Annnnnnnnd relax.

[pseydtonne]

I can tell I am reaching the oldest of my packed materials because I keep finding shopping bags from Tower Records.

I can also tell that I'm pushing myself and may need to change tracks after I sort what's on the dining room table right now. I'm realizing all at once how many things I've avoided over the years.

I found an uncashed $100 check my mom sent me for my 28th birthday. How did I miss money? Am I nuts? (No, I'm not going to cash after six years.)

I found the invitation to ceelove and starphire's wedding, still in the envelope, RSVP ignored. I was about to freak out that I didn't go to this event and how that compounded my feelings of isolation over the years. Then I found the material that explained why I hadn't gone to the wedding: airline tickets to Florida during the same week. This is how I greeted memories of October 2003.

My emotions are overwhelmed. My body's reaction was the trots, which I am not certain were psychosomatic. Then my body forced me to take a short nap. I didn't even turn off my iPod -- I just slowly passed out in my chair and woke up a little later.

The last two boxes I found have only contained computer parts and a book on the history of timepieces. These are much easier objects to handle.

Oh, and I think I have enough modem cards that I could start a decent-sized ISP in 1993. If anyone has a time machine, I have a no-brainer business plan and the assets to make it work. Oh sure, there are plenty of easier ways to make money if you already have a time machine, but this one would let us chill through the Nineties and know which banks will be solvent when we get back. No bookies, no guilt!

I still think I'm going to call it an early day for this organizing session. I will finish the boxes that are already on the table, gather the empty boxes from yesterday and today and bring them to the basement. Then I'll set up the low rack and put some stuff on it. That will be constructive and useful.

I'll tidy up the living room and then do some computer geekery. Besides, the last two boxes in the aisle seem to be my roommate's, so I've achieved a lot just in 30 hours.

Meanwhile, here is the Facebook Haggadah. That's a much easier read than the Lolcat Bible.

And hey, I've never even been as bad as the folks in these photos. Now I feel like a neat freak, since most of my desk is useful and clear space. Some of these desks don't scare me as much as others if they still have leg space under the desk and the keyboard is unobstructed.

By the way, I just answered a Gallop poll over the phone! The dude in Omaha had questions about phone books versus Internet searches. I wonder why they still publish those things...

-slow, slow, quick-quick slow... ride, Ps/d

Comments

[starphire.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry that missing our wedding contributed to feelings of isolation for you; I had no idea you felt that way.
I kind of assumed that you weren't so much interested in our lives after those became mostly child-centric. I also wasn't sure if you hadn't friended me back for a reason, but then I should have just asked a long time ago. I've tended to feel isolated myself lately.

I do want to say that some of your recent posts about going through your old stuff has helped me face my own piles of cruft and dig into it, so thanks for the inspiration. :)

[pseydtonne.livejournal.com]

It's nothing you could have controlled. We got free tickets for a certain time to visit her grandma, so we went. The child-centric stuff is something I'm dealing with over time -- that I may not be a parent and instead have to work on something far weirder. Thank you for your concern.

I want to spend more time with you and I am glad that I could motivate you. The biggest thing I've been getting from my time without employment has been the reward of recognition. I felt like I'd been telling this humdrum tale of emptying boxes and bags, but the response has been very rewarding.

[proudlyfallen.livejournal.com]

Some of us like phone books. If you run into any that you're going to throw away, give them to me instead. Especially the old ones (from when I was in elementary school -- mid to late 90's) that still had the lists of phone codes in them.

[pseydtonne.livejournal.com]

I forget sometimes that those normal parts of my childhood are your distant past. I bet my parents still have old phone books, so I'll check with them next time I go to Utica.

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

I am really enjoying reading your organizing posts. I had a client for whom organizing made her have to poop - she kept excusing herself to go to the bathroom during our session. It was an interesting connection.

[pseydtonne.livejournal.com]

Yay! (For the really enjoying, not for the bio-trigger.) It means a lot to me that someone that does this for a living can see something in this.