Not having children or inheritors of any sort frees me to get rid of stuff.

Odd statement to start a post. A statement like that requires some explanation, doesn’t it?

I was thinking about my mother griping about the amount of material goods she has in her life and house, and how she would like to get rid of a good deal of it. I am all for this. Get the hell rid of most of it by the easiest means possible, which tends to mean throw it out or give it away. While it can be nice to get some money for getting rid of things, not all things are worth trying to sell. I would love it if my mother would listen to me and just get rid of stuff. Give it away. Get rid of it. Downsize.

She finds this nearly impossible, because, above and beyond her mistaken impression that there are people just waiting to give her money for her stuff, she always always considers first whether or not I might want or could use the item in question. I have told her countless times exactly what things in that house I would be disappointed not to inherit. It’s a very short list.

The kitchen table. The pie safe with the punched-tin sides. The roll-top desk, the topper for it, and the filing cabinet. The wedding china. The dolls. The jewelry. The photographs and film. The artwork. My parents’ cake-topper and wedding rings. See, it’s a short list, but it’s actually a LOT of stuff. Everything else in that house, while I may like, I neither want nor could use.

I don’t, for example, need boxes upon boxes of stones and fossils. What the hell would I do with them, other than sell them or give them away?! They’d only sit in boxes taking up room in my life and not being used or enjoyed by anyone for another generation. Sure, it’d be weird not being to take them out once every few years and strolling down memory lane, but I still have the memories of the long, hot, dusty hours spent digging in the dirt that was needed for that huge collection of rocks, stones, and fossils to amass. Or rather, me sitting in the car writing and drawing while my parents dug in the dirt. We didn’t buy that stuff. That was how we spent our spare time and vacations. My parents seemed to think it was fun. I was of another mind about spending long days in the middle of summer in locations lacking trees, water and lifeforms. I do, though, have many, many happy memories of those trips, but I don’t need the actual rocks themselves to remember vast amounts of detail about those trips … and if I want to look at fossils, rocks and stones, I can go to museums and see much better examples. But my mom applies the logic of “maybe my daughter wants/needs/could use this” even to the fossils.

I think I have a plan for the fossils, though I don’t yet know how to go about it yet. Oh sure, they could be sold to some dealer for some amount of money that would be about ten times less than they would then sell them for, which would piss me off no end, but then I don’t want to become a fossil retailer either, because it’s too much work and I don’t care enough to do it. The return seems too minimal. So … my plan would be to find a small museum in some small place that could actually use them and appreciate having them or a public school system that could put them to good use for education in some way. How to go about finding such a place? I don’t know. I would love to donate them to some public institution who could then, in some way (even if only selling them) would profit or become better for having them.

Ugh. Didn’t mean to be sitting here this long. I’m achy, grumpy, and not feeling well at all today. I got off on a bit of a tangent with the fossils.

Anyway, my mom is always so concerned about what I might think about the dispersal of her belongings, that she never gets rid of anything. I, on the other hand, have no children to consider at all … not that I really would consider their feelings about my belongings all that much even if I did have children. I also don’t have any other nearby family tree branches who are going to care one way or the other what happens to my worldly possessions once I die, beyond, of course, anything they might sell to make some money. Therefore, the only test of an objects worth to me is this:

Do I enjoy having this thing in my life? If I don’t enjoy having the thing in my life, than what is it doing here?

I’m getting better at applying this test to things, and I am far, far better about just getting rid of stuff in any manner that is quick and easy. Money be damned. I am, in fact, about to go on another one of my sprees during which I donate, throw out, and give away a whole bunch of stuff that I don’t need to have in my life. If one day, I get tired of stubbing my toe on the art table or the antique rocking chair that hasn’t found its proper location yet, I can, without calling anyone in my family that is younger than myself, put them up on FreeCycle, take them to Goodwill, or put them in the trash on bulky pick-up day. I could even put them on the front edge of my property with a “free” sign on it, and I bet you it would be gone before the sun set. I might, if it isn’t a sudden onset of “I want this out of my way right now” even make a post about it here first to see if any locals wanted to come take it off my hands. Sure, I could probably sell them on Craigslist for some amount of cash, but haven’t they already paid for themselves? It’s not like we are starving and about to be evicted. Any extra money is always nice, but all it ever really leads to is buying yet more things.

