Gary and I had a small party for New Year's Eve. A couple of our friends stayed over with their kids, so we also had a smaller New Year's Day party. Nothing blew up (at least not in the US), we didn't get alcohol poisoning, and we managed to avoid watching Dick Clark. In years past I have been unable to stay up until midnight, so overall it was a successful event.
I decided a few weeks ago that my office closet needed some cleaning. A lot of cleaning, actually. I am somewhat of a packrat, and too many boxes of things (papers, knick-knacks, memorabilia, etc.) have built up over the past few years. Last night I got started on what looks to be a several day project that will stretch into the next several years. I'm not in danger of becoming like the Collier Brothers, but I can see how it happens.
Gary said my office closet never looked so clean. When I asked him about my office, though, he didn't have good things to say.
So far the hardest items for me to get rid of are the oldest. My Extended Essay on the Q-Puzzle from high school. My award winning essay on World Peace from 6th grade. Journals from junior high school English class (actually, I got rid of one, but kept the other two.) I have kept pretty much ever letter or postcard anyone has sent me in the past 15 years. I did toss several reports from elementary school and college (I had no breakthroughs on the history of tools or the plight of Middle Eastern women, although now that I think about it, maybe I'll keep that one....) I found it ironic to recycle my freshman year paper on how the world generates too much trash.
The recent stuff is easier. I recycled or tossed almost everything I had from Incyte, my former employer. I think that was easier because it's in my recent past, so I have more memories in my head (and don't need trinkets to remind me.) Also, I no longer work in a lab, so lab protocols are not particularly useful anymore, and so much of what I tossed is very Incyte-specific (I will probably never again need to know the suffixes for different clone types, or what kind of health plan I had in 1998.) I have no problem recycling movie tickets or used train tickets from this year. But I found a bus transfer from January 1, 1984, and feel compelled to keep it.
Gary seems to think that there are places for my collection (other than a dumpster, that is.) He thinks that somewhere, someone might be interested in keeping at least the academic part, for historical reference. Yes, 100 years from now maybe someone will publish my high school math paper as an example of Twentieth Century educational practices. We looked at the Library of Congress' website but didn't find anything we needed (they are collecting WWII and 9/11 memories, though.) I did some searches for collecting historical archives, but again didn't come up with anything useful. I think my stuff may not be historical enough; I should wait 50 years, then talk to the Smithsonian. And the NY Transit Museum. And the Museum of the History of New York. I thought about selling some stuff on eBay, but I think that may be more trouble than it's worth. (How much would you pay for a collection of MMA buttons from the 70s and 80s? $1? 50?? Can I pay you to take them off my hands?)
Maybe I should just stop writing this blog entry and actually do some work. :)
Happy New Year!
Posted by Jen at January 2, 2004 09:09 AMAs difficult as this may be to accept I can vouch that there is some Collier Brothers' blood in you. It really has shown up on the whole Griffin side of the family, your Uncle Pat and Grandfather being the best or worst examples, depending on how you look at it. Good Luck Maggie
Posted by: Maggie at January 2, 2004 09:50 AMand, in addition to the "Collier's" blood on your dad's side - you also get the double whammy from your mother's side - grandpa was definitely one - but his "collecting" consisted mainly of bolts and nuts and washers - man things - and your grandmother hoarded sugar and flour - etc. - probably a depression or WW II holdover - I, too, am guilty of over-collecting - but I think I will keep my stuff and just because I can - Aunt Kathy
PS - have you ever thought of boxing up your school papers and storing in an attic area?????
I'm in favor of keeping as much as you can house. I have old Black Panther newpapers and other memoribilia from the early 70s that are hard to believe when you read them now. Also my original program from Woodstock, and a collection of beatle fan magazines and Mad Magazines from the 60's that Jess and I found in the attic and that I really do believe are worth something now, besides being something to marvel at. Someone recently told us that our Apple 1 computer that' sbeen sitting in a box for 20 (25?) years may be worth 10,000. But beside the money, things that looked commonplace at the time are a lot more interesting decades later.
Posted by: Diana at January 3, 2004 08:50 AMI have kept quite a bit of stuff, mainly papers I am really proud of and things relating to current events (I have a bunch of buttons from HK from the Tiananmen Square protests, for example.) I am keeping all of my Girl Scout memorabilia, all my dollhouse furniture (and the dollhouse), all my photos. I felt I could have been more ruthless, but I made a huge dent in my closet and filing cabinets, and that made me happy.
While it's true that some of my belongings may be worth money some day, how much won't be worth any money? I also decided that if someone else could get use of any of it now, it was better to give it away. For example, I gave away my big fancy calculator from high school. It could be worth something some day (maybe, an awful lot of them were made, though.) But in the meantime some kid could be getting good use from it. My tape player may seem quaint and cool in 30 years, but it just didn't seem worth finding out.
Since we don't have an attic or basement, my storage is limited to what I can keep in my office closet. It can be a fine line between keeping memories alive and hanging on to every last scrap of paper.
Posted by: Jen at January 5, 2004 08:17 AMHow timely! I just read this article in SFGate:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/archive/2004/01/07/moneytales.DTL
Jen
Posted by: Jen at January 7, 2004 12:51 PM