A Place for My Stuff

The odd need to keep empty containers

Here's a behavior that I'm sure is common among other packrats, and I've caught myself doing recently.  Again.  It's the act of saving some sort of empty container.  You'd be surprised how many hoarder's home includes empty coffee cans, glass food jars, boxes that a DVD player came in, and so on.

Why do we keep them?  I think it could be for a number of reasons. 

• A lot of it is the ever so persistent rationalization of "This is too good to throw away!  I could use this for something!"  This seems especially true when it's made out of glass, since most things come in plastic these days.  The problem though is that more often than not, we DON'T end up using them.  Then we run into the tragic irony of being cluttered by containers that we saved to fill with stuff. 
• Some of it is the environmentalism guilt of not wanting to "add to the landfill".  Even if we ignore the fact that environmental hysteria over "the landfill" has been greatly exaggerated., there's still no reason why our own home should become a landfill.
• Another aspect is this ritualistic need to show the evidence of things we've consumed.  For example, I've worked with people who drank a certain canned or bottled beverage every day for lunch, and kept all of the identical empty cans or bottles of it around, lining them up along the wall of their cubicle.  I've admittedly done this myself. It's like making notches on a gun barrel.  Or on a bedpost.  I sincerely believe that this is something biological and goes all the back to cavemen making paintings for each animal they hunted.

Strangely enough, I think these are among the more easier things to get rid of, since personal sentiment isn't involved. 

About a month ago I started drinking a particular brand of coffee, and finished my first jar.  But I found myself not throwing it away, putting it a cabinet instead.  Something about the novelty of the small glass jar made me keep it.  I think I was envisioning a wall of Kava jars in my office.  Of couse, that would probably even harder to get rid of.  This is the point where I realize this is stupid, and just have to throw the damn thing out.

The Work Pod

Found this link the other day:

http://www.ecospacestudios.com/portfolio/garden-studios/work-pod/

"An efficient use of space and budget. The Ecospace WorkPod™ is a compact, ergonomically designed workspace for one person and is a contemporary, practical solution for home workers needing separate, but affordable year round workspace. With optional integral work station and storage systems, it creates a cost-effective and productive working environment."

Lots of great pics here.  I want one.  Of course, if I had one, I get to the same question I asked a few posts earlier: could I actually keep it that neat and sparse?  Or would I just fill it up with more stuff? There's still something strangely appealing in having a separate building for certain activities, not just a separate room for them.  Perhaps it might actually discorage bringing so much stuff from one place to the next.  Oh well, it's not like I'm getting one any time soon.

The importance of a good ad headline

I was looking through the musician's classifieds on Craigslist, and found this great article:

 

Having trouble with your ad? Try making it not suck

I come on here about once a day, hoping maybe to find a fun-looking group to join. Recently, however, it seems to be the same exact set of ads posted every damn day. Let's examine some of the crappy ads that are up right now.

"Bass Player wanted. We like it epic. How about you? - (Boston)"
You like it "epic". What the fuck does that mean? You can't tell shit by reading this. Fortunately, the posting content is good, but you're missing a lot of people who don't want to click on your ad because of that godawful title. You describe yourself as being like Muse, maybe include that. Suggestion: "Bass player wanted for Muse-like band - (Boston)"

"Bass Player needed - (Boston - Providence)"
Less bullshit than above, but still the same lack of information problem. However, the post content is terrible (just a link to a website). I don't want to go to your website to figure out if I want to join you guys. Describe your band, and what you're looking for. Also, Boston and Providence are significantly far apart. Where do you actually practice/gig?

"GUITAR - (providence RI)"
This is like the king of shitty ads. Do you play guitar, or are you looking for a guitarist? Worse, the posting itself doesn't even clear that up. You play "all instruments"? Really? Including lap dulcimer, oud, psaltery, and cittern? No? Then list what you fucking play, or what you want to play in a group. Also, maybe preview your post so you don't get those stupid copy/paste typos. Get your shit together, adrian. I also don't care about your life story.

"Join the Horn section of the IOA! ! - (Brighton - Sound Museum)"
You've been posting that same ad every day for weeks now. The reason you're not getting anyone is because you sound like a bunch of monkeys banging on shit and screaming into a mic. Learn to sing and play your instruments, then look to expand. More people is just going to make it more shitty, especially the kind of crap players that you're going to attract.


Here's a perfect example of a great posting:
"Gigging classic hits band seeks bassist with strong vocals - (Andover, MA)"
It has a clear, concise title that describes the core of what they're looking for, and without any bullshit filler. Then, the posting elaborates by giving a good list of bands they cover, what they expect from the new member, what they have, and even where they tend to gig, all without being a gigantic wall o' text to read. WRITE YOUR ADS LIKE THIS.

