Decluttering and moving

As of Christmas Eve I have come to the end of my month of decluttering.  In an attempt to get things to a more reasonable level in my apartment, I gave myself the goal of getting rid of one thing for 30 days starting on November 25.  The results were very pleasing.  It became a pretty big pile of stuff rather quickly which was not what I had expected at all. It even helped a lot with Christmas shopping in a way.  People would come over and occasionally find something they would like in the box.  Definitely the most surprising one for me was my friend revealing a great love for Anne of Green Gables. So Canadian!  I gifted her the full box set.  It worked out even better than expected because she had forgotten about expressing an interest in them. Double success!

With having been told I have a limited time to move out I have stopped going through my books as vigorously as I would like but I did manage to clear out about half a shelf.  Now the remaining are all packed up and ready to move.  With most of my things going into storage (minus that which can not freeze) I'll be able to go through my boxes one by one and eliminate all of the books that I'm not really interested in reading or re-reading in the future.  My standards are pretty high for which books I'll be allowing myself to keep because I've limited myself for a more simplistic lifestyle.  I've filled half a large plastic bin with my favourite and in some cases rare books that I have. When I've gone through my sizable collection I will eventually fill up the rest of the box.  Past that I will not allow myself to have anymore books.  Supporting local libraries has always been important to me so this will really force me to be a more consistent patron.

...ok odds are that I will have another bin by the end but the hope is there.

I feel like I'm on the cusp of some great change because of this move.  In theory I think this will force me to make some pretty big decisions about where I'm going in life and who I want to be.  Most days I'm ok with this change but then I'll find myself waking up from a nightmare (dreamt that I was actually supposed to move out a few weeks earlier than expected... as in that day!).  My mind is trying to work through some pretty intense anxiety over it all - will I be able to pack up everything in time?  The move has put me into a bit of free fall state of stress. My only real comfort comes from packing.  The simple act of putting my shit into boxes has become a type of meditation that has managed to make me feel like this move might actually be an attainable goal.  Slowly my life is becoming a sea of cardboard on every chair and patch of rug in my place but that just means that I'm actually getting closer to my goal.

Here is hoping that I'll be able to actually get it all done.

On the road with books

I've just closed the cover on my 18th book of the trip. I always keep a record of what I'm reading but there is some satisfaction that comes from having a start to a limited amount of time and making the effort to fit in what you find important.

The problem is that books get heavy in a bag. And while I always say that I'm not going to pick any up... They keep making their way into my bag. By the time I get back home I have no idea how many books I will have picked up, but right now I have 6 that need to be carried around.

The last 2 additions have been from people I'm staying with.
One saying: "Take it home, get it back to me when I come to town at Christmas"
Another with something like: Take it! It will be leaving my house in some way.

I obviously didn't keep all the books that I read with me. A lot of them I borrowed from people and read from the hostel library or from the local library, a few pdfs helped things a lot too. But there have been a few book purchases along the way.

One in Cardiff (the Dark Philosophers) that I read... well struggled to read through as I wanted to smack most of the characters, finished and then promptly abandoned it in Aberdeen. I was lead to believe it was going to be funny, the introduction said he was funny and had a great quote that actually made me laugh out loud in the store... maybe my humour just doesn't line up right with his when it isn't pointed out to me. I switched it in the hostel library for Tess of the d'Urbervilles but I'm not sure I came out on top with that one. I kept thinking I should leave it at another hostel but I figure I should read it before leaving it... but that could be my book addiction talking.

While I was in Edinburgh I wandered into an old book shop and spent a good deal of time looking at all the old bound copies of books and fighting the urge to take home 7 volume sets or even 3 volume sets because they looked so damn beautiful. I did end up finding a book about the life of Madame de Pompadour. I read a few pages and I'm really looking forward to having some good solid time to read it and let the creativity flow from reading about that era.

I picked up 2 books that I'd really wanted to read for some time in recently-rioted-in Manchester at a student sale. Midnight in the Gardern of Good and Evil and Oranges are not the only fruit. I was so excited to find both of them.

I started reading Oranges right away as I walked down the street. It had such a great introduction that I wanted to keep reading and reading for days. She had such a great style and voice telling how the book came about... and then the actual story started. It was frustrating, unsettling and saddening. I don't know what happened... Life, circumstances, maybe seeing the huge divide between her life and mine small town UK vs small city Canada. I might never really be able to explain to someone why it got to me in such a negative way when so many people seem to find humour in it. I left that one in Edinburgh. But I kept the other book from the sale. Again I've only read the first few pages but I'm looking forward to it. Plus it now holds a great bookmark that I made out of a show announcement for the Edinburgh Fringe

"Keep Calm and Carry on Barefoot"

I love it.

