A DAY AT THE BUFFALO ZOO, by TJ SCHUHLE

Monday, March 15, 2010

too much STUFF

This isn't meant to be a downer.
Think "Bucket List," and you'll be in the right frame of mind.
I'm sitting on the living room floor, writing, sorting and watching bits of Ainsley Hayes' introduction to "West Wing." I just glanced to my left and saw the book I'd been using as a lap-table to write some cards an hour ago.
It's Ansel Adams' "Yosemite and the Range of Light."
We love his work, it's a great book to own, I'm sure the pictures are breath-taking. It's Ansel Adams, after all.
But, I doubt I've ever even opened it.
That none-too-surprising realization got me thinking about everything in this house that I've never used, read or made sense out of owning.
The smidge of guilt that induced caused my mind to leap frog to thinking: "What if I found I only had X amount of time to live? Would I use it to make sure none of this excess went to waste (instead of doing something really interesting)? If so, what would that Bucket List of justification look like?"
Well, here's a sampling:
1. Open every coffee table book we own and look at half or more of the pictures. Including the ones in boxes in the attic.
2. Discard all the newspapers on the coffee table, so there's room for those books.
3. Learn how to use all of the electronic equipment we own. Especially the stuff I "just had to have." Scanner. Laser printer. Digital recorder. Toaster oven. DVD player. (After six years or so, I still can't operate it on my own.) You get the idea.
4. Download all the software that goes into those things. The software that I "had to have" to do all sorts of things. Like scanning newspaper articles and recipes, so they are editable.
5. Watch all the DVDs.
6. Lift all those hand weights. The red ones, the purple ones, the orange ones, the white ones. At least once. Preferably in the right order, which I believe is red, white, orange, purple ... owned, in the same order, by Emily, Mom, Dad and TJ.
7. Try all those crafts I own instructions for: Rock painting, drawing, scherenschnitte, upholstering and more.
8. Look up scherenschnitte since it's showing up with a red line under it right now, triggering a bit of AR in me (not guilt).
8. Take hikes to some of those places in some of those outdoor books.
As much fun as all that sounds, I think some of that time might be better spent giving some of that stuff away to someone who might not wait until they're under the gun to use it.
How about you?
What have you got that's had you wondering why or feeling guilty about?
Would it make it onto your Bucket "To Use" List or your "Bucket "To Get Rid Of" List?

No comments:

Post a Comment