In which I am opinionated about owning things ~ ramble
So the thing that really hit me today is that I have this relatively small car in which I have to take everything that's absolutely necessary to living with me to California. And it'd be one thing if I was going there directly, but....I'm not. I'm visiting with friends along the way, and I don't want to ruin my mileage or my car by loading it down with heaps of crap. And honestly, I don't want to take that much stuff with me, but when it comes down to it I am going to have a hell of a time abandoning what will probably be 90% of my personal belongings, even though I know that once I've DONE it, I'll be fine.
My mother has already told me that she'll bring some of my stuff with her when she moves to Cali (like my brand-new dresser drawers that she bought for me) but I still have plenty of paring down to do.
My family has a weird relationship with material possessions. One the one hand, there's my dad, who has boxes and boxes and boxes of books and other crap that we dragged from house to house to house while he was in the Air Force. (This is probably at least partially why my mother has such a hate-on for unnecessary belongings. 16 moves in 20 years will do that to a person.) On the other hand, there's my paternal grandmother, the crazy sail-boatin' one, who (obviously) had an absolutely minimum of personal possessions and has probably gotten more enjoyment out of her life than plenty of people I know despite that fact.
For my own part, I...suck at owning things. I'm messy and disorganized and honestly I don't USE more than half the stuff I own. I rarely watch movies unless I'm with friends (something I am working on! I've been watching one movie a week for almost a month now, go me!) and while there was a point when I re-read books relentlessly, that hasn't been the case for years and years now, mainly because my list of books I have yet to read has gotten so astronomically long. Not to mention the hordes of stupid stuff (gifts from ex-boyfriends, board games, old photos, relics from marching band and classes in high school) that has just hidden itself away mysteriously in my closet and under my bed. And yet, I have so. Much. Crap. And I am WRETCHED at parting with it.
This is driving me nuts.
There's nothing wrong with owning things, per se. I'm not of the school of thought that having material possessions makes you a bad person, or a greedy one, but there's a point where, as my mom (and probably your mom) says, you stop owning things and things start owning you. Some of y'all have had great success at organizing all the stuff you own, keeping it neat and easily-grabbable, and what's more, you USE it.
stumphed and jou, I'm looking at you. And then some of you, like theory_of_chaos, have the same problem I've kinda had lately, in that when it comes time for your birthday or Christmas or whatever, you have trouble forming lists of purchaseable objects to give to your friends and family. (I still manage to come up with plenty, but it's much harder than it was. I'm trying to not tell people to buy me books anymore, even though they do, but I have SO MUCH READING to catch up with, and also, that's what libraries are for. That being said, I still have that mad desire to OWN my books instead of just borrowing them. I'm possessive, dammit.)
In a perfect world where I could be the perfect person that I want to be, the full limit of my potential, where I had enough money to pay all my bills and have plenty of free time and own exactly what I wanted to AND have enough time and money to take proper care of my stuff (not to the exclusion of enjoying my life), I have a list of Shit I Would Own.
+ A guitar. This would involve me learning to play, obviously, but I've never owned one so I've never had the chance.
+ A piano. I haven't played regularly in years, but my mom's piano is out of tune to begin with, so. I have no delusions of becoming the Next Big Thing in pop music, but I have always enjoyed playing music immensely, and I'm sad to have gone away from that part of my life.
+ Probably 10-15 DVDs and a system to watch them on. It could be my Playstation 2 (or 3, eventually, I guess) because I don't need to tape shows that often, and it would double as a DVD player.
+ Clothes. I am unfortunately a clothes horse if I let myself be. As some of you have no doubt witnessed. This includes things like shoes and jewelry.
+ A motor bike. Like a Vespa or something, NOT a big old Harley. GOD I want one so bad and I can think of nothing more fun than zipping around a city on one.
+ Art books. By a few select artists (like Yoshitaka Amano) but I COVET them, precious.
+ In-line skates.
+ My favorite books and the room to house them in.
+ My computer, obviously.
+ CD's and something (even if it's just my computer + some speakers) to play them on.
+ A car. Though eventually I might give it up. Baby steps.
When I move to California, there are a whole host of things I'm going to have to probably throw or give away. I have little plastic figurines of video game characters, anime characters, musicians, and characters from books; old soccer and competition trophies; puzzles and board games I haven't touched in years; DVDs of anime series I haven't watched since before I was in college... stuff that I will never use again. And while I'm not necessarily as loathe to part with them as this makes it sound, I am loathe to simply throw some perfectly serviceable things away, as opposed to finding them a new home.
