Box of Someday
Today is another perfect example of a box of someday. I suspect you have one or more yourself. Someday I’ll get back to The Hobby. These spare parts might be useful someday if Super Important Object breaks. Don’t throw that away! It goes to my Whatchamacallit! What if I need that?
You don’t need it. You keep it in a box in the garage or closet or storage shed because you like to lie to yourself about the things you will do, someday, when you have the time. It makes your brain feel good. But if you truly wanted to do The Thing, whatever it is, the tools would be in your hands gaining use and not stuffed away like a fucking high school yearbook.
We aren’t lacking tools. Having the right running shoes or buying a Bowflex, despite what they tell you, will not get you in shape. You have to use something. And if you don’t use it, fuck it.
Today’s box:
- A 1/8″ to 1/4″ audio adapter. And gold-plated?
- Nikon UC-E1 USB cable for a Coolpix 990 (already trashed.) But seriously, you can get these for one stupid penny.
- Another of those white/red left/right to 1/8″ audio cables.
- Two male to male VGA cables.
- Some stupid fucking cable that I suspect connects your CD drive to your PCI audio adapter so that Windows 95 can play your Ace of Base album.
- 1/8″ audio cable, male to male, about 5 feet in length.
- A USB cable with a small base at the end containing a single port, a USB port. So it’s like a 1-port hub or an extension for people who can’t be bothered to lean over and plug things in.
- Computer power cable.
- ~3 foot coaxial cable.
- A small plastic box without a lid.
- Pictured below, a fairly long (20 feet?) audio cable, 1/8″ male on one end. The other end is…almost 1/4″? 1/4″ fits but isn’t absolutely snug, so I’m hoping somebody with more knowledge of audio cables might find this useful.
If you have a box full of someday in your house, pull it out right now. If you can, throw it in the trash this second. If you can’t bring yourself to make that leap, try this:
Among common tips for removing clutter is the idea of a maybe box. You’re sorting through your crap and you’re split. Trash or keep. So you put it in a box, put it out of the way, and during your next cleaning, if you haven’t used it, you toss it.
But this shit has already been in a box and away from sunlight for a long time. So let’s try the opposite. Put it out in the open, easily accessible, or better yet, in the way of your daily routine, like on the kitchen cutting board or blocking the view of the TV. The hope is, after a couple days or weeks, one of three things happens:
- Increasing the visibility of your someday items causes you to actually pick one or two up and use the damn thing, today.
- Increasing the visibility of your someday items without using them makes you realize that keeping them is silly.
- Having this shit in the way of your important daily tasks pisses you off and you throw it all in the trash where it belongs.
So go! Get your box and find a way to get it out of your life. And if you do, I would love to hear about your box of someday in the comments.
Published on December 28, 2009
I’ve got a drawer of someday. Some day I will need this bolt that came off of God-knows-what…
Did you throw the bolt away?