In an attempt to reclaim my life, and to take further steps in the journey that is the transition from crazy college kid to adult, I have been busily going through boxes of 'stuff.' I have lots of 'stuff.' Actually, I have a lot less 'stuff' than I used to. Multiple trash bags of 'stuff' have been dutifully hauled to the dumpster, as the boxes of 'stuff' drop down in number from 12 to 1.

That's right I have put things away, thrown things away and consolidated from 12 various sized boxes of 'stuff' to 1 box of 'stuff.' I must have gotten rid of a bunch of important 'stuff,' right?

Wrong, with the exception of a handful of things that I tossed out yesterday, I couldn't really tell you what all I threw out. I mean, I know I got rid of a bunch of empty CD cases. I know I threw out broken binders and junk mail that had somehow gotten packed away and moved from apartment to apartment. But I honestly don't feel like I have reduced, the amount of 'stuff' that I have.

This may be supplemented by the knowledge that there is a storage facility in Waveland, IN packed full of more 'stuff.' And with the exception of the largest thing in the storage facility (a piano, does anybody want a piano?) I couldn't really tell you what I have in there. I do know that when my parents moved out last year, I didn't want to get rid of this 'stuff.' And I wouldn't be willing to part with all of that 'stuff' with at least looking at them to identify if it really was important 'stuff' or if it was just random 'stuff' that I will never need again. I am 100% certain that some of this 'stuff' will fall in that category.

Which leads me to the actual point of this blog entry, the art of being a pack-rat. I have been bred a pack-rat. My father is a pack-rat. And both of my late grandfather's were pack-rats. This is a horrible condition. Perhaps this condition should even be subsidized by the government with grants for additional storage space. As a pack-rat I have the practically inescapable urge to keep things. For me for the most part it is little things. But it adds up.

For example, I decided to keep a small flag that was a give away at a miniature golf course in Branson, MO that myself and a couple of friends stopped at and decided on a whim to play miniature golf at. Now that in of itself probably doesn't sound TOO insane. It may be slightly out of the ordinary, maybe a little obsessive, but at most this probably sounds like an interesting quirk. However, this kind of stuff adds up. Think for a moment. Sit and ponder over the course of the last year, over the last 10 years, think of all of the places you have gone. Wait that is too big... Just think of the past 6 months. All of the places that you have gone, and ALL of the random 'stuff' that they have that they would give away. Little flags, take home souvenir menus, stickers, buttons, pens, pencils, notepads, tablets, t-shirts, posters, pennants, hankies, cups, trinkets, keepsakes, fliers, fliers, fliers, FLIERS!

I have come to the realization that I possibly have more fliers of some of these cities than perhaps some of the cities itself. As and example for my reading audience, I will give you a fairly recent trip that I had taken to Vail, CO. I had a lot of fun. I had a blast. Check out some of my pictures at the following link. I'm not even going to try and tell you about all of the different fliers that I brought home. I'm going to focus on one particular flier. This was a flier that described different activities that you could do in and around Vail, CO. I would like to point out, that other than skiing, which I had acquired a significant additional amount of fliers for that specific activity, none of the other activities in this flier were ones that I actually participated in. Now for the coup de gras. I didn't bring home a copy of that flier. I didn't bring home 2 copies of that flier. I brought home THREE copies of that flier. So realize, not only did I pick up all three copies of the flier, not only did I brig all three copies of the flier back to my hotel room, not only did I pack ALL three copies of the flier into my luggage for the trip home, not ONLY did I unpack ALL three copies of the flier and keep them, BUT I REPACKED ALL THREE COPIES OF THE FLIER AND MOVED THEM TO MY NEW APARTMENT!!!

Clearly this is the activity of a madman. What drives men to such madness? I could be lazy and blame it on heredity, but I feel this sort of behavioral pattern is more psychological and indicative of a deeper problem. Somewhere deep down I must believe that this 'stuff' is important. And that having a lot of this 'stuff' will validate me. But I have so much 'stuff' that I don't even know what I have or where it is.

I do understand that there is value in sentimentality. I do believe that there are some keepsakes that are worth keeping. But the question at hand is how does one decide what to keep, what to pick up, what to treasure, and simply what is the random 'stuff' that I really don't need?