New Year's resolution

[dougo]

When I was young, I often got bored. I think that led to an overdeveloped urge to stockpile sources of entertainment, which has left me with piles and piles of books I haven't read, games I haven't played, CDs I haven't listened to, DVDs I haven't watched—enough to provide more than a year of entertainment. I rarely make New Year's resolutions (perhaps never? I don't remember) but here's one: In 2009, I will not acquire any more books, games, CDs, or DVDs.

Comments

[gemini6ice.livejournal.com]

give some away for free!

[rfrancis]

Severe, but I understand entirely. The flipside for me is often to get rid of stuff that I know I'm not ever going to get around to (somewhat like the previous person suggested.) No reason to feel like I can't get a new game I really want because I have a lot of games I don't.

I think I'll be posting about this, more or less, later. Hm.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I forgot to mention that part of the impetus was a recent long string of impulse purchases of games that turned out to be disappointing. I'll probably be getting rid of most of those.

[gemini6ice.livejournal.com]

Or harvest the pieces to make better games?

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Too much work. And, some of them are not bad games, just disappointing, so someone else will probably like them as is. I've already passed on Genji to a better home.

[rikchik.livejournal.com]

And thank you!

[rfrancis]

Demos if they're PC games, rentals if they're console. (Here I am saying "do what I say, not what I do." But I should do better, too.) I'm down with avoiding impulse purchases. :)

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Oh, right, I forgot some people interpret "games" as "computer games". I meant board & card games.

[rfrancis]

Oh, eh, sorry. :)

Yeah, uh, I stopped buying those entirely years ago. :)

Still, same thing can go for CDs, and to some extent books (I hit the library a lot more these days than I used to.)

[mshonle.livejournal.com]

Aw shucks, I thought PC games too. Which made gemini6ice's comment about harvesting the pieces a rather conceptual joke to tell a programmer.

[emmacrew.livejournal.com]

Knitting people tend to refer to this sort of thing with the abominable term "yarn diet," but the notion of "shopping from your stash" is a good one. I'm trying to get textile input and output to a closer match.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

It's more a fast than a diet. That has more religious and/or medical connotations, but maybe that's accurate too.

[mshonle.livejournal.com]

Funny wording: "will not acquire any more" -- Does that mean if you get rid of two, you can buy two others? That's effectively what I've done with books in my to read pile.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Nope, I should have just said "any".

[kazmat.livejournal.com]

So in 2009 you should play a bunch of those games with us. :}

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Okay! When?

I know that feeling.

[tombking.livejournal.com]

There are a few boardgames out there I have had a serious jones to buy recently but so far have not because I know I will most likely not get to play them.

[pfranzosa.livejournal.com]

wow...If I pledged to not acquire any more books, games, CDs, or DVDs (including digital downloads of video and music as well) then I would have nothing to look forward to.... ;-)

[petdance.livejournal.com]

The rule in my house that my wife & I made up to solve this is "No buying anything unless you're going to use it THAT DAY." That means CD, book, movie, whatever.

Not going to watch the director's cut of "Ernest Goes To Camp" when I get home? Then I don't buy it. That has cut down a lot of it.

[luckylefty.livejournal.com]

Wow. I'm really impressed if you have the will power to do this. I could cut down my buying, or make a "get rid of one for each one you buy" rule, or even a "get rid of 2 for each one you buy" rule, but I could never cut my purchases to 0.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

I figure it's not a resolution if it isn't hard, right? And, it's only a year. My purchases might double in 2010.

[rhysara.livejournal.com]

Egad... that's like going cold turkey...

/me vows to buy all the games you're not just so that the games don't get sad and lonely.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

I still have a few purchases arriving in the mail in the next couple weeks... including your copy of Colosseum, by the way. They didn't ship it until the 29th.