Hoarding

6-17-08 Hoarding

Been thinking about having hoarded stuff lately – I recently went through my music room, trying to find empty file folders – and about three dozen turned up. I do not own a computer printer – what I print, I print at work. So, I am not in the habit of regularly printing out everything I write. I am usually content with leaving it on my hard drive. But there was still a lot of file folders, from when I did print stuff out.

I kept looking, and I found several different types of envelopes that I have purchased; several sets of address labels; lots of boxes, packing material etc. In short, I have hoarded a ton of stuff that pertains to my hobby.

Not to mention the CD’s & LP’s – I have way too many.

When I do pull titles out of my collection, I must remember to remove them from my ‘big list’ – I update my list frequently, such as when I replace an old CD with a new re-mastered version (or a little paper album cover / kami sleeve CD). Sometimes, I just ‘give up’ on artists that I have tried – “that collection ain’t going to go anywhere, time to ditch ‘em!”. Some stuff gets given to friends, some gets taken to Amoeba in Hollywood (or San Francisco).

As I approach my 50^th anniversary, I try to think of how I can change for the better – should I keep less stuff? Re-use and re-cycle more stuff? My videocassette collection hangs around my neck like an albatross. I wouldn’t like it if it were ‘stolen’, but…I am not pleased at how much space it takes up. All I can see or think of is what I would do with that space, were it not occupied with cartons of videos.

When I moved to England in 1990, I packed an entire closet in my home (a fairly large one) – maybe it’s time to open it up and survey if it’s all ‘worth keeping’. And, yes, I am one of those Americans who pay to store stuff in a storage facility. If I haven’t seen the stuff in a year – should I really pay to keep it? (I went back to the storage place and retrieved my LP’s that were in storage – they weren’t going to get sold, hanging around in a locked storage place!).

I believe I am what William S. Burroughs once referred to as a “shit-hoarder”…

Does my book collection equate to my intellect? Is my massive music collection merely a more thorough road-map through my soul? Do I even have a soul?

I know, I know – scan everything in to the computer, burn CD-R’s of everything etc. More moments and less artifacts. Or thereabouts. I bet I could live for a year – in my home – without having to buy anything but soap / shampoo and food. I certainly do not need to buy any more paper. Or CD’s. Or LP’s. Or books. Or magazines.

…but I probably will buy more of all of the aforementioned items. For some reason.