thoughtfulSome of the de-cluttering efforts are obvious. For example, I am putting books in boxes, indexing their contents, and putting the boxes in a big stack of boxes (also filled with books). I am putting things I have no emotional attachment to/desire to keep in other boxes, and sending them away on a regular basis. I am freely giving things to strangers. Other efforts are less obvious. I bought two new cat trees, because cats knock stuff over, thus creating more mess than they will when given places of their own. I've been saving boxes, which makes more mess, at least until the boxes are filled and put away. And so on.
My brain is no tidier. In trying to clean up my link list, I found things that have literally been waiting for their shining moment for up to two years. Will I ever really get around to some of these? No. No, I will not. That makes me sad, but I'd like to see the floor in my rotating "to do" file someday, just like I'd like to see it in my kitchen, and so away they go. Farewell, sweet links. I hardly knew ye.
Still. Once, Feed was a best-selling title in an Australian bookstore. I was nominated for a Romantic Times award. Apex put out an anthology with my wacky Fighting Pumpkins alien invasion story in it. And I needed to take a nap.
I will probably do some really random review posts in the next few days, just to clear out some links that have waited long past their best-by date. This has never been a judgment on those reviews in specific; it's just how out of control the file has gotten. I need a maid to go with that nap, I swear.
Anybody want to come over and help me index stuff?
(*Let's be clear here: most of it is good stuff. That's why it's there. But not all of it is good stuff. Some of it is bad stuff. Some of it is the kind of stuff that seemed like good stuff six years ago, when I was a different person, or when I really thought that someday I, too, would be a world-class guitarist. And some of it, sad to say, is crap.)
(**If you don't think this is something worth going to war over, you're either not a bibliophile or have never had someone try to take one of your best-beloved books away from you. Not being in the mood to start global thermonuclear destruction, I am doing my best to avoid this.)
July 14 2011, 22:44:49 UTC 5 years ago
When I got divorced, the ex-to-be decided he got 50% of everything, no matter what, and he also invoked clauses like "I bought that before we got married, so it is absolutely mine", and he wound up with half the dishes, half the pots and pans, all of the electronics except 1 old tv, the bed and dresser set (good riddance, I hated them), and so on. I did draw the line at one point when he tried to divide the actual FOOD, including the spices, but the real war came when he tried to touch my book collection. I gave him a handful of the crap he liked and told him in no uncertain terms he wasn't touching anything else. Period. I probably would have killed him on the spot if he tried to touch my book collection (in retrospect saving me oodles of attorney money, because let's face it, justifiable)!
Hang in there with the move stuff -- during my 7 year marriage, we moved roughly 13 times including a few major moves (Seattle to Chicago, Chicago to Tracy CA, CA back to Seattle) and numerous moves within 5-120 miles of Seattle. Needless to say, packing became an artform. 12 years in my current place, the growing up of kids, and the addition of a spouse-equivalent -- urgh, I don't want to move again, and I don't envy you your move!
July 18 2011, 16:06:10 UTC 5 years ago