minmising life

1 goal of mine is to eventually have my life in 3bags; 1 of clothes, 1 for my laptop, and 1 for my camera. that's how i'll leave the states to see the world. having an obsession with culture it's my opinion that the only way to understand a culture, or maybe more importantly cultural differences and thus a further understanding of the world we all share is to immerse oneself into a culture for a length of time (something more than a simple few week vacation). so it is my intention to save my money to travel and then see+experience as much of this world as possible. some may feel that this is a lonely way to spend one's life, moving from place to place, possibly never spending enough time to get too attached to 1place or 1person; and some of you may be right. but i rarely find myself getting so close to individuals that they feel essential to my life; maybe because i know my plans and don't often allow for interference, or perhaps it's an issue i'll hit head-on someday that will haunt me forever or, dare i say, regret. not believing in regret, i tend to disagree with the latter, but as seems to be my life motto anymore: time will tell. let me add that i'm not in anyway opposed to staying anywhere for years, decades or perhaps a lifetime if the right place or person moves me to do so. that said, this post is about those 3bags. you see, i'm moving to new orleans very soon to start new work in hopes of accomplishing, or at least denting the first task toward world travel: finances. i've landed a new, higher paying job in the big easy and with money in mind have decided that selling a vast majority of my worldly possessions now instead of uhauling them or shipping them down for a large chunk of change is in my best interest. please know that i have no monetary obsession, in fact in many ways i wish the world could operate on a barter system (even though it never could), but traveling costs money and i've already explained my obsessions above. enough money to travel also means leaving the states without debt which i'm not so far from, but not so close to either. so i'm minimising life. finally. it seems like something i've been wanting to do forever and anyone who's ever moved anywhere can tell you; you can never imagine the amount of shit you accumulate when you stay in 1place. i've pitched the junk and set aside the goodwill items and now as i sit surrounded by all my belongings realising how much more i need to eliminate if i'm to ever cut down to those 3bags. the toughest part will inevitably be figuring out what to do with all my art (books, music, movies and my own personal creations) when the time comes to leave the country.. but i'm not leaving the country just yet, so all that stuff is making the near 1100mile, 17hour (google estimates) trek to new orleans with me. even now, knowing that i can't plan to take it with me breaks my heart and while i obviously should just put a cease and desist on all additional accumulation of art, i just can't help myself, and from time to time books+music still tend to sneak their way into my collection. maybe international shipping will become real cheap or i'll be a sweepstakes winner someday and then bringing my art with me won't be such a dilemma, but with neither of those options on the horizon, my art is more likely to end up in my sister's basement gathering dust and probably the eventual water damage; which i can't bare to think about... so we won't. those 3bags. i've eliminated all the easy stuff; the items i never use or will never need. the things that surround me now are here because i need/want them or someone else needs/wants them, which begins to make decisions tough. obviously, anything i'm holding onto for others isn't going anywhere, so the real questions become "what to i want but don't need?" and "what do i need but don't want?" (maybe i'm crazy, but i'm suddenly reminded of gnarls barkley's going on lyrics "anyone that needs what they want and doesn't want what they need, i want nothing to do with.") i'm working on making the need/want decisions each day. the furniture is selling on craigslist pretty well @ this point and sooner than later i may be left with nothing to sit on which only means the minimising is advancing successfully. i'll ultimately cram everything i can into my car and leave dc with only necessities; my art, my kitchen, and my clothes. i'll need a bed, but that'll come in time as will a couch and i might even treat myself to a tv someday so i can keep up with my football. the bed i might need to get new because i don't know i can get passed sleeping in someone else's potential filth+semen, but the couch+tv will hopefully be thrift items; cheap to buy and easy to return. in the end, i'll definitely be a lot closer to those 3bags and with any luck the next time you see me, they'll be all i own. talk soon. ps. stephen+ jr. gong marley's the mission is a new favourite track of mine. okay, not new, but new to me.