Purging
Posted in Miscellaneous on January 5th 2005 by Randy Reichardt:: Over the Christmas break, I had planned to begin purging my house of excessive “stuff”: papers, curios, objects, junk, magazines, clothes, utinsels, tools, whatever. I made minor progress in one of the three rooms upstairs in my house, albeit the one requiring the most work, my office. What I learned is that such projects take a long, long time to complete. I’d be sorting through said stuff, and inevitably take too much time to examine every single item, wondering “Do I want to keep this, or is it ok to get rid of it? Wait, what if I want to read it again in 13 years?” And on it went. A 1980 issue of Rolling Stone was in my filing cabinet, kept this long because it had a review of Gaucho, and an accompanying article on Steely Dan. Did I need to keep it another 25 years? I reread the two pieces, and passed it on to a friend, advising him not to return it.
I shredded enough paper to fill three blue bags, and boxed some magazines and papers, which I moved to the basement. I know, that’s not purging (it’s shifting, I suppose) but the room is getting spacious again.
What is hardest to admit is that there is much, much more to be eliminated. My plan is to try to finish the first sweep of this room, and then get to the other two upstairs bedrooms, which will not require as much work. In those rooms, the material to be purged will be mostly clothing, which will be recycled to Goodwill.
There is always too much to do. I have music to rehearse for an acoustic concert in February, a new tune to work on for the rock band, and I haven’t been to the Y in six days. My favorite TV shows are back on the air, and 24 begins 24 straight episodes starting this Sunday. Ack.
