Domestic Geek

I spent all day yesterday going through stuff. Why do we (people) need so much stuff? A whole family of pioneers used to get across the country with only as much stuff as would fit in the wagon. I cringe when I think of how much money I've wasted on things that really have no value anymore. I spent hundred of dollars on WWF wrestling figures in the early '90s. I had no reason to get them other than an obsession with wrestlers and a desire to own all the figures. I wasted hours and tons of gas driving from toy store to toy store to find one I didn't yet own. Now, they sit in a box. I don't give a rat's ass about wrestling. I probably couldn't get more than $20 for them on ebay. Those Star Trek vhs tapes that I just had to have? I've maybe watched each one twice. They sat on a shelf collecting dust. Absolutely worthless now. I bet if I gave them to Goodwill, they'd probably have to trash them. Who buys vhs tapes anymore?

I'm pretty certain that DVDs will go this way eventually. As broadband connections get better, we'll be able to download to disk almost any movie we want to see instantly...or it will be on some giant server somewhere that we can access immediately though our ISPs. Even now, with services like Netflix and Blockbuster, why pay to keep hard copies of stuff around when you can have it mailed to you in a couple of days?

I've got at least eight boxes of viynl albums in storage. I wonder if they've warped by now. I've entertained the idea of ripping them all to digital, but should I really bother? I mean, I haven't listened to a vinyl album since my player broke over 10 years ago. The quality will suck. Should I just give it up? Just purchase CDs or iTunes versions of songs I really want? Most albums only ever had one good song on them anyway. I'm torn on this one.

I've got four HUGE boxes of stuffed animals—mainly teddy bears. Are there any charities out there that would accept used stuffed animals?

I spent a good portion of the day yesterday trying to find the instructions I spoke of last Thursday to the crocheted popcorn garland I was making. I'm pretty sure it was in a craft magazine. The problem: I have three whole bookcase shelves full of craft magazines and patterns. If I live to be 100, I'll never produce a fraction of those projects. When we moved a few years ago, I had weeded out a lot of the magazines that didn't have projects I would ever do. It's time to do that again.

Marcus and I brought a bunch of stuff from storage two nights ago to throw in the dumpster. Some jerkwad was rifling through the dumpter and left a lot of that stuff laying on the ground. If someone can get use of our garbage, more power to them, but I wish they wouldn't leave a mess for someone else to clean up behind in their wake.

OK, that's if for now...gonna go look through and trash more stuff.

So, I'm sorting through some more vhs tapes and I came across a movie that I had totally forgotten about: 200 Cigarettes. It's one of those movies that was funny in a stupid way.

Wait—here’s more »

« All Done!

Whoops, totally slipped my mind to do a 100 Fact yesterday. Oh, well...it didn't say anywhere they had to be 100 consecutive days, right?

I was way too angry yesterday and then I slipped into a horrible depression. Hormones from my period, the stress of no money, the empty feeling in my body because I'm not eating right, the worthlessness I'm feeling because I can't find work, the anger I still feel for my old place of employment, the annoyance I have of the whole job-searching practice, the dreariness of living somewhere that hasn't ever felt like home, the frustration of dealing with stupid people, the sadness I feel letting go of stuff I've carried around with me for 15–20 years that has lost the sentimental attachment it once had, the lonliness I feel because I can't connect with people and I still miss my Mom after almost 10 years, the disappointment I have in what I've let my life and my body become...it was all too much. I snapped.

It all started when I was going though old pictures and found one of myself from high school. I never thought I was attractive then, but looking back I was darned cute. I had my Farrah hair, a good tan from a band trip or band camp, I was only 40–50 pounds overweight but I was excercising because of Marching Band. Plus, I've always had pretty eyes. *sigh* I know I'll never look like that again, but I've got to get healthy again.

I still wonder now why guys in high school never asked me out. I only ever went out on one date in high school and that was a huge mistake. I've written before about how I always felt invisible. I always had more guy friends than girls, but I was always thought of as "one of the guys." Since I've lost contact with anybody I went to high school with, I guess it will always be one of my life's little mysteries.

So, I told you all that I painted the bulbs for my garland the other day. They're dry and I put them back in their sockets and back in the light strings only to realize I goofed. First, I had only bought one 20-light set thinking it would be long enough. It wasn't, so I picked up a second one. Well, they're not end-to-end strings—it's one of those male/female sockets all in one. Grrrrrrr. Of course, these strings have 6-volt bulbs that I can't put into a longer string. The 35-light string takes 3.5 volt bulbs and the 50 and 100 light sets I have take 2.5-volt bulbs. I learned my lesson before by trying to put the wrong voltage bulbs in a light string. *sigh* I'll just have to think of something to make this work. If only I knew where the green extension cords I bought a few years ago had disappeared.