Things on my Desk

Starting at the back-left corner of my desk, there’s a small "Casio Vintage Collection" tin box. This box unsurprisingly came with a rerelease of a vintage Casio digital watch. (I have a matching one at work from another purchase. I really like Casio digital watches, but almost exclusively wear the all-black G-Shock.)

The Casio box is filled with a bunch of partially-used Field Notes notebooks and a few pencils. I like to always have a bunch of these notebooks around, but I’m pretty bad at journaling IRL (and journaling online, too, but I’m working on it.)

Hanging off the left corner of the front notebook is a risographed “I Love Horror Movies” button. I got this button from a fellow designer as part of a trade. This one is pink with dark grey text. I have another one that’s blue with pink text on my messenger bag.

In front of this is a real-life mockup of my first Famicase entry on a clear acrylic display stand. This is a prized possession, as I’m a huge fan of the Famicase exhibit and will be participating in the exhibit this year.

And finally, in front of all this stands a small figurine (originally a keychain) of Dori fromA A Day of Us. If you’re unfamiliar, A Day of Us is an extremely cute and charming slice-of-life cartoon on YouTube.

Next to this setup is a yellow Game Boy Color in a black 3D-printed display stand. The yellow variation (or “dandelion,” if you’re being technical) is my favorite from the lineup. It’s somehow even better than the translucent version. This particular shade of yellow may just be my favorite color (aside from black, of course).

Loaded inside the Game Boy is a Wario Land 3 cartridge. I’m a big fan of Wario — I even have a tattoo of bat-Wario from Wario Land 4. Behind this is a small stack of other games nestled inside of a black 3D-printed cartridge holder. I got all this 3D printed stuff from a generous coworker several years ago. They’re a little crusty if you look close, but they work well and make this setup look really nice!

All of this is on top of a bootleg Link’s Awakening box I got from an internet friend and frequent collaborator. It looks just like the real thing, and for a fraction of the cost, I’m sure. To the right of this setup is a date stamp I got for my birthday a few years ago. I really love this thing and use it anytime I attempt to journal or send a letter.

In front of the date stamp are two Polaroids. The back of the desk has a desk-length opening for wire management, and these two Polaroids stand in that gap. The photo on the left is one of my partner that I took on the side of a road many years ago. She’s standing in front of a distant, derelict house on a country road in the Ozark Mountains. We randomly pulled over there on a trip back from visiting my dad. It feels like it’s from another time — like, I really doubt we would pull over to take a photo these days. But it’s a great photo!

The photo on the right is of my late dog Pepe sitting on our old white couch. He was a Bichon Frise and was the nicest dog I’ve ever met. The white couch was a horrible mistake. It looked great at first, but was almost immediately ruined by having two dogs. Definitely don’t get white furniture, especially if you have housepets.

We’re half way through now — getting to the computer stuff. In the middle of the desk is a computer monitor, with a soundbar and keyboard in front of it. (The desktop is on the floor.) The computer is a CyberPower pc, which came with a gaming mouse and keyboard. I really like the set up, but it does sort of have a “gamer” aesthetic. Everything is red and black, with a few unnecessary LED lights. It’s not too bad, though. and it did show me how nice it can be to use a weighted mouse. I just don’t understand the desire to have differently colored WASD keys and color-changing lights.

Tucked away behind the right side of the monitor is a spray bottle of glasses cleaner. This is a must have. In front of this is usually where I keep my wallet and wristwatch if I’m not wearing them.

Next up is a trophy that reads “1998 Pow Wow — Winning Maiden: Fire Building.” This is from an annual event that used to be held in my childhood small town. This event was very likely cultural appropriation and doesn’t seem to be a thing anymore. A complicated artifact, I guess you could say. But my mom won this trophy in 1998 for being the fastest to build a fire using only a couple of sticks, which is pretty badass.

To the right is a Newton’s cradle. As a kid, I remember seeing these on office desks in movies and always thought I would need one if I ever got a desk job. I told my partner about this and she surprised me months later with one for my birthday. Kind of a gag gift, but also very sweet and thoughtful.

Next to that is a stick of chapstick. Burt’s Bees, hell yeah. We’re coming out of winter and my lips can get chapped as fuck. Hopefully I’ll be retiring this soon as things start to warm up.

Now we’re all the way to the back-right corner, where a lamp sits, overlapping my desk and my partner’s. On top of the base of the lamp is a small, framed painting of Pepe that our friends commissioned for us after he passed away. An extremely thoughtful gift. I miss that very good dog!

The only thing that’s left is the bottom-right corner, where my computer mouse rests on a large mousepad. I also regularly have headphones and a macbook on my desk. Either the one from my day job when i’m WFH, or my personal Macbook that I won from a design contest a couple year ago. I love working on a Mac, but definitely think they are overpriced and not super accessible. I haven’t purchased an Apple product since the iPod classic and wouldn’t have this Macbook if not for receiving it as a prize. Here’s hoping it lasts for many more years.

I think that covers everything. It’s a fairly minimal and organized set up, but there are a few unique items sprinkled throughout to give it character and evoke some memories. It was fun to unpack everything!

The desk itself is white and about 4.25 feet wide. We got if from Ikea, so it’s pretty minimalist, with a few dents and scratches where I’ve dropped things over the years. My partner has a matching desk (without the scratches) and it’s immediately to the right of mine. To the left of my desk is the wall. Above our desks are 18 pieces of our favorite album art (nine on my side, nine on her side). And below are black rolling chairs sitting on top of black mats to protect the flooring.

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Updated on: 2022.03.05 ✦ ✦ ✦