you can't have everything, where would you put it?

There's an old Steven Wright joke, that goes something like

"You can't have everything. where would you put it?"

And while the joke is about having truly everything, it's just as true for having a lot of things. You need space to put it. I live in a 3 bedroom house by myself. I have a lot of places, and end up feeling compelled to fill it with stuff. So having less space, and fewer things should work together hand in hand.

I've also noticed that my default mode of deciding what to purchase is to get it, unless I can think of a reason not to. Seems this is exactly backwards.

Item Count Update

Well, with all of the books counted (and some in a box for Goodwill), and a revised number of CD's (I actually only have 150, and thought I had more like 300), the new count is 767. I'm still working off an estimate in clothes, though I think it's a pretty good estimate. I think 145 books is too many, so I'll probably make periodic sweeps through, and get rid of those I will never use again.

Details, Details

At first I just counted all of my books, and put in the number. I thought about writing the name of each one, but that just seemed anal. I guess it probably is, but I was thinking that if I can't be bothered to type the name of the book, I certainly shouldn't be keeping it! So I will have my books in detail.

On Keeping CD's if you listen to the music

I'm out of town, so I don't have an exact count of my CD's. But I think it's a couple hundred. Since I work in IT, and feel pretty strongly about not copying music or DVD's, I feel like I should keep CD's, if I plan to keep the music. I mean, I haven't put a CD in a player for a decade, but I have all my music on my devices. But if I get rid of the CD's then, I know someone else will be listening, and technically, I am selling my rights to the music. I know most people won't agree with this, but then most people are flouting copyright law pretty regularly. So even though I will keep my movie and book count low, I suspect I might keep my CD count high. Maybe I'll just count it as one thing, since it's not like I buy CD's all the time. I often go years at a time without buying a CD.

Item Count

I've done some more work on the inventory. I was flying in the plane, and just walking through the house in my head. I came up with almost 1100 items! And obviously I missed things. So this number will probably go up for a while as I continue to make the inventory complete. And then it will go down as I work on reducing my stuff. So look forward to the Item Count list at the left!

Traveling the World

I've always looked at things from around the world, and assumed that I would see them some day. In fact, I think I've looked at them in a little bit of a haughty way, thinking about how many people can't see these things, or see pictures of them, and dream of seeing them someday, but ultimately assume they won't because they don't have the means to ever get there. Maybe that whole idea is something I made up, but I think that there are people who truly don't have the means. I never put myself in that group.

I've been very lucky to see a lot of things. I recall one of the times when I was working at 49th and 6th, and needed to catch the bus at the Port Authority, and so I had to walk through Times Square. Tourists everywhere taking pictures, looking at the lights, spinning around while looking up in the air. How many times had they watched the ball fall on New Years eve, and dreamed of seeing Times Square. But to me, it was just a crowd that I needed to get through on the way to the bus.

I guess I felt a little silly, ungrateful, jaded, and generally wondering how I got that way. My ex-wife lived here for 4 years, and had to leave because she saw a woman crying in the subway and passed her by without helping. She didn't like what was happening to her humanity . I always really respected that story.

When I saw the Where the Hell Is Matt video, I had a few tears come to my eye. I'm not sure why. Part of it was that he was out seeing the world. E and I decided not to have kids because we didn't want the responsibilty, and wanted to be able to do things. But we didn't . We took a few vacations, but we defaulted to Costa Rica. I love Costa Rica, but I want to see the world.

I think when I'm done with this job, when I get my options paid out, I'm going to work part time. Or work contracts. I want to take time off, to go do things, and see things. Getting out of the house will help.

I think it was in the movie Sicko where they talked about how we are so tied to our jobs, because we are so tied to are insurance, that we can't stop, and see the world, or protest, or revolt. I guess I can't fix everyone's job situation, but I'm lucky enough that I make enough money that I can take some control. And I'd like to give something when I do to. I'm really thinking about the Peace Corps. I know I could do it. Get me off the computer. Out of my shell. Working with people. Making a difference.

Inventory Thoughts

I had made that first inventory, with all of the details about when I got it, how I got rid of it, etc. It seemed like a good idea, but what a waste of effort. And I think it made me focus on it too much. I don't want to be ruled by the objects. So I'm going to do a new one, that just lists the items. And if I store something, it get's cataloged, and kept in the inventory, and also labeled. I don't think this is an inordinate amount of focus, it just keeps an eye on things, and keeps me from storing things indefinitly. And maybe I record the date it goes into storage. If it sits there long enough it gets thrown away. I wonder if it would be useful to track when something gets used. Maybe a little phone accessible web app.

In the 100 thing challenge, the Other Dave had just a few items of clothes listed. Something screams Nerd in that. I don’t want to be the guy on the parkbench wearing the same clothes every day. But what's the right amount? I don't know. I think part of it will come down to how many of the same types of things do I need. I don’t think I need 15 long sleeved running shirts. I'll bet that's how many I have. Time to weed some out. I think when I was running more, and traveling more, the laundry cycle made it nice to have some more, but it was also compulsive. But now that I'm getting it under control, it's time to weed them out. And some of them suck anyway.

So I guess it's ok to have a enough of the things that you use, but there's no need to keep the things I don't use. I think the sorting things will also help sort out my life.