I recently joined a community over at Orkut about the Art of Simple Living where I found links to articles about hoarding :
hoard
n.
A hidden fund or supply stored for future use; a cache.
v. hoard ed, hoard ing, hoards
v. intr.
To gather or accumulate a hoard.
v. tr.
1. To accumulate a hoard of.
2. To keep hidden or private.
Although the defenition found in Wikipedia:
Compulsive hoarding is a condition, thought to be related to obsessive-compulsive disorder, that involves the collection or failure to discard large numbers of objects even when they cause significant clutter and impairment to basic living activities such as cooking, cleaning or sleeping. Hoarding rubbish may be referred to as syllogomania.
refers to a condition much worse than mine, I do tend to keep things around that other people might consider to be nothing more than rubbish, because those things might come in handy later on or, more frequently, because there are memories attached.
I’ve got hundreds of letters, concert tickets, movie tickets, and countless pieces of paper with telephone numbers or notes. I’ve got clothes I haven’t worn for years, old shoes that were repaired one too many times, horrible statues from all over the world, more candles than I could possibly burn in years, piles of books everywhere, old courses and magazines, empty bottles in strange shapes, glass for just about any occasion, kitchen utensils I never use, cans that are long overdue etc. etc.
Once in a while I try to get rid of things. But memories are brought back with most objects. Yes, that dress defenitely is at least four sizes too small, but it was a present from my mother, that day we visited Bruges together. It was a sunny day, our feet were hurting because we walked for miles and miles, we visited that interesting exhibition, then decided to grab a cup of coffee. Just around the corner there was this little boutique, and I was drooling over a dress in the window. My mom told me to go in and try it on, which I did and ooh, did it look lovely on me. It was quite expensive but she insisted on buying it for me. I remember just about each time I wore that dress afterwards, and the compliments that were made. Of course, I end up with putting the dress back, even though it’s way too small.
And yes, I can’t possibly wear those shoes anymore, but they were a birthday present from a friend whose address I lost and with whom I haven’t talked in years. I remember how he spent all day with me, looking for the perfect pair of shoes. I remember how he strongly disliked shopping and I remember the discussion we had about male and female shopping habits. I think about all the times we spent together and I decide to keep the shoes.
The apartment is stuffed with all kind of things that are rather useless and not even pretty. After reading The freedom of letting go:
What is it with our possessions, ideas, and beliefs – that causes us to hang on so tightly to them? Why do we get so buried and overwhelmed by our stuff? And best yet, how can we change the pattern so we can free ourselves to enjoy our lives?
and visiting The Simple Living Network, realising I certainly don’t want to end up like Richard and Claudia, mentioned in Halt the Hoarding or
like the Collyer brothers, “the hermit hoarders of Harlem,” who in 1947 were buried by the piles of urban junk that filled their four-story Harlem brownstone.
Source: So Much Clutter, So Little Room: Examining the Roots of Hoarding
I will give it another try over the next weeks. I’ll be this mean, lean, throw it all away machine 
Further reading:
Freecycle (Changing the world one gift at a time.)
The Simplicity Resource Guide
LETSystems
Local Exchange Trading Systems
Local Currencies Directory
The Junk Man Knows / Garbage tells the stories of our lives
Dr Randy Frost on Hoarding
MemeMachineGo!: Syllogomania
Squalor Survivors – Moving out of the mess (and no, the apartment doesn’t look like that)
Understanding and Treating Hoarding
Ivy Sea Online: Knowledge-hoarding (this is another problem, but I do tend to hoard information as well, cfr. keeping courses from decades ago around)
Saving the world? (too bad the layout is a bit messed up at the bottom of the text)
Link hoarding (nope, not me)
Software hoarding
What is domain name hoarding?
Robots have been used as jockeys in Qatar for camel races, a favourite sport in the Gulf which has faced widespread criticism over the use of young children from the Indian sub-continent.
“A race organised on Sunday saw for the first time the use of robot-jockeys, to the surprise of the crowd,” the president of the organising committee of camel races in Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Faisal al-Thani, said.
