Today the word is clean-out 1
Cleaning out the mess my life has become has been exhausting. I don't think I'm more than a third of the way through.
And, believe it or not, these pics of the room represent a huge improvement over what it was before.
For those keeping track in the peanut gallery, here are some (hastily collected and probably inaccurate) stats:
At the beginning of the year:
-- I had over 400 unread books in the room. Current total: 200. This 'unread' stat doesn't include tech manuals, art books, or comics. Goal: have the 'unread' number equal 200 or less, after I tally in the above unincluded stuff.
-- I had around 4-500 read books. Current total: 350. Again, doesn't include tech and art books and comics. Goal: to have the number drop below 200, without the tech, art, and comic books (I will track those separately).
-- I had over 250 CD's. Current total: around 40. Goal: keep just the box sets and hard-to-find stuff, and rip the rest.
-- I had over 150 DVD's. Current total: around 80. Goal: met, really. There isn't much left, so I'll leave it the way it is for now.
-- I had over 250 tech books. Current total: around 100. Goal: drop below 75, if I can. Maybe another giveaway at the end of summer.
-- I had around 8,000 comics. Yes, you read that right: 8,000. That's about 21-22 longboxes. Current total: have no idea...but I can almost fit everything into 17 longboxes. Goal: get down to about 12 longboxes, if possible.
Why am I doing this?
It's probably been one of the more painful experiences of my life, barring major life events like death, love and taxes. I have defined myself largely by my stuff for a long time. The process of throwing things away and getting my possessions to a reasonable level is really levelling me as a person. But, I think, for all the right reasons. Every time I throw away a box of stuff, the things I've been ignoring for so long bubble to the surface. I begin to see where I want the next chapter of my life to go. It's been very liberating and deathly frightening at the same time.
So, what's next?
-- Buy a flat-screen monitor...I have a TV card in my PC. So why keep the TV?
-- Replace the ridiculously large stereo I never use because I only listen to mp3's with a much smaller system for the remaining bits of vinyl, cassettes, etc. that I still have.
-- get rid of the bazillion cameras I have and focus on getting good at just a few.
-- To explain the next bit, I have to actually explain how I read: whenever I come across something I think is important, I dog-ear the page, and copy the quote into a master notebook. I now have a lot of this digitized. So, one goal is to get as much of the read books sold, but get the quotations digitized and into a bound and printed set of books that I can carry with me.
-- find space for the guitar and amp. Hopefully, I will be able to kill at least one bookcase and the TV stand in a month or two, so that may open up practise space for me.
Today the word is clean-out 1
Cleaning out the mess my life has become has been exhausting. I don't think I'm more than a third of the way through.
And, believe it or not, these pics of the room represent a huge improvement over what it was before.
For those keeping track in the peanut gallery, here are some (hastily collected and probably inaccurate) stats:
At the beginning of the year:
-- I had over 400 unread books in the room. Current total: 200. This 'unread' stat doesn't include tech manuals, art books, or comics. Goal: have the 'unread' number equal 200 or less, after I tally in the above unincluded stuff.
-- I had around 4-500 read books. Current total: 350. Again, doesn't include tech and art books and comics. Goal: to have the number drop below 200, without the tech, art, and comic books (I will track those separately).
-- I had over 250 CD's. Current total: around 40. Goal: keep just the box sets and hard-to-find stuff, and rip the rest.
-- I had over 150 DVD's. Current total: around 80. Goal: met, really. There isn't much left, so I'll leave it the way it is for now.
-- I had over 250 tech books. Current total: around 100. Goal: drop below 75, if I can. Maybe another giveaway at the end of summer.
-- I had around 8,000 comics. Yes, you read that right: 8,000. That's about 21-22 longboxes. Current total: have no idea...but I can almost fit everything into 17 longboxes. Goal: get down to about 12 longboxes, if possible.
Why am I doing this?
It's probably been one of the more painful experiences of my life, barring major life events like death, love and taxes. I have defined myself largely by my stuff for a long time. The process of throwing things away and getting my possessions to a reasonable level is really levelling me as a person. But, I think, for all the right reasons. Every time I throw away a box of stuff, the things I've been ignoring for so long bubble to the surface. I begin to see where I want the next chapter of my life to go. It's been very liberating and deathly frightening at the same time.
So, what's next?
-- Buy a flat-screen monitor...I have a TV card in my PC. So why keep the TV?
-- Replace the ridiculously large stereo I never use because I only listen to mp3's with a much smaller system for the remaining bits of vinyl, cassettes, etc. that I still have.
-- get rid of the bazillion cameras I have and focus on getting good at just a few.
-- To explain the next bit, I have to actually explain how I read: whenever I come across something I think is important, I dog-ear the page, and copy the quote into a master notebook. I now have a lot of this digitized. So, one goal is to get as much of the read books sold, but get the quotations digitized and into a bound and printed set of books that I can carry with me.
-- find space for the guitar and amp. Hopefully, I will be able to kill at least one bookcase and the TV stand in a month or two, so that may open up practise space for me.