Time Capsule

I guess it makes sense to do another one of these post things. Having one a week allows me to pretend that this is a regular deal. I could probably be writing more if I wasn't a few weeks away of finally moving away from home. It's not that sissy going to college style moving away neither... this is full on, change of permanent residence, we're turning your old room into something else, don't come back because your own parents will charge you rent, for serious moving out.

The first lesson of all this? I have a ton of stuff. It's quite ridiculous and fairly surprising. Most of my time is being spent systematically categorizing all of my belongings into one of three categories: haul, ship, trash. The first two is everything that comes with me to California, everything else goes in the trash (or gets donated if applicable).

My overall operating footprint is pretty small, but apparently I haven't thrown anything away since middle school, so there's tons of junk that I have no reason to keep. It's been a very interesting experience, as I dig through piles of things I'm slowing going backwards in my own past. Quite strange really, because you don't properly appreciate how much you've changed until you start following the paper trail. I've found notes from 7th grade that make no sense but we're clearly important enough to stash away in a drawer.

The whole process has been surprisingly emotional. As things resurface from the depths of my room, memories both good and bad come along with them. Then, more often than not, the physical remnants get purged from my existence. That can be a good feeling as it reminds me how much I've grown over the past decade. On the other hand, it can be a reminder of good times long past, spent with friends that were once close... our interactions now limited to the occasional email or phone call or the even more rare reunion-like gathering.

More than anything it shows me how important relics are to the process of keeping one's history. They act like pointers into a memory that's generally hard to freely access. It makes me want to keep a camera on my person at all times, in hopes of not missing or forgetting something potentially important. It may not be a life recorder, but it's a start.