Source: Qatar trials robot substitute for child camel jockeys
The robots are made by a Swiss company and materials used are used in the aircraft industry as well. The robots have sensors transmitting information about the movements and speed of the camels. By the end of this year the company will have developed a more advanced device. (Source: De Morgen, april 3, 2004)
Further reading:
Hooves of thunder
Camel races (State of Quatar, Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Camel races (Doha Online network)
allcamels.com
Camel races in the Middle East – the camel jockeys are child slaves
Kidnapped children sold into slavery as camel racers
Death in the desert for Pakistan’s camel children
Father fights to keep son out of hands of camel jockeys
This morning in De Morgen (Belgian newspaper) : the Social and Cultural Planning Office of the Netherlands, in order to describe the Dutch national character, outlined characteristics of other Europeans, based on research by the European Union and German institutes. Belgians were described as very distrustful. Only one out of three Belgians trusts his compatriots. Most think to know others frequently use several black markets. More than other European citizens they think others commit tax fraud. A large part of the Belgian community is very vigilant when dealing with others. Only in Spain and Portugal people are even more suspicious of each other. Most Belgians don’t take pity on others. Only 20% considered helping someone less fortunate to be a deed of good citizenship. In other European countries the inhabitants are more helpful.
Belgians want law and order. No less than 70% expressed the opinion people have to abide by the law, no matter what the circumstances. In Denmark this percentage is less than 60%, in the Netherlands only 20%. Even though in theory 80% of the Belgians think freedom of expression is important, only a small percentage of the population thinks forming one’s own opinion is a sign of good citizenship. Belgians also think voting isn’t required to be a good citizen. In a country, were voting is obligatory, only 31% is concerned about active and passive voting rights. The European average is twice as high.
Some of you knew I was having an appointment with the immunologist in order to get my test results. Some of you even sent me a message yesterday night or this morning to wish me luck. Surprisingly those messages weren’t always from people I would have expected/hoped to send me a message. One such message came from Kimberly Kradel (artist-at-large.com). I met Kimberly through StumbleUpon and she was as kind as to send me an invitation to Orkut as well (as did Matthew by the way). I’m a member of WorldCafe (part of artist-at-large.com) but I haven’t been able to be very active so far. I don’t talk to Kimberly on a regular basis. Yet she did remember my appointment and wished me good luck. Isn’t she an  ?
There’s this person that sent me an e-mail to apologise for being very rude to me online in a forum. One would say, well, that’s a nice thing to do. Indeed, theoretically it is, but he insisted on keeping his e-mail private. Guess it’s alright to insult me in public and then apologise in private. Meanwhile the insults remain out in the open. He also wrote that I might wonder why he decided to write me after all this time. He mentions one reason but then he says it is not the most important reason. I’m like: then what is? But he only writes that it would take too much time to explain. Now that was useful … not.
I tried to just ignore his e-mail. But it kept nagging. Hence this post. If you do me wrong in private, a private apology is very much appreciated. You do me wrong in public, you should be as courageous as to apologise in public. Simple as that.
Now he’s nothing but my own personal April’s Fool.
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consider this … "Artistic creation is not born ex nihilo from the brains of individuals as a private language; it has always been a social practice. Ideas are not original, they are built upon layers of knowledge accumulated throughout history. Out of these common layers, artists create works that have their unmistakable specificities and innovations. All creative works reassemble ideas, words and images from history and their contemporary context."
"Only after the invention of the creative genius, practices of collaboration, appropriation and transmission were actively forgotten."
"Copyright pits author against author in a war of competition for originality – its effects are not only economic, it also naturalizes a certain process of knowledge production, delegitimates the notion of a common culture, and cripples social relations. Artists are not encouraged to share their thoughts, expressions and works or to contribute to a common pool of creativity. Instead, they jealously guard their “property” from others, who they view as potential competitors, spies and thieves lying in wait to snatch and defile their original ideas. This is a vision of the art world created in capitalism’s own image, whose ultimate aim is to make it possible for corporations to appropriate the alienated products of its intellectual workers."
"The private ownership of ideas over the last two centuries hasn't managed to completely eradicate the memory of a common culture or the recognition that knowledge flourishes when ideas, words, sounds and images are free for everyone to use."
The above from: Copyright, Copyleft & the Creative Anti-Commons
I don't want to exploit anyone's labor. Images and texts were mostly taken from the Internet and are usually linked to where I found them. These images and texts have touched me in one way or another, they've inspired me, made me think, served as a basis for the writing of poetry, etc. If you insist I take one such image or text you consider to be yours and yours only down, contact me, and I might. I'd prefer you to consider my blogging the image or text as a token of recognition, admiration or appreciation though. |
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April 7th, 2004 | 
