Getting it done

North End

You can do anything you put your mind to – almost anything, practically speaking.

But some tasks can be daunting… where do you start? I recently had to clean out a storage locker because the lease had expired. How did it get so cluttered, and so fast?

Well, I figured it out when started pulling stuff out of the locker. Lots and lots and then a lot more empty boxes. After breaking down approximately 20 boxes and stuffing them into two big boxes, I made a trip to the 4R Recycling Depot on Pacific Avenue. Since I was going anyway, I thought might as well load up any other recycling in the building that I maintain and live in. I ended up making a few trips with a few carloads.

With phase one of the project complete, it was time to pull out boxes and categorize them. Thank goodness I’m good at documentation, a trait I learned in recording engineering school).

I separated them into four sections:

1) Things to donate to a thrift shop (after re-evaluating why I kept the stuff for so long and after moving the box to my last three residences);

2) Things to bring to my music booth at the Mulvey Market. Is it music related? Am I willing to part with it yet?

3) Stuff I’m going to hang onto. (Don’t ask me why.)

4) Scrap metal (to be taken to the scrap metal recycler).

There was also a subsection of things I took photos of (like the pool table and dining table set) which a friend said he could help me sell online. I’m not much of an online kind of guy but I’ll give it a shot.

The process took about four days and on the third and fourth days, I enlisted the help of a musician friend, who brought along his guitar the last day.

I asked myself if this was a mistake, because we stopped a few times and jammed, with him on guitar vocals and me on ‘cymbal lamps’ and old cookie tins and improvisational sounds and spoken word. Even though they took us away from our work, the ‘musical breaks’ (documented with my camera) were relaxing and inspirational… they kind of took away from the drudgery of the work at hand. We had fun with it, and when we weren’t making our own music there was always the trusty ghetto blaster tuned to CKUW 95.9FM for inspiration

Anyhow, once everything was said and done, I closed the door on an empty storage unit, and a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment came over me.

Now I’m primed and ready for more spring cleaning in my living unit.