I guess what this comes down to, is that I am trying to be a person who owns things that she will use and/or love, and nothing else. We're all victims of the desire to be WHO we wish we could be, as opposed to realistically relating to who we are and going from there, and buying things we hope to use or that we want to represent us as we aren't is just another part of that trap.
My mother has already told me that she'll bring some of my stuff with her when she moves to Cali (like my brand-new dresser drawers that she bought for me) but I still have plenty of paring down to do.
My family has a weird relationship with material possessions. One the one hand, there's my dad, who has boxes and boxes and boxes of books and other crap that we dragged from house to house to house while he was in the Air Force. (This is probably at least partially why my mother has such a hate-on for unnecessary belongings. 16 moves in 20 years will do that to a person.) On the other hand, there's my paternal grandmother, the crazy sail-boatin' one, who (obviously) had an absolutely minimum of personal possessions and has probably gotten more enjoyment out of her life than plenty of people I know despite that fact.
For my own part, I...suck at owning things. I'm messy and disorganized and honestly I don't USE more than half the stuff I own. I rarely watch movies unless I'm with friends (something I am working on! I've been watching one movie a week for almost a month now, go me!) and while there was a point when I re-read books relentlessly, that hasn't been the case for years and years now, mainly because my list of books I have yet to read has gotten so astronomically long. Not to mention the hordes of stupid stuff (gifts from ex-boyfriends, board games, old photos, relics from marching band and classes in high school) that has just hidden itself away mysteriously in my closet and under my bed. And yet, I have so. Much. Crap. And I am WRETCHED at parting with it.
This is driving me nuts.
There's nothing wrong with owning things, per se. I'm not of the school of thought that having material possessions makes you a bad person, or a greedy one, but there's a point where, as my mom (and probably your mom) says, you stop owning things and things start owning you. Some of y'all have had great success at organizing all the stuff you own, keeping it neat and easily-grabbable, and what's more, you USE it.
stumphed and jou, I'm looking at you. And then some of you, like theory_of_chaos, have the same problem I've kinda had lately, in that when it comes time for your birthday or Christmas or whatever, you have trouble forming lists of purchaseable objects to give to your friends and family. (I still manage to come up with plenty, but it's much harder than it was. I'm trying to not tell people to buy me books anymore, even though they do, but I have SO MUCH READING to catch up with, and also, that's what libraries are for. That being said, I still have that mad desire to OWN my books instead of just borrowing them. I'm possessive, dammit.)In a perfect world where I could be the perfect person that I want to be, the full limit of my potential, where I had enough money to pay all my bills and have plenty of free time and own exactly what I wanted to AND have enough time and money to take proper care of my stuff (not to the exclusion of enjoying my life), I have a list of Shit I Would Own.
+ A guitar. This would involve me learning to play, obviously, but I've never owned one so I've never had the chance.
+ A piano. I haven't played regularly in years, but my mom's piano is out of tune to begin with, so. I have no delusions of becoming the Next Big Thing in pop music, but I have always enjoyed playing music immensely, and I'm sad to have gone away from that part of my life.
+ Probably 10-15 DVDs and a system to watch them on. It could be my Playstation 2 (or 3, eventually, I guess) because I don't need to tape shows that often, and it would double as a DVD player.
+ Clothes. I am unfortunately a clothes horse if I let myself be. As some of you have no doubt witnessed. This includes things like shoes and jewelry.
+ A motor bike. Like a Vespa or something, NOT a big old Harley. GOD I want one so bad and I can think of nothing more fun than zipping around a city on one.
+ Art books. By a few select artists (like Yoshitaka Amano) but I COVET them, precious.
+ In-line skates.
+ My favorite books and the room to house them in.
+ My computer, obviously.
+ CD's and something (even if it's just my computer + some speakers) to play them on.
+ A car. Though eventually I might give it up. Baby steps.
When I move to California, there are a whole host of things I'm going to have to probably throw or give away. I have little plastic figurines of video game characters, anime characters, musicians, and characters from books; old soccer and competition trophies; puzzles and board games I haven't touched in years; DVDs of anime series I haven't watched since before I was in college... stuff that I will never use again. And while I'm not necessarily as loathe to part with them as this makes it sound, I am loathe to simply throw some perfectly serviceable things away, as opposed to finding them a new home.
I guess what this comes down to, is that I am trying to be a person who owns things that she will use and/or love, and nothing else. We're all victims of the desire to be WHO we wish we could be, as opposed to realistically relating to who we are and going from there, and buying things we hope to use or that we want to represent us as we aren't is just another part of that trap.