Organization Recap

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As a follow-up to the Kirkwood class on 10/23, I liked it. I liked Jennifer and Jenny, the teachers, and I can envision taking them up on their offer to come to my house and look at what I have in the den and to offer suggestions. I learned a lot in the class and I won't regurgitate all the content of the class here - attend the class if you are in the Iowa City area - but I will say, one thing that came from attending is that I should have the disposition that I have a specific amount of space and when that space is full, I don't get any additional space.

I have broken that rule. I know I cannot abide by that rule.Why? Well, I have some plans.

• the current 10 Year Project is due to conclude on 12/31/2021. I'll be 52 when it ends.
• after I finish that 10 Year Project, I have a vision of embarking on yet another 10 Year Project, which would begin on 1/1/2022 and conclude on 12/31/2031 - I'd be 62 when it ends.
• after I finish that 10 Year Project, I have a vision of embarking on yet another 10 Year Project, which would begin on 1/1/2032 and conclude on 12/31/2041 - I'd be 72 when it ends.

Each of the 10 Year Projects after my current 10 Year Project involves purchasing 24 x 200 page spiral notebooks - so I have 48 more notebooks to purchase - which means I will have 72 notebooks, if I follow through with the plans above on 12/31/2041. I should also mention I currently have Rubbermaids in the sump pump storage room that contain my journals from 1989 on. I don't really look at them often, but it comforts me to know I can go back and look at them. I have reread my college-era journals in the past. There was a period of time after Karen and I were married when I used my "journal" to Scotch tape drafts of songs I wrote and (I think) returned college term papers / assignments in my journals at the expense of not writing about what was happening. If I could go back in time, I'd tell myself to NOT stop writing about 'life' at the expense of doing what I was doing. It's kind of a black hole as I know there were many things happening in life that I could have wrote about but, because I didn't, I cheated myself.

The other part of that equation is that I was drinking booze from when Karen and I married on 8/7/1993 until 12/31/2010. I had a couple of false starts on journals during those 6355 days (17 years, 4 months, 3 weeks, 3 days), but there wasn't anything like what I am doing now. I remember I did intend to have a 40 year project, that would last from 1/1/1995 - 1/1/2035. I had figured out there were 14600 days, if I multiplied 40 x 200 even though, in reality, there are 14610 days. I had a vision that I would write a single page every day for those years. I would purchase 73 x 200 spiral notebooks and number the pages as I do in my current 10 Year Project, which is, for my current volume / section, there are 78 pages, so it is numbered "1-77" and the back of that page is numbered "2-76" all the way to the end of the section. The last 'front' page is numbered "77-1" and the back of that page is my "Epilogue" page, which has been numbered as "78-0". The idea is I would start at "1-14599" on page 1 of that 40 Year Project and that, on 12/31/2034, I would be writing on page "14599-1" as that project concluded.

As just mentioned, that 40 Year Project became using Scotch tape to capture my past instead of writing about my future.

This is the logic in my head that prevents me from believing I will be able to abide by the rule that you only get a specific amount of space for storing your things. Currently, in the den, there is not room to store 48 x 200 page spiral notebooks. Currently, in the den, there is not room to store the notebooks I used from 1989, through college, and the first years of our marriage. If I did have that room in the den, I wouldn't have those notebooks in Rubbermaids in the sump pump storage room!