My stuff and other sources and consumption

George Carlin talks about Stuff. He has a great perspective, which I feel is so true. Everyone is focused on having stuff. And getting more stuff.

My stuff currently resides between three places: Victoria, my parents house and my grandfathers house. The stuff I need to move out to Victoria fit in my car: books, clothes bedding, pillows, printers. Just the stuff necessary for survival for one year in a fully furnished house.  Then there’s the stuff I need while living at my parents: bed, dresser, night table, hope chest, clothes I didn’t want to bring to Victoria that all live in a room that just holds my stuff. Plus stuff from my childhood: drawings, books, blankets, stuffed animals that we just can’t throw away. They’re all in boxes, but I NEED to keep that stuff. And then there is all my house stuff and other random shit: kitchen supplies, books, notes and textbooks from college that I NEEDED to hang on to because “you never know when I might need to refer to them (I haven’t touched them in 3 years), and old baby clothes that lives in the basement at my grandpas, in what we refer to as the “Hole”.

The hole is a wonderous area in my grandparents house. There were times when we were kids that we would go snooping through all the boxes of stuff looking for cool things. I used to dig out old bridesmaids dresses that grandma wore in the ‘50’s and play dress up. I loved that she held onto that kind of stuff. She also used to hang on old kitchen dishes and utensils when she would get new stuff. The old kitchen stuff would get dregraded and relocated to the hole. And since you never know when you might run out of the 16 of each knife, spoon, and fork that are present in the kitchen and might need to run downstairs and use the old ones that you kept just for that occasion, she even held on to old utensils. And then there is some of my parents stuff, and my uncles stuff in my grandparents basement. The hole in the storage locker that everyone uses, but doesn’t pay rent for.

Then comes Christmas. Everyone wants to know what you want for Christmas. I have gotten to an age now, where if there is something that I need or want, I buy it. I don’t wait until Christmas and birthdays to ask for it. And anything that I do want or need is probably to expensive, which is why I haven’t purchased it yet. So the past few years I have been telling people I don’t need more stuff, I just want to spend time with family, and if they really want to get me something, then lets put the money towards a trip as a family. Especially this year. More stuff, means that I have more stuff that needs to be packed into my poor little 2-door cavalier to make the trek back home to Alberta. And the poor thing was packed to the brim on the way out here.

As a society we have become so obsessed with stuff that we have our stuff spread everywhere, because we don’t have the room for it all. But it’s a comfort to know that we have stuff. I like knowing that when I finally move back home, and into my own place, I have the stuff I need to furnish it. And if I ever need extra pots, or pans, kitchen plates, or cutlery, I can just going into the hole and use some of the old stuff, because grandma kept it.