If I didn't think this thread was interesting, I wouldn't be reading it. But it is a very confusing soap opera.Originally Posted by Tybee
I know he is.
If I didn't think this thread was interesting, I wouldn't be reading it. But it is a very confusing soap opera.
I know he is.
A lot of people here, including IL, deserve more than just a Participation ribbon.OK, IL, you will get one of those participation ribbons that are being handed out these day. There, do you now feel recognized?
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Better?
IL, I'm intrigued by the wonderful progress you have made with the books.
I must either buy a lot more bookcases or get rid of a lot of books.
How did you proceed--did you start with a number per category that you wanted to end with?
aha! thanks for asking. I will try to keep it short.
Adult books:
I tossed anything that was a visual arts book: pattern and design books, interior decor. There were only about 15 of those. Who needs those now with Pinterest? No one.
I tossed anything that used to be about an interest of mine. I no longer have those interests, About 20 books.
I tossed another 50 misc books, including novels. There is a special group of novels I am keeping, about 8. I never really bought many fiction books anyway since I counted on libraries to keep them.
children’s books
The bulk of my book collection is illustrated children’s books, around 800 or 900. That is my art collection. I eyeballed the shelving I have in our living room, 6 shelves, and knew I had to get the collection down to that space. I will have similar shelving space in Hermann.
First, I pulled out all of the Golden age books published 1880-1925 and kept those. I can still reduce that collection some day but am keeping them for the time being.
For contemporary books I just started pulling out each book from the shelf and if it didnt “spark joy” it went into a pile to get rid of. It was interesting how many did not spark joy! I got rid of most through this process, but for my favorite illustrators (Lisbeth Zerger, David Christiana, Binette Schroeder, Wayne Anderson) I had to be more ruthless and squeeze their books down to an arbitrary number. Same for my collection of 40 illustrated versions of Alice in wonderland...had to just say to myself half of these go.
On trick I found useful was to honor my reluctance to get rid of a title. There were a few books that I put on the “discard” pile,3 times, and if I kept picking it back up to look through it, that meant it was “sparking joy.”
I told myself early on that my decision to keep or discard would not be influenced by market value of these items, so I decided to keep what I keep without looking up sold versions on ebay. This collection isnt worth much anyway.
In fact, the first giant step in getting rid of my book collection was to eliminate it from our net worth statement. I had always assigned a dollar value to this collection of a couple thousand dollars. It isnt worth that but that was my number based on how much I paid for them. Once I zero’d out that number, it gave me mental freedom to just get rid of them.
IL, does your new ribbon spark joy? If not get rid of it
I admit that I do like this ribbon award for “adequate” and if I had it in real life I would put it up on my ribbon wall:IL, does your new ribbon spark joy? If not get rid of it
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It was a real ribbon, available in real life, but I don't know a current source.
There have been a lot of times in my own life when having an "Adequate" ribbon would have been very motivating or at least reassuring because I was going through a rough patch or just plain being too perfectionist. In fact I have a hand-printed sign above my desk that says "Doing important things adequately is a whole lot better than doing random things brilliantly."
BTW: Since participation trophies are controversial (probably because they're overdone and overused!) https://www.today.com/parents/defens...es-kids-t40931 I'll put in my two cents: I used to be an enthusiastic amateur runner. Totally mediocre, but enthusiastic because I enjoyed it. Traditionally every race gave participants a tee-shirt or some other memento. It wasn't an "award", just a reminder of a race you enjoyed, and a way to say publicly "I run and I did this race." IMHO participation ribbons should always be received by children and adults in that same way -- as a reminder of a fun time or a personal accomplishment, regardless of how well you performed.
So this is my favorite real-world Participation award:
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Last edited by GeorgeParker; 4-2-21 at 1:42am. Reason: made minor changes
I love that medal. If you had fun, you won. If it's only competition I don't think it's much fun...but I am not skilled in many things...so having fun MUST be more important to me than winning.
Oh absolutely! I have always liked competitive shows such as cat shows, dog shows, flower shows, etc. I like the show because the entries are the best examples of whatever it is that is being shown. It’s very common that I don’t agree with the judge’s decision, I like another entry better. And then of course there are the times that I won best in show that I just shake my head and think yeah that was pretty bad I wonder why they chose my entry.
So we kicked ass yesterday and got so much done. The garage and shed are getting close to empty. The basement is empty. Lots of stuff on the patio that is going into his storage unit. The trailer for the dump is almost full again. At 5 pm my knee started to hurt and the area below my hip so it was a good time to quit. This morning I can barely walk so on disability leave today
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