Man, if you're going to do Lennon and Diamonds, it's either Lucy or this.

And this one just cause of Harrison.

I see you got your brand new leopardskin pillbox hat
I see you got your brand new leopardskin pillbox hat
How does your head feel sittin under something like that.
Your brand new leopardskin pillbox hat.

Yeah but its brandspankin shiny new old coal.
What some people will pay for a good bj.

The charities come by every quarter and pick up anything I have to give, anything from books to clothes, to dishes. They take anything and everything. I am down to the bare bones, to the things I love for their connection to a past long gone. My things are my memories, some of which have gone to charity and I wish them back.

Got tired of having no space on bookshelf, almost always library books for me.

Here's an excerpt from something I read recently that touches on very good reasons for "fewer, better things" - and has nothing to do with such DeBeers nonsense:

This material culture of today is not sustainable. Most of the things you own are almost certainly made to 20th century standards, which are very bad. If we stick with the malignant possessions we already have, through some hairshirt notion of thrift, then we are going to be baling seawater. This will not do.

You should be planning, expecting, desiring to live among material surroundings created, manufactured, distributed, through radically different methods from today's. It is your moral duty to aid this transformative process. This means you should encourage the best industrial design.

Get excellent tools and appliances. Not a hundred bad, cheap, easy ones. Get the genuinely good ones. Work at it. Pay some attention here, do not neglect the issue by imagining yourself to be serenely "non-materialistic." There is nothing more "materialistic" than doing the same household job five times because your tools suck. Do not allow yourself to be trapped in time-sucking black holes of mechanical dysfunction. That is not civilized.

Good advice, that.

Ok, I'd planned an egregiously long post on this, but since it fits the theme, here goes. IF this recession turns out as badly as feared, we have to look at two things, which may not instantly come to mind maybe, but which I think are vital. I come from an area well-used to huge swings in unemployment, so obviously that's shaped it, but anyway:

1st. The single biggest cost people face is housing - between 25%-40% for a lot of people. But if unemployment hits, and savings are low, they're gonna get whacked. So the fear that's rising has the loss of a house at its heart for many. And yet, we're one of the most over-housed societies on Earth. Triple the square footage per person of 50 years ago. Bottomline, a LOT of us - not all - have room. And while it may go against the current of recent decades, where we all spun off into our own spaces, we're gonna see more people moving in together. The thing is, that process is done best if it's PLANNED ahead of time, done consciously, rather than just CRASH, a family/home breaks, and they land on your doorstep.

2nd. When recessions hit, most people actually remain relatively ok. 90%+. And so, we tend to look around & think, well... I can tighten up in my immediate family, and we'll be alright. A big problem that can arise though, is when one of your wider family crashes out. Those who pushed too hard, or risked too much, or just got unlucky, or were in a vulnerable position. And there's strife that comes with that. But we have a choice. Either we can talk about this stuff with all our families (and friends), and think NOW about the ones who may be just out of our line of daily sight, but who might already be reeling, or we can wait til later.

Which, I guess, is a way of saying, during this Season, perhaps the biggest gift you could give a lot of people is just to LET THEM KNOW, that if push comes to shove, they have a place. The amount of mental stress, and downright fear, this can relieve is enormous.

In short... Give the gift of a safety net.

Ok. Plan B. Maybe not the perfect solution for your excess stuff, but it's workin' for me. That's Plan B, as in Jones Big Ass Truck Rental and Storage.

Here's a message to DeBeers from G. Carlin:

A Message by GeorgeCarlin:

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways,but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete...

Remember,spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember , say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

That is, "what is valuable?"

I'm wearing a pair of boots I bought for $29 at an outlet mall in 1984. Heavy, full grain leather Herman Santa Rosa loggers with 8" high shafts, brass eyelets and speed hooks tied up with rawhide laces the cat chewed the tips off of.

They spend a lot of the year in the back of the closet or gathering dust under the bed. I forgot about them for a couple of years in the trunk of an old car when I lived in NJ and boots weren't a necessity.

Just had 'em resoled for the third time with nice Vibram Raptor half soles which have great traction. I have a tin of Bear Grease and some new laces on order and when I get 'em I'll strip out the old laces, grease the boots up and stick 'em in the oven for about half an hour. When they come out they'll be waterproof again and better than new.

That's valuable to me.