Thursday, July 15, 2010

Stuff

We're here, we're in, and we're doing our best to get it all sorted. We've unpacked a few thousand boxes and still have them packed floor to ceiling in our two spare rooms.
I had an interview this week, and as part of the interview process they asked me to write for 30min. about anything that interests me. I guess it was sort of a writing/personality test. I'm so preoccupied with what I'm going to do with all this stuff and how I've accumulated it, that I wrote about that. I hope that in proving my own neurosis, I didn't shoot myself in the foot with this little piece. All photographers are a little crazy though right? Here's what I wrote:
Twelve tons. That's what my life weighs these days according to my movers. What happened? Five years ago I was bouncing around the globe and everything fit in a backpack. Then I got married and we needed stuff. A civilized life. It's not just my wife that's at fault. I'm probably accumulating more stuff these days than she ever did. There's my camping stuff: the backpacks, bedrolls, cookstoves, and boots. Dozens of pairs of hiking boots when I only ever where one set. There's my fishing stuff. I've become a bassaholic. Not only does this take a lot of rods and reels for every different situation, but boats! There are three of them now: a canoe for family trips (that rarely happen), a Jon boat rigged up with a big motor for moving across the lakes and fishing with a partner. Finally my new found love, the Kayak. This little wonder allows me to go places no fishermen have gone before...or so I always think, until I run across an old rusty hook hung on some limb. That always depresses me, knowing that the wonder's of a rocky river were not created for me alone. Then there's my electronics. These are for my business so I not only have a desire but a solid excuse to purchase whatever I might want or need, because it's "for the business." There's the little HD helmet cam that I haven't had a use for but will one day when I finally do the story on the guy that gives Kayak Fishing lessons. Hey, it's the newest trend in outdoor sports. There are even Kayak fishing tournaments now! I've got big 1600ws strobes (lights) that will light a gymnasium. I rarely do sports photography, but I'll be ready if the time comes. I've got a laptop (mac of course), a desktop, a closet full of defunct cell phones... Then there's all the cables, and powers and batteries. Drawers and drawers of the stuff. A cord for every use, except when I don't have the right cord, and it's back to Radio Shack. Then there are my babies, my cameras. I've still got those 8lb. Nikon F3s with motor drives though I haven't shot film in about 5 years. The Leica that was born the same year I was. The newer D1s and D2s and finally the whiz bang D300s. Most of the time, I can do my work with just a point and shoot though, and I've got those by the score. But hey, everything's video these days, so video it is. The primo is the Sony V1u which is pretty small in and of itself, but then you've got to add some type of shoulder mount for steady shots, a shotgun mic, a lav mic...you get the idea. By the time I'm done rigging it it feels like I've got a Volkswagon on my shoulder.
All of this is just to say I've got more stuff than anyone could ever really need, and sometimes more than I really want. I'm now trying to unload all that stuff in 2000 SqFt. of a new home, though I don't get to use all of this space because my wife says she needs the bathroom, bedroom and kitchen. The movers packed all the stuff in cardboard boxes after wrapping them in about 14 sheets of paper. Each little item, a flashlight for instance... did I mention that I collect flashlights.. each item, is wrapped in those 14 sheets of paper. So, as you remove the stuff, lets say the flashlight, and look for a place to put it, you then need to find a place for about the paper and the box. My new county doesn't recycle cardboard boxes, and the landfill is an hour away. So what you end up with is a beautiful little house surrounded by 8,000 boxes and enough paper to run a metro news printer for about three weeks.
The real problem, of course, is that when you're surrounded by half empty boxes, and paper, there's no room to run your life. There's no where to sit down to right the cable installer a check for the new coax he just ran because the kitchen table is covered in boxes, and paper, and stuff. Then, when your potential employer calls and offers you an interview, you've got to find the wardrobe that you stashed 5 years ago when you decided your life was your own and you could live in flip flops and t-shirts. When you finally did the clothes out they don't fit, because you've gained weight sitting on your butt behind your computer playing with your software stuff. (time's up)