Spindles full of DVDs surround my monitor. To the left of me is a stack of CDs waiting to be ripped to MP3; to the right are ones that have already been ripped. Various electronics lie scattered around my work area: a Palm Treo cell phone I haven’t used in two years, a stray pair of RCA cables, a couple of broken arcade buttons, a power supply that goes to something or other, dozens of random wires and wire connectors, and the mp3 player I used to use before the mp3 player I used before the one I use now. The pile of crap looms high these days. I feel less like I’m sitting at a desk and more like I’m enveloped in a cockpit.<\/p>\n

Walking into my office is more like navigating a maze. There’s the big shipping box from NewEgg; I haven’t tossed it out yet because it would make a good trash box. Below my feet is a computer that would be good for “something”. I don’t know what that something is yet, but when I figure it out, I have a computer ready for it. On the futon behind me are plastic tubs full of stuff set aside to be sorted some other day: VHS tapes that I’ll convert to DVD someday (but probably never watch), books I haven’t read and probably never will, and cables that go to things. <\/p>\n

The coup de gras is the small cardboard box full of little rubber monsters sitting before my keyboard. The monsters were made by Diener and were given away in the early 1980s in Happy Meals. There were eight different monsters, each of which were made in five different colors, for a grand total of 40 unique figures. I just spent $50 on eBay getting all 40. There’s a wolf-man, a bat-man, even a “Creature from the Black Lagoon”-man. Also in the box is an orange alien with a giant brain. He’s from Diener’s line of UFOs and aliens. There’s 40 of those too. I bought those last year.<\/p>\n

For years and years I collected stuff. Neat stuff. On the shelf next to me is a hollow Coke can that doubles as a money safe, a drink cooler with an image of the “Virgin Mary Grilled Cheese Sandwich” on it, and a “drivemocion”, an electronic sign you hang in your car’s rear window that displays one of five different emotions to people behind you, depending on the button you press. I have neat stuff … but I have run out of places to put it.<\/p>\n

My office is full, the garage is full, the upstairs room is full, the outside arcade is full. If my life were a Dr. Seuss book, my piles of treasure would reach far into the sky, twisting and turning and towering far above anything else. <\/p>\n

I am a museum curator without a museum.<\/p>\n

I don’t have a good answer for those of you wondering “why doesn’t he just throw it all away?” I, for whatever reason, cannot deal with the regret — the fear of discarding something and regretting the decision later. The irony is, much of the stuff I save, I never use. I still have half a dozen old CRT computer monitors sitting out in the garage. I like to think I’ll use them someday, but the reality is if I were to build a system tomorrow I’d go buy a flat screen LCD monitor for it. I have miles of network cable, stacks of old computer cards and mountains of old parts, none of which have any practical value anymore.<\/p>\n

And yet, they’re still there.<\/p>\n

Mason has started showing an interest in having friends from school and (right now) daycare come over to visit, and later this evening one of them is. That means, essentially, the day is shot. Other than a brief lunch outing, we’ll be spending much of today like we do whenever we’re expecting company. Laundry and clutter will be shuffled to parts of the house people (hopefully) won’t see. Closet doors will bulge while protecting their secrets. <\/p>\n

This time, for some reason, seems a little different. Susan is actually going through Mason’s room and getting rid of things: old toys, broken toys, unused furniture, etc. In a way I’m jealous. I wish I were seven-years-old and could just let stuff go like that. I can’t do it now — hell, I couldn’t do it when I was seven. I still have<\/i> things from when I was seven!<\/p>\n

Susan is on a mission this time though, starting with Mason’s room and working her way through the house. In a way, I’m scared as to what will happen when she gets to my stuff. <\/p>\n

In a way, I’m looking forward to it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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