Battle of the Vices
Sometimes you have two vices that are in direct opposition to one another. For example, my ex’s BFF, who I like to refer to as SFP ((Stupid Friend Paul)) often used to have an internal battle between the vices of “sloth” and “gluttony.” Would his sheer laziness prevent him from walking to the store to buy copious amounts of peanut butter cups? It was always amusing to watch such a battle play out.
Right now, I’m having to face my own Battle of the Vices. My pack rat nature is fighting with my extreme desire to minimize the amount of shit I have to pack and move to my new place. Fortunately, I have been waging a conscious fight against my tendency to hoard ((which I come by honestly, I might add.)) and so laziness is winning the battle.
When I moved to my current place more than three and a half years ago, I was finishing up my PhD and so I had a lot of paper. Boxes upon boxes upon boxes of journal articles, data analyses and multiple versions of multiple manuscripts. Seeing as I’ve been done the dissertation for three years, all the manuscripts are published, and I no longer do research in that specific area, I think it’s safe to part with the vast majority of that paper ((I have to keep the original data as that’s not replaceable and someone could, in theory, ask to see it, even all these years later. But all the journal articles can be obtained from the library again should I ever need them and I have electronic copies of all the data analyses)). As well, I had really, really old financial records that I felt it was time to send on its merry way.
So this is what I took out to the recycling tonight:
The big green bag is shredded paper. The rest are the paper that didn’t need shredding.
The toboggan, in case you are wondering, is just there because I was too lazy to move it to take the picture. It’s not being recycled.
I have the same issue with journal articles. I cleaned out a whole bunch before I moved to Virginia, then again after I moved to Virginia. I still have several boxes of journal articles, but now I just don't have time to go through them, so they'll probably just rot in the garage for the next couple of year!
Dude, I am SO VERY PROUD of you! When I found out you were moving, I wondered about those very boxes of journal articles and if you'd finally trash them, since you could get them again if needed. YEAH FOR YOU!!
I am also proud of how much you have overcome the packrat tendencies over the years. I will NEVER forget helping you pack up your closet in M-ton prior to the 2000 X-country move and helping you pack outfits that you'd worn last in like 9th grade, nearly a decade before. Those days are long gone.
Wow… and I thought I kept a bunch of totally unnecessary stuff! I don't think I can touch all that…