Here Comes The Cold

Monday November 17th, 2008 - Chicago, IL

Hello winter my old friend. The myth of global warming doesn’t hide the fact that we’re all about to get blasted by your fury one more year. I for one am not thrilled about it and if I had a reason to move somewhere warm I would. But I don’t. So get it over with already.

It snowed a little and the temperature dipped lower than the comfort zone and I realized I have to haul out my jackets from the back of the closet. I’ve been slipping in and outside for a few days but it’s a cold brisk walk to the car with no coat so I finally caved in today.

I also started sorting through all my worldly possessions to see what I can start throwing out, giving away or selling. Every time I do that it feels great and I feel a need to do it one more time. I’ve been accumulating a lot of stuff (mostly books) and it’s time for a purge.

I started with a couple of big boxes of miscellaneous clutter that were sitting around for way too long and bothering me every time I looked at it. I threw a bunch of stuff in boxes months ago just to get it out of the way and I said I’d get to it later. Today was finally that day. I sorted and found stuff I’d misplaced and also filled a giant hefty bag with garbage.

It always feels good to tackle this kind of a big job but it’s a constant struggle to keep it from choking me out. Between emails and calls backing up to paperwork for classes to all my mail and bills and collectible stuff it gets to be overwhelming. I can’t keep it all sorted out. Things pile up and I fall behind and then I find myself like now catching up way late.

The logical answer would be to get rid of as much as I can and lighten the load. I try but I always seem to end up accumulating more stuff and then it all starts over again. For now I will just go through what I’ve got and at least put it into piles and boxes and organize it.

I found some comedy notes I’d forgotten about and that excited me because I never did get a chance to do it on stage yet. I will work it in as soon as I can. I also moved around a lot of boxes and clothes and paperwork and prepared to put a dent in how much I own.

I really should dump my sports cards but that won’t be easy in these times. I don’t have any potential buyers for the whole lot and if I put them on Ebay it’s a crapshoot. Selling a big collection usually involves breaking it up into smaller lots and selling those. I thought I’d have set up at a few more card shows by now but those seem to be fading fast for now.

Again, the smart thing is to wait it out and keep slugging. Sorting all the cards into how I can sell them will take a lot of work and I’m not above doing that. It’s better to work for a while to get them in order rather than sell them in bulk to someone who’d rip me off.

No matter what happens at least I’m making an honest effort. I put in a full day’s work and then went to host a show at Zanies in Chicago because nobody else really likes to do it. I will take it and be grateful for it and move ahead with my other projects for the rest of the week. Making progress every day is what success is all about and today I made some.