Blind Prophecy

It’s 40 days until I move, so I decided today was the day to start properly packing things up. The first order of business is designating 3 boxes for sorting: keep, ship to Utah, donate to charity. There’s also a heavy duty trash bag for throwing out garbage.

I filled up the garbage bag fastest with junk mail, paperwork, clothes too worn out for donation, and miscellaneous other trash.

As usual, sorting my books is proving to be the hardest part. Reference books and signed first editions, obviously, go to the top of the keep pile. Paperbacks I only mildly enjoyed go to the donate pile. Then there are fiction books I love, but could get from the library if I decided to read them again: the Fionavar Tapestry, The Wicked Years books, the Harry Potter collection, etc. No idea what to do with these books. I know I’m not going to have time for pleasure reading during school, but there are holidays to consider.

I’ve made the decision to leave behind all my comic books and graphic novels. That includes the complete set of the Emma Frost miniseries and the Sandman series.

Heading back to Utah are things like special keepsakes, photos, and samples of printed materials (newsletters, catalogs, ads, media clips, etc.) that make up my communications portfolio.

From the donate pile, in addition to books and comics going to the library, I have a pile of “fat” clothes that will not be moving with me to New York, so I’m not allowed to put weight back on – I’ll have nothing to wear.

I’ve already eliminated the CD collection since I’ve moved everything to digital files and backed them up in several places. I’ve also scanned and backed up all the photos I really care about, although those are getting sent back to Utah rather than tossed. Scanning and saving old documents has also cut down the number of file folders I feel compelled to hang on to, although I still have more computer cords than I have accessories and devices that need connecting.

I’m trying to strike a balance between losing track of all the things that make me feel at home and smart planning for 9 months in a dorm followed by unpredictable apartment living. Still, after developing some pack rat tendencies, it’s nice to purge myself of material trappings every so often. I realize that if I ever do settle down permanently I’m likely to become a hoarder.

Filed under: personal by Jere Keys