Well, I should join Packrats Anonymous, except that I’m admitting publically that I’m a packrat, and where’s the anonymity in that?
Do you know how HARD it is to throw away papers from your high school years? I’ve kept these things for more than 15 years and today I finally threw most of the stuff out. (Yes, I still kept some of the stuff.) What’s more is that I know there’s a bunch of things in my filing cabinet that I should also throw away. Perhaps I shall do that a bit later today. Or next year. Or sometime before I die. *sigh*
I admire people who aren’t packrats. I mean, I *know* that I’ll probably never need my notes from high school physics again. But to throw them away???? I must be strong, however. I must throw things away. Well, not everything, of course. But most of it – yes!
I suppose I should go back into the Reading Room and work on another box. And then go through my bookshelves and get rid of the science books that I no longer need. (A trip to the used bookstore is in the cards.) Wish me luck! Hell, wish me strength!
*grumble* *grumble*
Highschool papers! Yes! I think I still have those. At least, I’m probably carting around papers from first year, which, at the rate I’ve been going, was almost six years ago. I need to get ruthless on their asses too. Especially now that I’m moving out of this apartment in a little over a month.
The one nice thing about moves is that they always force you to throw out at least some of the junk you’ve accumulated. Of course, then you go to the new place and just acquire more… I have a collection of most of the programs of concerts I’ve played in or attended, dating back to high school. Sometimes I wonder if I should bother. They aren’t catalogued or organized in any way. Do I need to go back and say “Ooo. I played ‘Molly on the Shore’ my junior year in college” or “I just have to reread those liner notes on Schuman from that one time we heard his third symphony”* *Note: Recollections not guaranteed to be accurate. I guess that’s where the programs come in handy.
Ah, the wonders of accumulating unneeded thingies. What you need is a TARDIS to fill up 😛 Be careful what you get rid of- there are some things that can be genuinely useful in the future (like microwaves, pens and books on entomology) Ooh! Your random Sylv pic is the base for the icon you are using now! Ehe! *pokes*
Go Trina! I know exactly what you mean. I have a box of clothes that I’m getting rid of … sometime. One of my friends is good enough to take them to the donation site so I don’t have to deal with the separation anxiety. And I have boxen to go through filled with stuff I don’t need either. Strength to you, it’s a tough thing you’re doing.
A classic Don Aslett tip: Keep a representative sample of your school papers & notes, storing them nicely in a little box or file or better yet, mounting it all in a scrapbook. See, you don’t have to discard it all – yet you don’t need it all either – so, just ‘miniaturize’ the collection, so to speak. Then you can still pull it out later to reminisce!