: Getting Organized
Now that the kids are finally, thoroughly, and completely out of the house (except when they come back to use our washer & dryer) Lisa & I have speculated about maybe, possibly, sometime in the not too distant future, possibly, somehow downsizing out of our oversized house. Maybe move into one of those condo things.
Maybe we’ll do this while we can still sit up straight without drooling.
Some of our friends have already bitten the proverbial bullet and done this. I would note for the record that there was no obvious bullet biting involved; as far as I could tell they just went ahead and did it. How? Maybe they used edible bullets? And what did they do with all their stuff? All that stuff. . . . .
Aye, there’s the rub. All your stuff. George Carlin had a very funny comedy routine about dealing with your “stuff”.
There’s now a whole mini-industry dedicated to helping folks like me who have this problem. There are books and TV shows dedicated to the proposition that you don’t need all those possessions. The premise is simple. If a particular object no longer gives you joy, you thank the object for the pleasure it gave you and then you send it on its way. The problem is that pretty much everything we possess gives me some sort of joy. OK, not the attic toilet. No joy from that. Although we would have a hard time getting rid of that – it’s attached to the house. And maybe not that box of graham crackers sitting in the back kitchen cabinet. I could say goodbye to that. But pretty much everything else gives me some sort of joy. And not only is there a lot of stuff but it’s also a chaotic mess – or to show off my background in physics, our stuff in a high state of entropy . Picture albums that are falling apart, music books that my dad had as a child, letters, pictures of the kids that are not in albums, movies, books, picture, books, cards. Just the thought of dealing with this gives me a near panic attack.
So I decided to start with baby steps and picked something simple. Cards. We have nearly every birthday, Valentine’s Day, Mother/Father day, graduation, etc. card from the last 30 years scattered about the house. And these give us great joy. So I decided to “get organized”. The first step was to find something to keep all these cards in. This entailed a several hour search on the internet until I found an appropriate card organizer on Amazon. Of course they were back logged, so by the time they arrived I had nearly forgotten why I ordered them. Next I had to do a sweep through the house to locate all the cards. I’m still finding small stashes squirreled away in unlikely places. Next I organized them by year, and filed them.
I don’t know how easy it is to make out from the attached pic, but I think I can say mission accomplished on this one small task for a man. Pshew!
Now all we have to do is organize several thousand photos, 100s of CDs, letters, high school yearbooks, books, paintings, kid toys, tools, extension cords, musical instruments, nails, screws, record albums, cassette tapes – and then maybe, maybe we can start to think about moving.
Of course that brings up a whole new problem. Through sheer dumb luck we live in a near perfect location for us. We’re 10 minutes from Lisa’s job, we can walk to downtown Montclair for a movie or dinner, I can walk to catch the bus or the train to NYC.
Where the hell would we move to?
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April 6, Saturday, 7:00-9:00 PM – With Arthur Neilson, at Ruthie’s Bar-B-Q & Pizza, 64 1/2 Chestnut Ave, Montclair (973) 509-1134
We played at Ruthie’s back in February and made some truly outstanding music. The problem (if one could call it a problem) is that by 6:00 the house was basically full. And as no one left – a bunch of people couldn’t get in. As they say in the financial world, past experience is no guarantee of future results, so you could get there this Saturday at 5:30 and the place will be empty. Is Arthur & company worth waiting a hour and a half for? I think so. Besides, the food is great and I’ll do my best to keep you company until we start playing. As always, BYO.
http://www.ruthiesbbq.com/
http://www.arthurneilson.com/
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And looking ahead, here’s where I’ll be in May:
May 3rd, Friday, 7:00PM-9:00 – Better Off Dead at Ruthie’s BBQ, 64 1/2 Chestnut Ave, Montclair (973) 509-1134
http://www.betteroffdead.com/home.htm/
http://www.ruthiesbbq.com/
May 4, Saturday, 9:00PM-1:00AM – Better Off Dead at The Great Notch Inn, Route 46, Little Falls (973) 256-7742
http://www.betteroffdead.com/home.htm/
http://www.agreatertown.com/little_falls_nj/great_notch_inn_new_jerseys_rockin_roadhouse_00089580
May 18th, Saturday, 7:00PM-9:00 – Shuffle Jump & Moan at Ruthie’s BBQ, 64 1/2 Chestnut Ave, Montclair (973) 509-1134
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shuffle-Jump-Moan/379081422265206?fref=ts
http://www.ruthiesbbq.com/