I went to the studios at about 1 AM last night and hauled everything into the Ubox container. I had on a mask and gloves and got to work. I haven’t been that physically active in a long time, having to stretch my arms to pick up and carry the larger canvases seemed to activate the tender muscles between my shoulder blades. It was quite eerie being back there after so long. Thankfully everything fit. Just barely. If the canvases were even an inch longer it wouldn’t have been possible. I had a brief moment of panic when I couldn’t get the tool cart into the box. I was trying to lift it up because the box itself was raised up on some slats. I’m definitely not strong enough for that. I was suddenly regretting going to the studios alone since all I would need was a little more strength.
I tried to find anything that resembled or could be worked into a ramp, not being sure if we had anything like that. Then I checked the storage room and hidden behind the ladder was a proper ramp! I’ve never used one before since I never had to load/unload a container (or anything really) before. It clasped onto the edge of the box and I was able to roll the cart in. Then I had to start playing Tetris with the paintings. I needed to move them around so the tool cart could fit without digging into the canvas fabric or breaking the wooden stretchers. After some slight adjustments I ended up with this:
I had another moment of fear while packing. This was all happening in the empty parking lot of the studios. I suddenly heard someone blasting music from a distance and I immediately stopped moving. I realized they were actually on the other side of the wall by the river, probably riding their bike based off how quickly the sound came and went. Ugh.
I still have to go back to repair the studios. After I packed everything up I realized I was exhausted and that it’d be best to go home. I topped off my car with some gas since I was almost empty and cleaned off my dusty windows. But I feel pretty good about packing that thing up by myself.
I still have so much to do. I’ve reached the point where I want to give up and just throw a bunch of things away so I won’t have to pack them but that would be foolish. I’d like to one day reach a point in my life where I could fit all of my essentials into one medium sized box. Ever since Stoltz told me he lived out of a duffel bag in his youth it just astounded me. That’s something else I started fantasizing about, living minimally. I’m not counting art supplies since those are actually easy to organize. But my clothing, skincare, cosmetics, and various baubles… this is just too much. Maybe even belongings I could fit in a backpack… This is when I’d put up a poll to see what other folks would consider essential items in their repertoire but only one person responded the last time I put up a form so I’ll just imagine that too, haha. I know a lot of people would probably have some sort of coffee related accoutrements. I’d definitely have my mate gourd and bag of roasted mate…. I need to think about it.