Letting Go

In general, I'm not much of a pack rat. However, I do tend to squirrel away little things like cards. (For example, I still had all the congratulation cards from my high school graduation until about a year ago. Don't ask me why. I just did.)

Lately, someone has been helping me reorganize the contents of my drawers. Of course, this process involves pulling everything out of the drawer onto our bedroom folder. It's given me a chance to see some of these cards and letters for the first time in years. Now, that I re-reading some of these cards, I'm thinking and why am I keeping that? For example, yesterday I found letter from this guy who I had a huge crush on in college. (Don't worry. Pre-Brian) When I read the two letters that he wrote me, I think "Good grief. What did I ever see in him?" I mean, his letters were kind of mean. (Believe me these weren't intended to be love notes. Just notes to help me survive a summer at home.)

I'm in a general purging mood lately. A couple of weeks ago, I practically emptied my bookcases and file cabinet at work. I'm trying to get rid of all these old college textbooks that I have. It makes me want to cry when I think how much I spent on them, and now they aren't worth a penny. Fortunately, some of the books (the ones I used for papers), my brother might be able to use (now that he is in business school). Funny story. When I asked him if he might be interested in my books, his first question was "What are you going to do with them, if I don't take them?" I replied, "Donate them to the library, probably." He responded, "Well, I don't want to take away from your charitable donations on your taxes."

Okay, maybe I am missing something, but to me, it ain't about the money. It's about getting these books off my shelf and into the hands of someone who might be able to USE them. I guess I didn't learn anything in business school.

Of course, I don't think libraries take textbooks, do they? Man, college textbooks are such a rip off. Here are some ideas that I have for my textbooks:

* use them as door stoppers
* donate them to models so they can use them for runway practice (you know when you have to balance a book on your head)
* throw books at annoying drivers. My 500 page Physical Chemistry book hitting your windshield would certainly be an attention grabber.
* stack the books and use them as a stepladder.
* tear out the pages and use the paper as kitty litter.

Any other ideas?