paring down

you know what's funny? As i decide what stays and what goes, it's funny what's staying. I haven't got many boxes when i get right down to it, and a noticeable percentage of those boxes are boxes i haevn't even unpacked from when i moved here 6 years ago. They're just turning around and going home. They still have to To NY from LA address labels on them. It's funny to me that the things i find the most important to me, are the things i've not even looked at since i came here.

the van is on its way here now to help me get them back on their way home. As i look around this apartment, I am not filled with nostalgia of all the great times i've had inside, but more a sort of melancholy for the times that never happened. People are always saying to live your life with no regrets. Well, i'm not regretting, but I guess i just look at the stuff in the boxes, and the empty space around them, and sort of pine for the things I still would have liked to do. I'm not stuck on it, but I think if you looked around your own apartment, imagined everything pared down to just the bare essentials, the stuff that even if there was a fire, you'd wish you still had, and imagine it in boxes by the door, waiting for the van, you'd understand what i mean.

The things i care about, the most; that i own, are residing in these boxes you see, and that is all there is.

>> a nice update. Back when this all began, i had a flat rate estimate to move my stuff, all the furniture, the stereos, the boxes, everything. They come and pack it up, i sit back and drink a bloody mary. $1400 and they deliver it to my apartment out west. I decided that was too high because hey, it's only "stuff" so i got rid of everything, figuring i'd just ship the bare bones.

I just came from shipping the bare bones. Now, for perspective, when i did the same thing to move here in 2001, I shipped all my boxes through UPS from LA to NYC, totalled out at about $300. Tonight? Roughly the same number of boxes, and in fact, most of the exact same things. Shipping UPS ground, minimum insurance, bla bla. You ready? $1100. So, for $300 more, I could have kept all of my things, my furniture, not hassled with trying to sell it all on craigslist, not bothered with the packing and throwing away, just kick back and let "the movers" do their thing. mmm mmmm good.

good times,

dTown