Old things

A common problem with accumulating things is nicely visualized by this xkcd:

This should be valid for most of all people living in the west. At least it seems to be valid for me.

Over the years stuff is just getting added and not removed. Every couple of years when I move, all the stuff is either following or being thrown away. The heroic approach of selling og giving away - made every time - is usually delayed to the very last moment, only to be waved away.

Currently, I am again at this point: A house full of things, many of them redundant, and everything need to be moved soon.

This time, selling and giving away is still an option though. The last thing that went out of the door was my JayTec record player. It always has been a kind of nostalgic thing for me to have a record player. The process of switching it on, putting a record on it and playing it for - what feels like - twenty minutes. Then turn it around and go the other side. I always kept a couple of old records, mainly Leonard Cohen ready to play whenever I felt like it. I bought it in 2006, so by now it has reached it twelve years of age.

The crux is, the record player has been on the attic for the last two years. This means, that I also did not play any records the last two years. Obviously, I did not miss it. Of course all the records are digitally available for me all the time. Moving with the little record player per se would not be a problem at all. But just to store it at a new location? What’s the point?

I see my record player as one of many things, that I have and which are not in use. There were my old cassettes (which I already got rid of), clothing and stuff like that. Why is it, that I (probably not even only me) stick to so much old things instead of just getting rid of them? I still have no answer for that.

There is, however, still the issue of the old records. Emotionally, I was ready to sell them as well or, in worst case, throw them away. My wife convinced me to keep them though. I am not sure this is the right decision. But it is an easy one to give in to. And they are that many and are not taking that much space. So it will be fine. A new record player should be easy to find when needed.

So you see it is just to easy to find the right arguments for not quitting yourself with some things.