Packing It In

The thing about moving three times in two years is that you get to refine your paring down. There's still a lot of under-worn socks, underwear, blouses, and shoes to be purged.

Maybe even books. I haven't bought a literary book in print or a cookbook in any format in years, and what I do have takes up a lot of space. I used to binge buy books and was once appalled when a security guard (security guards in art museums are always strange animals, and I don't mean sexy strange animals) in the '90s told me he didn't keep books anymore. He just read them and gave them away or used the library. Now, it's no biggie with tablets and Kindles. But then how do you display your good taste?

One upside to others' pack-rattery is that I was able to obtain moving boxes, no problem. At least some of these are the same boxes used to move to Carroll Gardens in 2004 and have withstood at least three moves. The tape over tape is built up in relief. Bathroom has been crossed out and replaced with kitchen. I didn't even bother indicating rooms last time and won't again.

Maybe I will buy a file cabinet and try to have a proper office set up rather than throwing papers and documents into boxes and stuffing them into unoccupied shelf space. I never did set up my printer or bedroom computer.  Since living here I did find my birth certificate, but had no luck with my social security card, 2011 tax forms (though I have '90s W-2s) or that paper proof that I did Kings County jury duty fewer than six years ago and shouldn't have to serve again and will continue throwing out the periodic threats arriving my mailbox. Can I really be sent to jail and/or fined $1,000? I won't even be a resident in less than a month.

Do you toss the useless class action lawsuit notices that were arrived this year? I never participated in the 2005 copyright dustup where articles were included in databases without author compensation, so I'm not entitled to payout now. I had completely forgotten that I'd ever owned a Cliq XT, the  phone I ended up with after my customized MyTouch was stolen in Thailand, and what prompted me to cave to the perfectly fine iPhone 4s I still own but now seems ancient and will probably be replaced with the 6 as soon as it becomes available (tomorrow?). I'd forgotten about the Cliq XT and how the operating system never got upgraded and even new, I couldn't install apps, and now I'm mad all over again. My reward is a $25 credit at the Motorola store.

Approaching levels of Things Fitting Perfectly Into Other Things, I got great satisfaction out of the fact that these Container Store tubs I already owned (well, the green ones) fit exactly into this inexplicable narrow cubby in my bathroom.

This old decoupaged table that matches nothing I now own color-wise also hid away neatly in the wasted space left between my bed and the air conditioning/heating unit.

What I did not have when I arrived here were plastic food storage containers, so actually bought two green ones shaped like apples two Marches ago. Now, I have so much Seamless detritus I just throw them out or recycle, depending on my mood. Do you pack take out containers? This may be the most pressing question of all.