I bought a book of poetry from the poet Young Dawkins after his last performance at the Edinburgh Free Fringe. He was amazing. I had got there early and boy was I glad of that. People just kept coming in and ended up filling the place and out into the hall. At one point he asked "Where have you people been all Fringe?!"
It was a great hour, he had 2 guys playing instruments along with him and it was simply perfect. His words mixed well with the guy who had been playing with him for a while and the new guy added some more contrast. I couldn't imagine it sounding better. He really made every word count. What I especially respected was him giving the stage to a young woman to do one of her poems. He had such a bigger audience and pull that she was exposed to more ears that might otherwise have missed her amid the hundreds of other shows. And she was really good too so it fit smoothly in with his other poems.

It was one of those days that reminds me why I love slam poetry and how I love words. It also made me want to attend many MANY more poetry readings. I settled for buying his book and being able to hear where he paused and lifted his voice as I read the print, really hearing him read the poems again in my memories. Also he signed it "Thanks for your joy" which just filled me with more joy.

I think those might be all the books I have kept with me. I get the feeling there is another that will make itself known to me when I get to the next stage of my trip.

Edit*
Turns out I completely missed 2 other books I have on me.
A book of comic verse that I got in Oxford and The Deeper Meaning of Liff that I got in Morecambe. Both bought from second hand book stores. I also resisted the urge to buy a new one today.

Eight

This is the number of boxes my dad has brought back into the house from the garage for me to sort. When we went away I cleaned out a bunch of my shelves and closet of books, so the people staying would have room for their things. Now that they're back in the house I have to wonder what I'm going to do with them all. And here I thought I was getting the hang of my room once again. There are just so many textbooks that I can't bring myself to part with. Will I ever really read them again?

So for the most part I've been going through them and pulling out books of interest... but that gets a little grey when I've been accumulating books specifically because they look like they'll be an interesting read.

Trying to save a little of my sanity I've been getting together the books I've been missing since I got back. These are the ones that I've actually reached for before I remembered were packed away. I pulled those out of the boxes first thing and they're already up on my shelves along with my note books and sketch pads. I re-arranged a bunch of shelves and now have a section for my favourite books that are of a specific height... sounds strange but it works. (short shelf that doesn't really hold anything but a specific height of book)

So now just to read 2 library books and 5 loaned books, then start cracking into the boxes and deciding which will stay or go.

White people

I finished "Stuff White People Like" turns out I like just about 50% of the right kind of white people things. Not a bad job but some of the descriptions (while very amusing) made it hard to say, "Yes! I totally like that!" For now I'll just continue with my self important blog and bask in the endless hours of joy that I get from looking around and spotting all the things that are so white in my life.

Goal for the day is to get Warioware for the wii. Winnipeg does not feel like having any copies new or used to buy so I've returned home with the search.

Back to life.

Well, that title doesn't really work as I was always alive. I am however back in Canada, back to my city and back in my own home. I've taken to reading as much as I can while I have this uninterrupted time. With no responsibilities of school or work I've been getting through a huge pile of books to read. I've just about finished my 5th book of the month (not counting audio books and manga/comics). But my trip count included audio books so maybe I should count those too. Alright revision. I'm about to finish my 9th book of the month. I want to keep up the level of reading that I had on the trip, if not go further with it. In the almost six months I was away I finished 28 books...

The bulk of my reading took place in the four months I was in New Zealand and Australia. Singapore, Korea, and Japan were too packed to get much done. I did borrow a book while I was in Korea, I was staying with my lifelong friend, but I felt more down than inspired. Sitting at home while I could be out exploring? I don't think so. It was different when I was driving around the outback and along the mountains of middle earth with my parents. We would spend maybe 3-5 hours in the morning driving, explore for the rest of the day and have an evening of reading and rest. Wake up the next day and repeat.

"The Asia portion of [my] trip", as most people I met were calling it, was all me planning what to do next and how to get the most out of my time. Hoping trains and buses and finding hostels (or anywhere) to stay in.

I'm thinking of getting all my notes from the trip transferred from my journals into a typed format so I can edit easier, but I also plan on uploading photos. And I have yet to do either. It feels like the trip is entirely an incident in my life that is cut off. I went away and have returned. I don't want to be the person who looks back and says "Those were my glory years." and can't have any conversation that doesn't include "When I was in (insert country name here) I.. Blah blah blah"

But it was a huge part of my life and feels like a starting or jump point. For now I'm just going to focus on getting back to having adventures at home and thinking about what job I want and where I'm going to live to start this "adult" portion of my life.

Goal for today is to finish the next 50 pages of my book, return it to the library, and make some butter tart slice.

I think I might be addicted to libraries

I can't walk into a library without leaving with at least a book or two.

Two examples:
1: Yesterday I was returning some books and walked out with a bag just as full as I'd walked in with.

2: Today I was returning two that I finished last night... and I brought six more out of the building.

There is something about having all the books in one place that makes me think I might have the chance of reading them all if I just get faster. I did subsequently finish one on my way home. But I can't really claim that it was thanks to some huge reading speed that I might have. It was shortish, thick, sparing on words and images but was still a little fun to read. The title caught my eye as I was checking out. "If we ever break up this is my book". It inspired me to try out some amusing ideas... some that I don't think the intent was really there to begin with but will none the less hopefully give me a smile in the future.