Tony Robbins and Self-Help Books

"Self-improvement books: those who need them won't read them or heed them."
- Anton Szandor LaVey

"If you're looking for self-help, why would you read a book written by somebody else? That’s not self-help; that's HELP!  There's no such THING as self-help. If you did it yourself, you didn’t need help! Try to pay attention to the language we’ve all agreed on."
- George Carlin

"If you are motivated enough to go to the store and buy a motivation book, aren't you motivated enough to do that? So you don't need the book. Put it back."
- George Carlin, 'Napalm & Silly Putty'

 

As much as I love these quotes, I can't completely knock self-help books.  After all, I credit much of my inspiration and progress in my own clutter-conquering to Don Aslett's Clutters Last Stand. 

I've been through other self-help books, tapes, etc. from other sources on a few other subjects.  How effective are they?  Well that largely depends on the individual.  Even aside from that, I've noticed that some self-help sources were mostly empty pep talk and vague generalizations (John C. Maxwell comes to mind).  Some however, like Aslett's books, give advice that's specific and practical, along with exercises you can do yourself.  So I suspect that some of the reasons self-help books and self-help programs fail for some people, may include being either too much of the first category (vague pep talk), or that the reader is just lazy and brushes off the exercise, only skims the book, etc.

A few weeks back, I decided to get into Tony Robbins.  You've probably seen him here and there over the years.  Right now I'm in the middle of his 30 day "Personal Power" program.  It sells on his site for $300. Is that how I got it?  Hell no.  I stumbled across the series on cassette tape, in a used book store.  Then I transferred them to my hard drive, cleaned up the sound, and exported them to mp3.  Granted it was a little time-consuming doing this and the mp3s are still far from benig the best quality, but hey, I bought all the tapes for under $15.  So far, I'm liking the program.  As for the details of how this can help with clutter, that's another story. I'll mention that as it comes.

 

On the Grid, there's no clutter

I can't remember the last time I went a week without a blog post, but here I am.

I finally got around to seeing Tron: Legacy last weekend.  I saw the original Tron movie in the theatres when I was a kid.  I liked it back then, having one of the electronic games and also a Tron activity book.  But I didn't come to really appreciate Tron until years later, after I grew up and had already made a career in the software industry.  The corporate take-overs and the battle between knowledgeable programmers and technology-incompetent managers still happen in some companies.  My favorite part of the movie was actually when Gibbs (the old programmer) and Dilliger (the business executive) are arguing in his office about security and finances vs. freedom to create.

Dillinger: I shut down Group-7 for a very good reason.
Gibbs: Ed, all I'm saying is if our own people can't get access to their programs, well you know how frustrating it is when you're working on a piece of research.
Dillinger: Walter, I sympathize, but I have data coming from the Master Control Program telling me there's something SCREWY going on.
Gibbs: That M.C.P., that's half our problem right there!
Dillinger: The M.C.P. is the most efficient way of handling what we do! I can't sit here and worry about every little user request that comes in.
Gibbs: User requests are what computers are for.
Dillinger: Doing our BUSINESS is what computers are for! ENCOM isn't the business you started in your garage anymore. We're building accounts in 30 different countries, new defense systems.  We have one of the most sophisticated pieces of equipment in existence.
Gibbs: Oh, I know all that. [sigh] Sometimes I wish I were back in that garage.
Dillinger: That can be arranged, Walter.
Gibbs: That was uncalled for!  You know, you can remove men like Alan and me from the system, but we helped create it. And our spirit remains in every program we designed for this computer.

So back to Tron: Legacy.  One of the many scenes that really caught my eye was Flynn's home, in the Grid (the world inside the computer):

The picture here doesn't really do it justice, but damn, I loved the aesthetics.  It then dawned on me that this room along with the rest of the worlds in Tron and Tron: Legacy were pretty much devoid of clutter.  I was thinking "Damn, I'd love to have a room like that!"  Then I realized that if I did, I don't know how well I could maintain it.  I'd eventually bring stuff in there and leave it down somewhere on a table.  Then that would just act as a magnet as more and more stuff came in.

Anyway, I enjoyed the sequel.  But it sure got me thinking again about getting a sparse place and maintaining it.

Oh, and I stole the second image from the site of a dumbass teenager who "didn't know that Tron: Legacy is actually a sequel", yet still decided to rate it "6/10".  Fuck her and her stupid emoticons too.  (What is with these people who type "XD" everywhere?  That's implying laughter so hard that you have your eyes closed.  It's the emoticon equivalent to "ROTFL".  Then again, it's pathetic enough that people type "lol" when they're not even laughing.  All of these people need to be shot.)