This is my desk chair at work. I don’t really care for it, but it’s tolerable. If I sit with my back against the backrest, the chair leans back, which is not conducive to typing on my keyboard. It takes a really conscious effort to sit up straight. The seat is pretty comfortable to sit on, which is good because I spend a lot of time in this chair.
I associate this chair with sitting in a cave because my office doesn’t have any windows. It really induces my biophilia.
These are the seats on the Metrolink, the commuter train that I can take to Irvine. These are the best public transit seats I’ve encountered in Los Angeles County, besides maybe the commuter bus seats. I like them because they’re comfortable and have a high back.
They leave me with a bittersweet feeling, though. I like taking the Metrolink because it’s a nicer train experience and more reminiscent of European trains, but it runs so infrequently outside of normal commute times that I’m usually irritated or anxious about making the train.
These Metro seats are gross. They’re carpet, which means that they retain dirt and various liquids and bodily fluids much more easily. I don’t usually sit down on the metro, but if I’m on the train for longer than my usual commute it’s more comfortable to sit.
The seats invoke many mixed feelings because of the Metro. In LA, it serves mainly the low-income community, because those who can afford to have a car prefer to avoid dirty, uncomfortable, and sometimes unsafe public transportation. It comes back, in many ways, to the problem of homelessness that plagues LA. Which is not going to get solved anytime soon.
This is one of four Ikea chairs that I have at home, along with the matching kitchen table. The wood is hard and not very comfortable, so I don’t really enjoy sitting in them. Sometimes I actually eat standing up instead.
These chairs, along with others in my home, remind me of my current income bracket. They’re actually my roommates, and I can’t afford to buy new furniture, so I’m stuck with what’s there. I hope to one day not have to sit in them.
This is another Ikea chair that I inherited but don’t like. It feels cheap, but it’s ironically also heavy. The feet make an annoying noise when I move the chair, which means that I have to pick it up every time I want to adjust it slightly, or be subjected to a horrible grating noise.
Besides my financial state, I also associate this chair with my freedom and millennial flightiness. I’m not in a place where I want to own furniture because I don’t want to settle down in one city yet, which is why upon moving to LA, I scavenged the previous roommate’s furniture that she didn’t want.
This is the only chair in my home that I actually like—another piece of Ikea furniture that I do not own. I like that it allows for easy and comfortable lounging, with a high back and a headrest. The padding is actually removable and replaceable, which is very convenient. For about $30, you can have basically a new chair.
Unfortunately, I don’t actually sit in this chair very often. It’s the cat’s chair, and he likes to sleep on it.