#38 - Best / Favourite Lists

After entirely too much analysis, editing, and formatting - I even have pie charts and percentile counts - I have finished creating my Favourite 100 Movies I've Seen, 60 CDs I Own, 15 Books I Own, and 25 Graphic Novels I Own. Why did I do this? For two reasons. One, I like making lists. It relaxes me to devote time and attention to stuff that doesn't matter; it's the same reason people like to collect things or follow professional sports. Two, I needed to know which things I own I could get rid of, if I needed to, and still keep the things that were the most important to me. I know you're not supposed to judge yourself by what you own; I've never bought into the "Most Toys" t-shirt philosophy. But my view of the world has been shaped by the things I've read, heard, and seen, and these are the touchstones that remind me of what I've done so far and who I've been along the way.

That was entirely too much reflection on what was a very meaningless task. Nevertheless, I am now able to scratch one more off the list.

#62 - Closet organization

Almost forgot - over the weekend, I cleared out my closets of all the junk that was clogging them, and re-organized them with 90% of that same junk. So a net mass loss of 10% and a net organization increase of ... pi ... means that I have successfully re-organized my closets to reach three times their previous potential. My organization has now reached truly amateur proportions.

#67 - Watch Seven Samurai

Watched The Seven Samurai with Ninja, Nez, and Scotty today. It was magnificent. I watched Rashomon earlier in the week, and even though I feel that was a superior film, there is just something about The Seven Samurai that will stay with me for a long, long time. I'll probably review it somewhere later, but for now, I'm going to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it, and would watch it again with little arm-twistery.

#1 - Pop Culture Lists

When I'm working on something that takes a lot of energy over a long time, like a week of final exams or a run of a show, my body often shuts down a day or two after everything's complete. That happened to me this week: Friday night found me sick and in no shape to participate in much of anything. So my weekend was spent almost entirely within my apartment - not how I imagined it, let me assure you. However, I turned my unfortunate state into something that was remotely productive; I plopped myself in front of my computer and hammered out the rest of my lists. I am completely up-to-date, to the best of my knowledge, and hope to NEVER have to do this again.

For proof, posterity, and curiosity, the results of my inventory are as follows:

Single-issue comics owned: 805
Trade paperbacks owned: 155
Books owned: 331
CDs owned: 574
Movies owned: 161
Movies seen (1979-2005): 1371
Books read (first four months of 2005): 9

That's a lot of crap. It's a wonder I have enough room for all of it. In my head and in my house.