Escape Hatch - or... making your cave portable.

Rands in Response once wrote a blog entry about the Nerd Cave. For most Geeks and Nerds that I know, a Cave is not a convenience, it is a necessity. We need our special place - our distraction-free zone - our retreat from the "real world"... that bit of 3D space we carve out for ourselves where we are free to drop the facade of societal "norm" and let loose with our own brand of Nerd Utopia without shame.

My last post included a shot of me in my cave... albeit an out of focus backdrop version... so today I'd like to take you on a little tour.
Don't worry... it shouldn't be 3 hours... unless you read really slow.



OK, starting on our left we have my Big Impressive Scanner, atop which usually sits the latest editions of both B&W Magazine and LensWork, as well as my copy holder when I'm not actively using it for work. The next item over on my desk surface is my little spiral notebook - aka the Portable Brain. This is the notebook I carry around in my purse for all those "OH! I need to write this down" moments. It is currently flipped open on my desk as I'm contemplating the layout for the Geek Scoring Sheet in between work tasks. My computer glasses and one of the 3.6 billion pens I own rest on top. Behind that is my old monitor stand - from my pre-laptop days. I love having this riser on my desk to bring my folder organizer up above eye-level. I need to see the folders I use on a daily basis, otherwise I'll forget they exist. The folders are largely for work.
Boring.
What you can't see to the right of the file organizer is a stack of CD's - this stack is relaxing piano music, for when I get really bitchy and need to completely tune out the rest of the world. Atop that is my desktop calendar from PPG.

If you don't know what is front and center on my desk, then you shouldn't be reading this blog. :) The wallpaper is a screen shot of the Stargate MMORPG.

Directly to the right of the laptop is my beer coaster - you can tell the time of day by the drink sitting on it. Mornings is coffee, afternoons is iced tea, evenings is wine. Next is the perforated notepad - aka the Desk Brain. Random notes live here until they no longer need to be remembered. Then my 10-key. I have a 10-key as opposed to a regular calculator because I like the ticker-tape.

The back corner is my Nerd Corner... the inventory of which includes:
Autographed photo of Wil Wheaton
Mulder and Scully action figures (Mulder has a flashlight, Scully has the cell phone)
Paperweight made by Dan during our first year of dating
small purple dragon
postit-note holder
The Cylon (external hard drive)
Webcam
massive pen holder, with pens organized by type and uses (of course) cards from friends, and beer coasters waiting to be mailed.
Various yin-yang symbols to remind me that life needs balance

The walls are covered in a hodgepodge of images from local artists and drawings by Gayle - the post cards of the Olympic Mountain region are my "view" (since my desk is technically located in what used to be the closet of this bedroom)

So what happens when we are forced to leave the sanctuary of our caves and venture out into that cold, cruel real world? Do we leave our identities behind? Hide our loot in our caves and explore the outer reaches without even our +3 Ring of Protection to shield us from the stones and daggers of the general population who just don't "get it"?

I say NO!

To that end, I introduce you to my Bag of Holding.

This is a purse I picked up some time ago at a greatly discounted price in a luggage shop within an outlet mall. The patches are relatively recent additions which I originally acquired from patchgeeks.com to decorate my camera bag, however the bag material was reluctant to accept a sewing needle, and as I didn't want to rip up the padding... the patches found a home on my purse.

It is truly a Bag of Holding - not only in size, but in functionality. There are several pockets around the outside which are just the right size for iPod, keys and cell phone... the interior has one large cavern surrounded by smaller built in... well just look...



I have several items divided into pouches for easy retrieval - necessary medications in one, frequent shopper cards in another - (the newest addition is the supercool notebook cover complete with sketchpad made by Marsbarn!) The black pouch is the protective cover around my Nintendo DS (the DS itself is the red version) but coolest thing of all is that the interior pockets of my bag are exactly the right size for the DS Guitar Hero cartridge. Oh... and my wallet is buried in there somewhere.

My Portable Cave contains everything I need to survive the "real world" - wallet for purchases, meds for emergencies, DS for waiting in lines, iPod to tune out the chaos, and decorative knick-knacks to help me feel at home.