I am not a pack-rat. I first want to clarify that my house does not have newspapers from 1980 stacked in the guest room and my bed is not held up on canned green beans from the nuclear scares of my parent's childhoods. I am, however, unable to throw certain things away such as clothes, CDs, books, and certain magazines. Before I get to the matter at hand and why I am blogging about this, let me explain a few things.
1. Throw away clothes? Besides turtlenecks, there is a chance for me to wear anything in my closet. Turtlenecks are only good for covering hickies and since I think hickies are about as tacky as turtlenecks, I don't have a need for them and do not own any. (Turtleneck sweaters are different. Those are hott, but I digress.)
2. Of course I have CDs I don't listen to but to me, they're musical history and to throw them out would be like burning books or something. People try to tell me that I can sell my CDs bc they're all on iTunes but what a gamble that would be! One power surge gone wrong and I'm out 500+ CDs and also, owning the album notes is important to me as well.
3. Books. I am proud to own almost every Sweet Valley University book and I'll be damned if I ever get rid of those. Christopher Pike? Got it! Chuck Palahniuk? Got it! Books are meant to be reread in my opinion. I can't get rid of them. Besides, they make bookshelves for a reason.
4. I used to save all of my Teen, Seventeen, Sassy, and YM magazines in my closet. I don't know why but when I had a 10 year old 1991 Teen Magazine issue, it was kinda cool. The 50th anniversay Seventeen issue? I had it for years. What broke this habit was when I started getting upwards of 20 magazines a month and realized that I barely had time to read what I got, much less to go back and reread old ones. I think I kept some for fashion ideas and others because they spotlighted on someone I really liked. Now though, I keep my photography ones and some older Tennis issues. Once and awhile I'll keep a special music one on someone I really like but now they get thrown out right after I read them. OH and I keep all the Brad Pitt magazines but that's an obsession for another blog.
What is the other thing I USED to hang on to? Voice mails. I have about 8 that have been on my phone for years...until last night. I got this weird voice mail that was obviously the wrong number but was so hilarious, ("I'll bring the fried chicken on Friday!") I wanted to forward it to Ali. Imagine my SHOCK when I keyed in my password and heard, "You have one saved voice mail." What. The. Hell. I called back, hoping for a mistake, but was greeted with the same status. Maybe it's crazy to have held onto these voice mails for so long but, I had and it was a little sad to realize they were gone. The voice of a good friend I haven't heard in years, the drunk "I love you", the hilarious one from Ali making fun of someone, the "Happy Birthdays" from close friends that made me happy to hear, the forwarded one from Vanessa of some baby's momma threatening her, etc.
I was sad to see them all go. Involuntary "throwing away" is so not cool.
9 comments:
I'm sad for your voicemails, too, and typically agree with all your reasoning for holding onto music, books, and magazines (I throw them away but regret it). Of course, as you know, one thing I don't hold onto is clothing. I toss it on a regular basis.
man, i wish my phone would accidentally erase my nine saved messages...every time they come up for resaving, i do it. even though they're from "bad" people. i just can't make myself erase them, for fear i will forget what these folks sounded like in the days when they were perfect.
Flameon- It's something I can't wrap my mind around. Don't you ever think, "Oh man, I need that shirt I threw away!"
RD- I'm pretty sad to lose the "I love you" one bc it's so INSANE AND LUDICROUS as well as someone's voice.
Sweet Valley Twins.
Now that brings back memories.
You're a bit young to be getting all nostalgic, aren't you?
But I know what you mean, I'm the same ...
Sorry about your voicemails...but the chicken thing is hilarious. You should call back and ask for potato salad too.
Ok. A few things.
First, I'm the turtleneck queen.
Second, Sassy magazines, if you still own them, are now a cult classic. I don't have all the details on that, but I know I have heard SEVERAL times about Sassy and how great it was etc. So if you have them, and want to get rid of them, DO NOT THROW them out. Sell them.
Finally, I'm not a pack rat either, but I do save voicemail. And here's what I do with them. I have a handheld tape recorder with a those little tapes in them. I play the saved voicemail on the loudest volume and it records on the tape recorder if you put the mic of the recorder to the ear part of your phone. Handheld recorders are cheap. $20 maybe. It's worth it. I have some funny ass messages from college, which for me is 12 years ago.
Buffy- I LOVE those books. I still do. So much fun!
Anthony/Tony- I am way too nostalgic about things. It's bad.
Cheryl- I'm glad I didn't answer when she called, I would have been so confused. And I don't understand bc my voicemail message clearly says, "SCARLET".
Velvet- I will have to go see if I have any left! I keep meaning to try to sell some of my other older ones but forget. And like I said, I'm all about sweater turtlenecks.
I love the feeling of purging things from my apartment. I live in a tiny studio so sometimes to get rid of things is to clear my head. I would never get rid of my CD's--NEVER! There are some things that just shouldn't be parted with.
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