Ah, now here's a video game collection. None of that Xbox trash. I got the TV from the same garage sale as the chair, but not for free. Cheap, though.

My worldly possessions. To answer the question before it's asked, I did not go to the Austin Game Developers Conference. The bag was one of the prizes I won at my school's carnival.

Zac lives on the left.

Now I live on the left. It's all about perspective, ya see.

JakeyBlog: everything you want to see and so much more!

I have another chair story. The local Value Village had a 50% off on all used items sale one day, so I bought this office chair. By "local" I mean two or three miles away. And the return trip is all uphill. It's not much of a story, but you get some pretty funny looks when you're pushing an old chair up the road. I covered this one with a cheap tapestry. Also in this picture, most of my school books. What kind of textbooks does a video game major study? Consider this a sneak preview for next week when I'll most likely start talking about school.

Finally, here's what really matters: my totally bad mouse pad. Take a look at that. It's a skeleton with a Mohawk playing soccer. Throw in the hyper-dramatic fire-hued sky and you have perhaps the most gnarly thing in existence, but the artist wasn't content to stop there. Oh no! This mouse pad is holographic. As soon as someone develops the technology to make 3D tattoos, I'm getting a Mohawked skeleton footballer on my chest.