So, not having children enables me to be free to do what I want with my things as I grow older without bothering to consider the next generation’s feelings may be about them … because there is no next generation for me. It’s more of a feeling than an idea, I think. I can do what the hell I want with my things, and doesn’t that feel grand!

Now all I have to do is get motivated to actually get rid of the things I want to get rid of as soon as possible.

On that note: Anyone local interested in boxes of old Commodore 64 stuff? I promise there is at least one full and working system and a bunch of extra stuff … and a ton of games. That stuff has to go. I can’t take it anymore. I worked so hard to clean out the boxes in the living room. In the last year, my mother has filled it again with boxes of stuff she’s forced me to take along. She couldn’t just get rid of it, so she passed the buck, knowing there was no way I would be able to just throw working ancient computers in the trash. So, yeah … if anyone reading this is interested in taking several boxes of Commodore 64 hardware and software off my hands, please do let me know.

I am experiencing an odd popping feeling/sound in my left ear, and my head itches. It’s late, and I am tired, but I think I’ll go take a shower. I hope I’m not coming down with something, but it sure feels like I am getting a cold. Enough thinking for tonight. I need some hot shower relaxation.

I don’t know. It all sounds so “relaxing” and shit … like all you do is lay around in the sun eating and drinking with a little shopping here and there.
–Orb on cruises

Lin has spent the last few hours on the Carnival Cruise web site. I don’t think I am the sort of person who is really going to get into a cruise. Oh, I like eating good food, drinking good drinks and lying around like a lazy bum, but I can do that at home for a lot cheaper. What I want in a vacation is some adventure or at least to do something I can’t do just as well without leaving home.

Which doesn’t mean I am at all opposed to going on a cruise and being a lazy bum, but there better be some horseback riding or jungle adventure somewhere in there.

All I can say about Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho), arrested in June for soliciting sex in a bathroom and pleading guilty to disorderly conduct in August, is this:

If you are too stupid to not seek the assistance of a lawyer when arrested on charges you claim you are not guilty of and then also plead guilty to lesser charges, which you also feel you are not guilty of, you are too stupid to be a senator.

Really. How stupid do you have to be?! If, say, I were arrested for felony shoplifting, of which I was not guilty, you certainly wouldn’t see me pleading guilty to a lesser charge of misdemeanor shoplifting a month later in some sort of effort to make it “go away” … because a criminal record doesn’t just go away, no matter how minor the infraction. In any event, if I were ever arrested for anything, I would acquire the services of a lawyer … as well as continue to maintain my innocence. It’s completely ridiculous to do anything other than that if you don’t agree with the charges, and if you can get a lawyer, which I would assume a U.S. senator most certainly could, why the hell wouldn’t you?

Moron. When I first heard about this, I thought he had pled guilty that same day he was arrested, so he might have gotten a bit of sympathy for being freaked out and just wanting to get on with his trip without too much hassle. Still a stupid thing to do, but perhaps a little understandable. But no, it was a month later he decided to plead guilty to disorderly conduct. How in the hell do you NOT have enough time to think about it and get a lawyer!?

Well, enough about that. Here are some links for those of you who may not know what I am babbling about.

Craig: I did nothing ‘inappropriate’ in airport bathroom (CNN International)

Statement of Sen. Craig (official web site)

I think you should know, it is impossible to be grumpy and watch Snakes on a Plane at the same time. No … really.

Mwha ha ha ha ha!!!!

Back to the movie!

It really never fails that the very day when I have not gotten enough sleep, be it for a fun or sucky reason, that is the very day family members want to do things. It’s not like these people didn’t know I was going to get up to watch the eclipse this morning and would then need to get a few more hours of sleep sometime during the day. Or maybe they think I function perfectly well on three and a half hours of sleep. Well, I don’t, especially if I have to scrub down the whole house so they can bring a friend I don’t know over … and no way can I go to a birthday party no one bothered to mention until the last minute, particularly when it’s a birthday party for someone I haven’t met yet and populated by a whole gathering of people I don’t know. You would think family members would know better than that. Social events involving strangers require at LEAST 24 hour advance notice. In fact, the more notice the better. I do have to have some time to panic and make sure I am well-rested enough not to be a harpy or have huge dark circles under my eyes.

