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The gift of literal and psychic space

Tomorrow is my birthday.

As it is my birthday I must comply with my birthday tradition of purging the same number of things as my new age, i.e. since I will be 32 in a few short hours I need to donate, toss or otherwise give away 32 things.

I started the project this morning with trepidation. Trepidation because I have been in a constant state of purging for awhile now and wasn't sure I'd even have 32 things to purge, at least not without some psychological pep talking. But I persisted. I started after my shower by tossing an old bottle of sunless tanner that I never used, the conditioner that came with my hair dye, a sample container of mouse whose nozzle didn't work, and several other things from the drawers in my bathroom. Next, while I was fixing breakfast I tossed a few things from the fridge. I don't know if those really count since they had to be tossed anyway but at least it kept me in purge mode. Nothing else in the kitchen jumped out and said "toss me" so I had to choose another room.

I'd already done a super purge of my closet in June so I wasn't sure I'd find anything in there. I managed to add a pair of capris my sister gave me to the pile. My reasoning for this toss was that no matter how many times I stuck them in the dryer they were constantly wrinkled and I can't be bothered to iron nice clothes never mind casual clothes so out they went. Someone else can deal with the wrinkles.

Next, I stumbled across my jewelry box. This, in terms of purging, was definitely the mother load - the place were all things small have come to rest over the past several years. Not only did it contain every earring I've ever owned since I got my ears pierced at 5, but it also held the magnets I had on the refrigerator at my last apartment, some mini frames I was going to give someone at some point, and every button that has come with every item I've ever purchased. Needless to say, I didn't need even a quarter of it. I did so well tossing everything out that when I was all through I didn't even need the jewelry box itself (it was a crappy plastic 5 drawer thing anyway so I wasn't all that sad to see it go.) To round out my purge I also got rid of a Christmas Mickey Mouse mug, a Davinci Code board game and a Disney Chess set, all of which were given to me by my mother in well meaning but misguided gift giving moments. Thanks but no thanks Mom.

My birthday-eve purgefest was a wonderful success. It even inspired Friendster Guy to go through a box or two of his stuff. Go us.

Comments

canadian sadie said…
Happy purge-day! And a VERY merry birthday! :) Hope it was lovely!
Hope the birthday was great. I like the purge amount of items as years tradition; I think I'll start that, too.
Anonymous said…
Sigh... byebye chess set...
Anonymous said…
Belated birthday greetings! That sounds like a great tradition!

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