March 2006

Sometimes I’m not convinced reality is real. There’s been a couple of times, the past few years, when I saw what looked like .jpg artifacts in the real world. Once I saw a power line overhead angled slightly diagonally from my point of view. It appeared pixelated for a split second, then went back to looking normal. Sometimes something will appear that I swear wasn’t there before. Like something that I lost three years ago is suddenly sitting in the middle of the floor, and I have no idea where it came from. Or a fact that I’ve always known to be true is, in fact, not true. Or vice versa. It just kind of feels like I’ve been dropped into another reality that is almost exactly like my own… Almost. How do I know that i’m not living in the Matrix?

Normally I don’t buy Starbucks coffee (overpriced monopoly, anyone?) but today they were giving it away for free so I took advantage and got a “Light Note” decaf 16 ounce cup. Printed on my cup was the following: It’s difficult for people to get rid of junk. They get attached to things and let them define who they are. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in this business, it’s that you are what you can’t let go of.— Brian Scudamore, Founder and CEO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK So what am I? I am: Boxes and boxes of notes to friends from high school Old books Clothes I’m certain I’ll fit into again, 10 pounds from now Canvasses with bad paintings Drawers full of souvenirs, birthday cards, movie tickets, theatre playbills, and other random stuff Disappointment in people Self doubt What are you?