Sometimes, I think no one at all actually listens to anything I say … like that I am going to be outside in the middle of the night for a few hours and sleeping later in the day to catch up on the resting. Or, they could even keep in mind that I am somewhat mental about social situations. Yes, I know it’s crazy to be stressed out about parties and the like, but there isn’t much to be done about it. That’s just the way my brain wires are put together, and I do just fine with some ADVANCE NOTICE. Jeez, I realize that cuts down on the spontaneity factor, but I am not the person to call when you want to be spontaneous. How long do people have to know me before they get that through their thick skulls? Apparently for some people, 42 years hasn’t been long enough.

I have a nice stew bubbling on the stove. I got it started kind of late, but it’s almost ready to eat. It smells so good, my tummy is grumbling! As soon as I have eaten dinner, I believe I will go right back to bed. I did zero housework today, which means I have to catch up tomorrow. Or, you know, I could ignore it another day and be a lazy bum. That sounds like a nice plan, but no, I better plan on getting caught up on the housework tomorrow.

I’m going to go sit on the couch and be grumpy until the stew is ready. Grumpy … and exceedingly hormonal.

March of the librarians: “Twice a year, tens of thousands of librarians make a trek across the United States to a meeting of the ALA. How they know to congregate in the same spot, no one knows. They come to learn, to network, to collect free stuff, and possibly to mate.” (YouTube)

A cat’s map of the bed, or perhaps you’d like to see a map of a cat’s brain.

Police in China’s capital said Tuesday they will start patrolling the Web using animated beat officers that pop up on a user’s browser and walk, bike or drive across the screen warning them to stay away from illegal Internet content.

The animated police appeared designed to startle Web surfers and remind them that authorities closely monitor Web activity.

Well, isn’t that special?

I mentioned to Lin that I must have seen a hundred fireflies in the back yard this morning. I love fireflies. Many, many hours of my youth were misspent running around in the dark back yard of my childhood home catching them in jars and then releasing them again.

I think all children need fireflies and dark back yards. I’m certain many of my parents’ peers would have thought my parents insane to allow a young child … and I do mean young … run around late into the night … and I do mean late … in a totally dark rural back yard. Sometimes, I even fell asleep on the lounge chair or hammock, and nobody carried me into the house. Occasionally, I’d get carried in and put into my bed, but just as often, I would wake to find myself covered with a blanket and waking to the morning sun on my face, my hair and face lightly covered with a fine veil of dew. I learned so much being out in the world in the dark of night.

I learned not to be afraid of the dark. I learned to navigate in the dark. I learned to hear subtle sounds and interpret their meaning. I learned about wildlife. I learned to see in the dark, drawing meaning from the barest of shapes. I learned to hear and appreciate the quiet and gentle sounds of the nighttime world. I learned to be independent. I learned to read the skies. I learned to sit quietly listening and looking. I learned how to think deep thoughts, something which, for me, seems to happen at or near 3 am. I learned how to play actively but quietly. I learned how to tell myself stories … and act them out in the pitch black of a moonless night. I learned how to dream. I learned to be free. I learned all manner of things I didn’t even realize I was learning, skills which I believe have served me well in life.

Yes, children need fireflies and dark back yards and the freedom to learn from them.

Which is, of course, not at all the reason I sat down to make a post. I just thought I would get the tangent out of the way first.

So, I mentioned to Lin that I must have seen a hundred fireflies in the back yard this morning. I love fireflies. We have been planning to treat our yard with beneficial nematodes, and I had a moment of worry that doing so would diminish the firefly population, because fireflies spend part of their life-cycle living in the ground as larvae. Beneficial nematodes eat larvae. After looking it up, as it turns out, fireflies are more than just nighttime jewels. While in their larval state, they eat snails and slugs … and earthworms, which isn’t so beneficial. But, people who have used beneficial nematodes in their yards tend to see an increase in both earthworms and fireflies. We can now treat our yard with beneficial nematodes to our hearts’ content.