Attachment

I've been going through my closets and taking out things that I've been keeping for years "just in case" -- materials for projects that I will never undertake, items I've replaced with better versions, accessories that almost work, and the like.  If they're in good condition, I leave them on the sidewalk.  Almost all of these items have been taken (with maybe two exceptions) and have thus found better homes.

While I was working on my paper this past weekend, I found myself craving some classical music.  I soon exhausted the pieces I had on my computer, and I thought about buying some new ones on iTunes.  Then it occurred to me that I must have dozens of classical music CDs in my CD tower, and I found myself vaguely surprised that they didn't make their way onto my laptop.  I imported two CDs (Mozart and Haydn) to deal with the immediate crisis, but it got me thinking.

At this point, I only listen to a tiny fragment of the music I purchased over the past decade or so, and I don't listen to music very often (in any medium).  There was a time when I had music playing at home almost all the time in the background; I seem to recall telling Becky when I was at college that it was like a soundtrack to my life.  But now it's been many, many years since I actually played a CD.

Which of course got me thinking... why not free up the space in the CD tower?  By a quick estimate, I have about 150 CDs, plus a bunch of other various discs (computer software and backups, old photos, and DVDs). So at lunch time I splurged on a CD storage binder, and I have just spent the past 2 or 3 hours removing CDs from their jewel cases and sticking them in the binder.

Initially, I was putting some of the nicer-looking cases aside, or saving the booklets that came with the CDs...  Some of them seemed really too beautiful to part with.  But by the end virtually all the jewel cases and papers went into recycling bins.  The jewel cases alone filled a medium/tall recycling bag and were very, very heavy.

But I feel so much lighter!  And if I ever want to find my old JPEGs again, it will be easy now.

I kept a few slim and sleek jewel cases in case I need some in the future.  I kept a few items in jewel cases where the discs themselves were inadequately labeled... but transferred them to slimmer cases.  I kept the jewel cases for all the CDs that my brother has given me (Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, BOCA, Kenna, Soul Coughing, and the soundtrack to Vanilla Sky).

And I have not yet transferred any DVDs into the binder...  That will be the next step, after I see the impact of the first stage of this particular experiment.