Reality Me

A friend of mine used to periodically throw out all his belongings. He was a bit nomadic. I cannot remember the frequency but it seems like he did this annually. Stuff he could not bare to part with would be placed in a box and dated. By the next purge, if it had not been removed, it would be donated to someone who would use it.

Our house is probably a little too small for the size of our family and it lacks storage and shelving. As such, we have disorganization in places like the garage. Cathy‘s response is to start getting rid of things we don’t use. And she is correct. Unfortunately, I’m a bit of a pack rat with dreams for each of the things I have saved. Those dreams are not coming to fruition. I think I have finally been convinced to follow my friend’s philosophy on materialism and answer Cathy’s desire for a clean house. I am ready to throw everything away. We can start over.

I am inexplicably tired. It’s like my mind is in hibernation mode with minimal systems functioning. I don’t even have the energy to watch tv. Writing this was painful.

Knocking items off my todo list…but are they the right items?

The computer that held my resume and related professional documents died. It just needs a new stick of ram but that is pretty low on my list of priorities. I started poking around for a copy of my resume at the request of someone who may want to do some work together and the most recent thing I could find is from August of 2006. Could it really be over three years since I updated my CV? You are supposed to update that every six months! I despise resumes. There has to be a better way. But even LinkedIn isn’t necessarily representative unless you are really working it.

Update: Oh! Much better. One from May 19, 2009. Looks like I am updating it…or was.

"I see you everywhere!" I hear that from my friends often. With five children in five different schools and only one working vehicle, we are on the road a lot. My response is almost always, "If the driving was bad, it was one of the teenagers…even if it was really me." Why would they notice us? We drive a white Dodge Grand Caravan. These white Caravans are so ubiquitous that you often have to look twice to assure you are getting in the correct one.

Did you know that Regal Entertainment Group is headquartered in Knoxville? Yes that Regal Cinemas. What this means is that b-flicks premier in Knoxville. When Herbie Fully Loaded came out in 2005, we took the family to see it. Turkey Creek was giving out lots of swag. We ended up with at least two 53 magnets. One went to a friend with an actual Volkswagen bug and the other lived on our refrigerator.

The day we got our white Dodge Grand Caravan, I thought I was being funny and slapped the 53 magnet on the hood thinking it would last 3 days. I was amazed at the number of people who smiled, pointed, and giggled as they walked past the van. They’d quiz, "Herbie right?" It’s a van, not a Volkswagen bug, so I’d reply, "Herbie hits middle age" (fatter in the middle) or "Herbie gets a family." I once tried to remove the magnet and found it bonded to the paint.

Last week, I noticed Herbie Van was showing its age. The freeze had cracked the 53 magnet. Now I’m left with some choices.

1. Leave it as it..cracked.
2. Try to remove the magnet which is bonded to the paint and risk tearing the paint off the hood
3. Have a professional remove it and repaint the hood with an actual 53 (and perhaps a stripe).
4. remove the magnet and repaint the whole van with daisies.
5. Buy a new van. (okay.. that’s not a realistic option..)

I have a lot to do in a short time. How do I focus? I listen to a thunderstorm.