I made a terrific miscalculation - forced by time pressure, four days to in May move out of a five year residence, I decided to pack everything. I'll sort it out when I get there, I figured. And maybe I'll need all this furniture, or at least certain pieces of it. Packing it all, moving it all - that way I don't have to find new stuff.

That was foolishness! I should have realized that finding furniture is fine adventure. Having furniture delivered is a pain in the butt - 900 square feet of furniture delivered to a 600 square foot home. I have over two weeks until Cor-O-Van has agreed to deposit my possessions in California - I'm looking forward to the books, the media, the technology hardware. But not the furniture.

I need a bed. I have no chairs. I have no bowls. I don't need that stuff delivered. I want to go buy some nice cheap workable items! I had nothing so classic I needed to preserve it - at least not in terms of my ordinary bowls and things.

Some of this attitude is bread by the internet - I've been made soft by Craig's List. Post an item on Craig's List, with a low price and maybe a photo, and someone will come by your home within 12 hours to pick it up. It's frankly astonishing, and a relieving way to think about your possessions: "Well, I may not need this, but I know that at any moment, I can get someone over here to take it off my hands. And even give me money for that priviledge!"

I should have seized on Craig's List, gotten rid of everything I had. Then, trusted in Craig's List again, and enjoyed the hunt for new stuff there. But I didn't know I'd have this scale problem - I think I pictured LA as a large urban landscape, so somehow I'd end up with a larger house, where my old furniture would usefully fill space. Instead, I've ended up in a terrifically compact little casita with a large yard. So I have to mostly get rid of my old furniture, which I paid to ship and store, or make my living room outside.

As it is, I can only imagine I'll sell my two too-large couches, ditch my old door-based desk, get some larger bookshelves and ditch my plain wood ones. Maybe buy a new, smaller bed for my new smaller bedroom, and fashion some kind of platform around it. I'll keep some of the TVs, and TV carts. And, I'll keep my cheapo Salvation Army asiantique dining table. I've got this idea that I can paint is with heavy sealer, and put it outside as a dark wood formal garden dining table. The only question I have - how can I treat, and seal its thinly upholstered chairs?