Found old journal pages

what do you do with old journals?

I love getting journals, but have the repeated habit of using about 10 pages and then not using it again. SO - while I do make the effort to also re-use books I have started, I also have decided that dragging an entire book with me for the sake of a few pages wasn't worth it. SO I took out what was written on and donated the book for someone else to use for their own creativity.


That being said, I figured this was a perfect medium to record my ripped out pages so I can not carry them around with me either. Oh the magic of the internet.
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12/31/05
On the cusp of the New Year. I'm on the train to NYC to start a New Life. Yea, I wish. I'm just headed in to do a little shopping, spend money I don't have, and in general ring in the new year with people I don't know. One day I want to have a fabulous apartment in Manhattan so I can have people over for NYE and end this dilemma of where everyone should go. Coming from the receptionist who's $6000 in debt. I should put it on my list of things to do in life and then it will get done. Maybe I can just get a really nice boat and live there.

RANDOM IDEAS
-black and white photo collection of the railways - all across the country
-Boat in Manhattan or in NJ w/ view of Manhattan (what happens in winter with boats? does Hudson freeze?)

12/28/05
On the train ride home today I realized what makes NJ special --

An older gentleman on the train leaving New York reminded me why I really do love New Jersey. After I began the conversation by asking the final score of the Rutgers game last night (because I fell asleep) he immediately began a conversation with me about the game, the Rutgers program, and how good it was for them to play well on National TV (ESPN - they lost by 5)
He was so genuine in his interest (and pride) that it made me wonder if he attended Rutgers. Odds are he probably didn't, but I don't think it mattered either way. Even I (an avid Hokie fan) was moved by the "Go Rutgers!" signs that replaced the traffic info on the GSPW and the fund that was set up to help students attend the bowl game. The conversation waned and we both returned to our respective conversations with our travel companions. When I was leaving the train, I said "goodbye" to the gentleman and he wished me a wonderful new year with such sincerity...

wanting new clothes but not wanting to be emperor

They say the possessions you keep and surround yourself with say a lot about you...and if you have the tendency to excessively hold on to things [guilty as charged] that you are actually holding on to your past life and not living in the present. That you will continue to be who you were rather than who you are, and more importantly, who you want to be.

At what point does an object stop being an object and instead become a memory, or a feeling, or a smile, or a wistful dream?

As someone who has been thinking about these things a lot lately, I have recently decided that maybe one of the best things I could do is to really get rid of everything. I mean everything. Granted, this is somewhat of an expensive proposition, and undoubtedly will not come to complete fruition...but for the first time I can remember (and I have moved quite a bit), the idea of getting rid of the majority of my stuff seems very freeing, and makes me very excited.

What is stuff really? There are items of necessity - like clothing. There are items of luxury - like jewelry. There are items of convenience - like sporting equipment. [if you're going to do something repeatedly it makes sense to be prepared]

At what point does it become more convenient to just re-purchase things rather than lug them with you everywhere? And is it really just that price point that matters, or is it the attachment to them on a deeper level that matters more?

I don't think it is possible to pare down possessions for the long haul to just a bag or two...but I know when I lived in Europe for a semester I went with two bags and I seemed to do just fine. Accumulating new things has never been difficult...it is getting rid of those memories that seems to be holding me back from being who I want to be rather than who I was.

"Be the change you want to see in the world" -Ghandi [I think this is applicable even on a smaller scale to your own life...be the person you want to become]

"Twice you burned your life's work. Once to start a new life, and once just to start a fire" -The Long Winters

Song of the Day: New Girl - the Long Winters