Stuff

I'm in the process of looking for a new job. I am looking out of state, so if I do find a new job, the house will need to be sold. In preparation, I'm starting to put some stuff in storage. It's mostly books (my vice) - enough to fill over 20 boxes so far.

It got me to thinking about when I was in school - I could fit all of my possessions in my car for the trip to school at the start of the semester. All of them. It was just some clothes, some books and papers, a box of cassette tapes, and some small furnishings (a boom box, a 13" black & white TV set, and a spectacularly ugly lamp). Most of this stuff went in a red steamer trunk I'd gotten from my cousin. The only other thing I had was my bike, which went on the back of my car.

When I got out of school, I also had very little. I exchanged the 13" TV for a 15" hand-me-down (it was 1988, and it still had knobs, if that tells you anything). In addition to the boom box, I had a small receiver and tape deck, and two speakers (hand-me-downs as well). For actual furniture, I had a director's chair and a sleeping bag (both borrowed from my girlfriend), a small phone table (given to my by an office mate from school - thanks, Kam!), and some milk crates ("borrowed" - thanks, Velda Farms!). My school books, and a sheepskin to hang on the wall, and that was pretty much it. I knew more stuff would follow, because for the first time in my life, I had a steady job that would pay in excess of $3.35 an hour.
Later on came a simple desk (homemade from wood I got at the Home Depot), a cheap (but comfy) sofa, and a functional but heavy melamine table with folding chairs. A VCR. A cheapo TV stand (just slightly better looking than the milk crates). A small grill (which I had to get rid of after the regulator caught fire).

Fast forward to now. My girlfriend is now my wife, and the old TV and stereo are long gone. Now the house is full of books...and furniture. Bookshelves, beds, pictured on the walls. Nothing fancy, but furniture all the same. The homemade desk is still here, and holds a sewing machine and serger (my wife's - I can sew a button on a shirt, but that's it). The computer I'm writing this on sits on a hand-me-down 40+ year old office desk - it wouldn't win any prizes for looks, but man, is it functional (thanks, Beth & Chuck!).
The next move is gonna take more than just one carload. Sometimes I wonder where all this stuff came from. Did I really buy that many books? Did I really take that many pictures? (yes, I have a digital camera now, but I still shoot film). Do I really need all this stuff? Sometimes I think I'm a terrible pack rat. For Pete's sake, I've still got a set of VAX VMS 5.4 manuals. While there are no doubt still some VAXen doing useful work, the last one rolled off the assembly line in '92. DEC (the company that made the VAX) is no more - it was bought by Compaq in '98, which was in turn swallowed up by HP in '02.