on graphic designers and moving out

i'm moving out of my boston apartment next week, so i've been doing my best to throw stuff out, clean up, and pack my belongings. i think being a graphic designer entitles me to being a pack rat, which is a good and bad thing. i keep A LOT of things around -- fliers i pick off the street, product packaging, lame doodles, ticket stubs, dollar store toys, vintage publications, candy wrappers, neck ties, etc.. everything can be used as a reference, whether it's some kind of tutorial or cultural reference or metaphor or a bad example of what not to do; or as material itself (i can't get rid of my foam core!!). good ideas and little hints that can help you along the way potentially live in this debris. you have no idea how painful it was to throw out a lot of my trade magazines. ughh.

but i did it. *sniff*

one of my design professors actually rents storage space to house her growing collection of crap that she won't part with. among a bajillion other things, she collects broken things and fasteners, things that keep things together. she explained that she liked the dichotomy. i can't imagine having more space to hoard things that were neat only to me. but at the same time, i'd love to if i could. it'd spare me from this emotional and mental anguish from parting with my crap that i so fervently accumulated. alors, it's important for me to move on, in life and in visual style. yeah, that's the post-modern spirit! and sifting through and picking out what is really cool and worth keeping just reinforces what i value in design already.

but don't even get me started with books. why do art and design books have to be so fricking heavy and oversized? moving is hard. i can only imagine what it'll be like later in the future -- more difficult.