I Live In An Apartment

As most of my friends here know, I'm living in Washington DC for about 16 months as I complete my master's degree. Well while I'm here, I'm living in a second floor corner apartment in the Georgetown neighborhood of the city. It's not large, basically two rooms, and it came furnished.

The main room has a small kitchenette in one corner and a living/dining area filling out the rest of the room. There's a futon in place of a couch and I basically use it as my bed. There is a bedroom that came with a bed, but I've stored that with the landlord and use the bedroom as a makeshift exercise area for my taekwondo.

But back in the main room, there is one thing that is quite curious. It's an turntable with an amplifier. The landlord said it is not his and the Lieutenant that I'm subletting from said it was there when he arrived a year and a half ago. So some previous tenant evidently donated it to the apartment furnishings.

Well, I recently went back home for a weekend to pick up some more stuff including winter clothes that I would need for my sixteen months here. While home I mentioned the turntable; it really is quite the novelty item for this digital girl. Upon hearing of my find, my dad ran to the basement and put together a milk crate full of old vinyl albums for me to listen to. I've finally pulled it out and began exploring this new way to listen to music!!

The first album I pulled out was "Hotel California" by, of course, The Eagles. The title track is a classic and I've heard it a million times and love it. But, being an album and not my Spotify feed, the Eagles continued on with songs I had NOT heard. Loved these two:

[media=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Pa5nqYXEnY]

and ...

[media=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06QOHqzNaLg]

So then I continued going through his crate of music and I came across Eric Clapton "Unplugged". Liked the whole side 1, but came to "Tears from Heaven" and just loved it. I was chatting with my good friend @TexChik and she told me the story of how and why he came to write that song 😢 ... so sad ...

[media=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxPj3GAYYZ0]

Anyway, I'm just getting settled nicely here in Washington and discovering a new (old) way to enjoy music. That's all for now! ;)

About me: https://similarworlds.com/sarabee1995/info

Scribbles · 36-40, F

I think it's great that you embraced the opportunity to try it out. And that you are enjoying it

If it was me though...I'd have probably asked if it could be put in storage or found it a new home with someone who appreciates vinyl more then I do. It's less of a novelty for me because my dad had records and a record player, and I had my own fisherprice kid's toy that sort of worked liked a record player (most amazing toy ever btw-but It meant I grew out of a fascination with records when I discovered cassette tapes and cd players as a kid. )

I should ask my parents if they still have this toy, because I think the going rate is like 50 dollars for it. And well it should...they don't make a kid's toy like that anymore. (that makes me sound old 🙄)

And once Ipods came out, I never looked back. The perfect portable thing when you need music when hanging out with friends, exercising, and hey, if you need an impromptu dance party, or have a spontaneous unplanned date that goes really well...your ipod has it covered with all your different playlists every single time. :)

Live music is the best experience, but if I have to pick between machines?
Convenience and the lack of "storing physical stuff" will probably always beat quality for me. I've been picked on by musician friends a few times over that...but there it is. lol

p.s. If you plan on keeping the record player during your stay in that apartment. You should consider hanging a velvet painting by your record player...just saying...

btw...I love that you use the bedroom as your tkd area. I have an area in my apartment with those foam puzzle tiles that interlock (though those have cons, I'm always paranoid about sweat getting underneath and cleaning/sanitizing them and underneath them) and that is like my way of having a designated exercise area where I store everything for that and work out .

sarabee1995 · 26-30, F

@Scribbles Oh don't worry, this digital girl is not switching to vinyl any time soon. It was my dad's idea to bring some of his old records down with me to try it out, and then he kept bugging me asking if I had. So now I have. But for all the reasons you mentioned, I'll stick to my phone for music.

And yeah, a dedicated space was important to me. Besides, after living on my boat for two summers, I'm used to small spaces. As small as my apartment is, it is more than enough for me. :)

sarabee1995 · 26-30, F

@Scribbles PS: Nice toy. I don't recall ever having one of those but it looks cool.