I'm not a nostalgic person generally speaking. As a DJ I try to stay on top of current music, ahead of trends. As a musician and producer making techno I am always looking for the next best piece of hardware or software to come along to make my songs more innovative and original. As a painter I have my influences, but am trying to make artwork that beaks new ground.
What's strange is I didn't realize how many collections of things I have. Now that I am moving and am selling nearly everything I own it's rather bizarre to me I'm finding it hard to let go many things that sat in dark corners or in the back of my closet collecting dust for years.
Most of my vinyl records have been sold. Through the years I've had about 2500 records. More recently about 400 or so. The bulk of my collection was mainly techno and most of those went very quickly to local buyers. I had also amassed a huge collection of old school hardcore. I bought these records when they first came out and have owned many of them for more than 20 years. I had a cool collection of 80s / New Wave music that was the precursor to much of the electronic music we listen to today. And I had nearly every classic album from the 60s and 70s you can imagine.
But aside from those things I have a huge Hot Wheels and Matchbox collection of classic hot rods and lowrider cars. How this came about is rather funny. Each time I would wander through Target or a supermarket I would stop off in the toy section. I would look through the cars and since they usually cost about $4 a piece or so I'd grab one and throw it in my basket. Without realizing it over the years I now have about 50 cars.
When I first started to work for the railroad I thought it might be fun to build an HO scale home layout. Why would I want to take my work home with me I don't know, but I guess once I was there long enough I changed my mind. But during those first few years I bought 11 engines and enough cars to make 3 complete, very long trains. Now mind you, I never did buy any tracks so none of this stuff has ever been used, but I have now owned them for over 15 years.
John Held Jr. is one of my favorite artists. He lived during the Roaring 20s and drew flappers for Life magazine, among many other things. He also wrote books (I own quite a few) and all sorts of merchandise with his images were made. I own many of these items.
And then there's my DJ and music equipment. I feel I can part with a lot of it, but I'm going to take a huge loss. It's just how it goes. The stuff I kind of need to take with me is bulky and heavy. And very expensive to replace in Argentina. I have to strongly consider the best way to get it down there. Sending it ahead to a friend by mail is very risky. The Argentine postal service is known to "lose" expensive electronics, not to mention the incredibly high shipping costs. Bringing it with me will require paying for extra checked bags and I already have to bring my cooking utensils for work and my clothes. I'm looking at about a minimum of 4-5 suitcases.
And some of my most prized possessions are my paintings. All of which are rather big and not shipping or flying friendly. I'm slightly determined to bring them with me, but I don't know how. I suspect I'll find a way, hopefully.
And then there's just the other general stuff to get rid of such as appliances, furniture, bed, TV, VCR, DVD, air conditioners, fans, refrigerator, desks, chairs, shelves, my bike, and my car. Good thing I have two months to do this all still.
But it is heartbreaking in a way to get rid of all these things. In some ways they have become a part of me and in other ways they weigh me down. While I am choosing to sell these items and move my life in a different direction, it makes me wonder what it must be like for someone who has experienced a house fire and lost everything. What do you really need in this world to survive? Currently for me to stay sane I need to be able to DJ and make music. To do that I need a laptop, my midi controllers, an amp and some speakers. That is it. To cook I need my pots and pans, my knives and utensils. That's it. So this move, for better or worse is making me what I've wanted to become all along, a minimalist.
What's strange is I didn't realize how many collections of things I have. Now that I am moving and am selling nearly everything I own it's rather bizarre to me I'm finding it hard to let go many things that sat in dark corners or in the back of my closet collecting dust for years.
Most of my vinyl records have been sold. Through the years I've had about 2500 records. More recently about 400 or so. The bulk of my collection was mainly techno and most of those went very quickly to local buyers. I had also amassed a huge collection of old school hardcore. I bought these records when they first came out and have owned many of them for more than 20 years. I had a cool collection of 80s / New Wave music that was the precursor to much of the electronic music we listen to today. And I had nearly every classic album from the 60s and 70s you can imagine.
But aside from those things I have a huge Hot Wheels and Matchbox collection of classic hot rods and lowrider cars. How this came about is rather funny. Each time I would wander through Target or a supermarket I would stop off in the toy section. I would look through the cars and since they usually cost about $4 a piece or so I'd grab one and throw it in my basket. Without realizing it over the years I now have about 50 cars.
When I first started to work for the railroad I thought it might be fun to build an HO scale home layout. Why would I want to take my work home with me I don't know, but I guess once I was there long enough I changed my mind. But during those first few years I bought 11 engines and enough cars to make 3 complete, very long trains. Now mind you, I never did buy any tracks so none of this stuff has ever been used, but I have now owned them for over 15 years.
John Held Jr. is one of my favorite artists. He lived during the Roaring 20s and drew flappers for Life magazine, among many other things. He also wrote books (I own quite a few) and all sorts of merchandise with his images were made. I own many of these items.
And then there's my DJ and music equipment. I feel I can part with a lot of it, but I'm going to take a huge loss. It's just how it goes. The stuff I kind of need to take with me is bulky and heavy. And very expensive to replace in Argentina. I have to strongly consider the best way to get it down there. Sending it ahead to a friend by mail is very risky. The Argentine postal service is known to "lose" expensive electronics, not to mention the incredibly high shipping costs. Bringing it with me will require paying for extra checked bags and I already have to bring my cooking utensils for work and my clothes. I'm looking at about a minimum of 4-5 suitcases.
And some of my most prized possessions are my paintings. All of which are rather big and not shipping or flying friendly. I'm slightly determined to bring them with me, but I don't know how. I suspect I'll find a way, hopefully.
And then there's just the other general stuff to get rid of such as appliances, furniture, bed, TV, VCR, DVD, air conditioners, fans, refrigerator, desks, chairs, shelves, my bike, and my car. Good thing I have two months to do this all still.
But it is heartbreaking in a way to get rid of all these things. In some ways they have become a part of me and in other ways they weigh me down. While I am choosing to sell these items and move my life in a different direction, it makes me wonder what it must be like for someone who has experienced a house fire and lost everything. What do you really need in this world to survive? Currently for me to stay sane I need to be able to DJ and make music. To do that I need a laptop, my midi controllers, an amp and some speakers. That is it. To cook I need my pots and pans, my knives and utensils. That's it. So this move, for better or worse is making me what I've wanted to become all along, a minimalist.
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Hope all is well!