FEELING SECURE: PAPER vs. BYTES

I must admit to a certain feeling of insecurity in my life. My wife Ellen accuses me of being a “Pack rat” and this is true. I cannot bring myself to toss anything away, not even a bad feeling. If you go into my studio, you will find five million floppy discs from an old computer that I hardly use, and unopened AOL and other internet services CD’s that I feel someday will become erasable which I then can store unnecessary data onto.

If you go into a supermarket with me, and the packer ask “Paper or plastic?” I will answer, “Yes.” I have clothes that are 30 years old, with all the original stains. Why do I keep them? It gives the Mrs. something to point out to me. I like to keep them so I can “Paint in them.” I think if I ever changed, my wife and I would have nothing to talk about. Need 2” of molding? Not to worry, visit me in my garage. Need a hand driven drill, again, in my garage. In my office, it kind of mirrors itself. I have a rather large server from which to store and draw off electronic files, yet I must have hard copies, too.

My philosophy in life is “You never know.” Know what? Well, you never know when you may need to paint something, or when the plastic or paper bag may rip, or when someone might want a copy to bring someplace. You may never know when some bit of information from 1991 may become useful. Of course none of this has ever happened yet, but you never know. And here’s the important factor, I go to bed at night secure in the knowledge that I have everything I need in my closets, file drawers, servers and bag bins I’ll ever need.

Well, I guess I’ll go and print this up before I post it on the internet, you never know.