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I returned to my apartment in Baltimore last night. Between house sitting for Jim and spending time with Dakota at his place in Silver Spring, it had been a week since I had been back.
Tomorrow it will have been a month since the weekend that Dakota and I did our spring cleaning, and it still looks great. Louise, one of Dakota's house mates, remarked that Dakota makeovers are great, but it's hard to maintain one. I told her that I had that part figured out -- I just don't live there anymore! :-)
Since that weekend, I've continued chipping away at my accumulated stuff. For instance, I still have several boxes of just junk, and I've sorted through one or two of them. Kirk is going to take my old tent. The top of my dresser and my desk, where I had stacks of papers, are now cleared. I sorted through the papers; I set most of it aside for shredding, and put the rest of it on my central clutter cabinet. The clutter cabinet is the only flat space that's allowed to have any clutter on it.
On that weekend, one of my biggest accomplishments was going through boxes of books and donating the ones I no longer cared about to the Baltimore Book Thing, a place where you can drop off books or pick up books for free.
But I still had three boxes of paperbacks under the bed, almost entirely science fiction. So I sorted through those last night and set aside two boxes for the Book Thing. I also threw in a box full of old comics. In order to get cardboard boxes for the paperbacks, I emptied a couple of boxes that were in the closet, so the closet clutter was reduced a little more.
Years ago, Russell was throwing out some old stuff, including a small stack of Starlog magazines and the like from around 1978. I objected, saying that they were probably worth something to someone, and he told me that I could have them. So last night, I find those same damn magazines. This time, I put them in the box of stuff to get rid of, as I should have let him do back then.
I also tried to get rid of some old long johns -- the ones with the flap in the back -- but Dakota objected. (I was talking with him by phone for about an hour while I worked.) Apparently, he finds the long johns erotic. I told him that if they're fetish wear, then they go to his house with the leather. ;-)
I just realized that the only reason I have these is because I knew another guy years ago who also found long underwear erotic. Hee hee!
He also tried to get me to hold on to Akbar and Jeff's Guide to Life because it might be worth something someday, but he didn't say that he would accept responsibility for it, so it went in the box with the other books destined for the Book Thing. I was ruthless!
I need to stop talking on the phone with him when I'm trying to get rid of stuff. ;-)
This weekend I'm going camping again. I'm looking forward to using my new lightweight sleeping bag and some other new stuff. I'm house sitting for Jim again starting tomorrow night, which means that I have to carry my stuff into DC when I go, so I'll be packing my gear tonight.
I like to stand in the corner of my apartment so I can see all of it. I'm so pleased with how everything is arranged. I feel like it's a perfect place to live.
Tomorrow it will have been a month since the weekend that Dakota and I did our spring cleaning, and it still looks great. Louise, one of Dakota's house mates, remarked that Dakota makeovers are great, but it's hard to maintain one. I told her that I had that part figured out -- I just don't live there anymore! :-)
Since that weekend, I've continued chipping away at my accumulated stuff. For instance, I still have several boxes of just junk, and I've sorted through one or two of them. Kirk is going to take my old tent. The top of my dresser and my desk, where I had stacks of papers, are now cleared. I sorted through the papers; I set most of it aside for shredding, and put the rest of it on my central clutter cabinet. The clutter cabinet is the only flat space that's allowed to have any clutter on it.
On that weekend, one of my biggest accomplishments was going through boxes of books and donating the ones I no longer cared about to the Baltimore Book Thing, a place where you can drop off books or pick up books for free.
But I still had three boxes of paperbacks under the bed, almost entirely science fiction. So I sorted through those last night and set aside two boxes for the Book Thing. I also threw in a box full of old comics. In order to get cardboard boxes for the paperbacks, I emptied a couple of boxes that were in the closet, so the closet clutter was reduced a little more.
Years ago, Russell was throwing out some old stuff, including a small stack of Starlog magazines and the like from around 1978. I objected, saying that they were probably worth something to someone, and he told me that I could have them. So last night, I find those same damn magazines. This time, I put them in the box of stuff to get rid of, as I should have let him do back then.
I also tried to get rid of some old long johns -- the ones with the flap in the back -- but Dakota objected. (I was talking with him by phone for about an hour while I worked.) Apparently, he finds the long johns erotic. I told him that if they're fetish wear, then they go to his house with the leather. ;-)
I just realized that the only reason I have these is because I knew another guy years ago who also found long underwear erotic. Hee hee!
He also tried to get me to hold on to Akbar and Jeff's Guide to Life because it might be worth something someday, but he didn't say that he would accept responsibility for it, so it went in the box with the other books destined for the Book Thing. I was ruthless!
I need to stop talking on the phone with him when I'm trying to get rid of stuff. ;-)
This weekend I'm going camping again. I'm looking forward to using my new lightweight sleeping bag and some other new stuff. I'm house sitting for Jim again starting tomorrow night, which means that I have to carry my stuff into DC when I go, so I'll be packing my gear tonight.
I like to stand in the corner of my apartment so I can see all of it. I'm so pleased with how everything is arranged. I feel like it's a perfect place to live.
