The Stuff That Matters
I got an urge to listen to the “Theme From Rawhide” with The Blues Brothers a bit earlier. Letting the album roll in iTunes I got an urge to watch The Blues Brothers movie too. That reminded me I have it. On VHS. I’ve never owned a VCR in my life so since moving out from dad I’ve had no way of playing the few tapes I have.
I’ve been going through my stuff lately, albeit mostly in my mind. I won’t be taking much of it with me to Sweden so a lot of stuff will have to be disposed of somehow. At the indoor flea market today I was reminded of my “collection” (are six albums a collection?) of Led Zeppelin albums. A couple of blokes were selling second hand vinyl records (one had a fair bit of The Smiths catalog) so I asked if they would buy my Led Zeppelin records.
Selling off stuff like this feels somehow wrong but I put that down to my pack rat tendencies. I was a rabid Led Zep fanboy a decade ago, or so, but now only listen to them rarely and certainly not the vinyl records. Someone else should have them. My feelings about selling off my comic book collection - no quotation marks needed - are quite different. The comic books were a big part of my childhood and I would love to get them out of their boxes and have a good read. I’m tempted to do so right now.
Still, the same applies to them as the Led Zep albums; someone else should have them. Even now I don’t have room for them and I can’t justify paying for shipping just so that I can not read them in Sweden. One or more of Marie’s lads would probably love them - if they could read Icelandic. Better that I get a little cash for the books to subsidize moving other stuff. They’re not just books, and in fact I’m not sure there’s any such thing as “just” books, but I have to pick carefully what I’ll bring.
This all may sound like a metaphor for settling the past but I think that’s incidental. It’s probably closer to being a metaphor for dealing with the future. After all I’m trying to pick the things that mean the most to me and will be most useful after the move. But that’s mostly incidental too although I could learn a lesson from seeing it that way.
Right now I’m contemplating whether to take the VHS tapes to Sweden. It’s an absurd notion in so many ways. VHS tapes have absolutely no merits today, unlike vinyl records which I am certain will outlive the already obsolescent, and very annoying, Compact Disc. But Marie has a VCR and I have a Blues Brothers tape.
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