Living in Los Angeles, my car has never seen the inside of a garage, and I intend to keep it that way. Garages, despite their name, are not for cars. They are for your stuff, and if you can actually walk from one side of your garage to the other without climbing, your name isn’t Wil Wheaton.
After three years of climbing, Anne and I decided that it was time to go through our garage, and get rid of stuff that we don’t need anymore. I mean, we’ve lived in our house for 3 years, and we still haven’t completely unpacked our stuff from the old house. So we spent all day Saturday and most of Sunday going through box after box of stuff. Man, I have lots of stuff. I never throw anything away, and I attach massive sentimental value to just about everything that I own, so cleaning things up and throwing things out is never an easy task for me…until this time. I found stuff which used to be really important to me that just wasn’t anymore. T-shirts that I thought I’d never throw away, books that I had never read, but intended to read, pictures, knick-knacks…they all went right into the dumpster, or to the Goodwill.
I found stuff that was really wonderful, like a birthday card to me from the entire cast of TNG, from my 15th birthday, and the poster from Toy Soldiers, signed to me by Dan Petrie, Jr, who wrote and directed it. I found Anne’s original Atari 2600, and my old TI 99/4A, and more pictures of me and my family than I can count.
I also found some stuff that I’d rather forget…I came across stuff that I had written when I was about 20 and working for NewTek…holy shit. What an ass I was. I mean, I’ve read some arrogant, loud-mouthed, cocksure rantings before, but this crap really takes the cake. If I could travel back in time and find me, I’d smack me a good one, right in the mouth. I recently heard from someone who said that he’d met me when I was about 19 or 20, and I was a total dick. Well, dude, you were right on. I was a complete ass, and I need to make a public apology to anyone who dealt with me between the ages of about 15 and 21. Those were 6 very angry, self-righteous, frustrated, confused years for me, and I wasn’t exactly quiet about my feelings.
Buddhism teaches that one of the main causes of suffering is desire, and that living a simple lifestyle, devoid of unnecessary stuff, is part of the journey towards enlightenment. This really makes sense to me, and I was very anxious to clear out my junk. It was amazingly freeing, to get rid of all this stuff, in both a practical way, and a spiritual way, also.
I got to thinking about this thing that some people call your “Saturn Return”. Check it out:
Astrologers call the period between ages twenty-eight and thirty “Saturn Return.” That’s because it’s the first time the planet Saturn completes its cycle through your birth chart and returns to the spot it occupied when you were born. Internationally respected astrologer Rob Hand calls Saturn Return “one of the most important times in your life. . . a time of endings and new beginnings.”
Now, understand that I put exactly zero stock in astrology (but I don’t judge those who do, so save yourself the trouble of flaming me about it, okay?), but I found this to be really interesting, because while I was cleaning out the garage, deciding what I was going to keep and what I was going to throw away, I felt like I was examining myself, where I’ve been in my life, and where I am headed. I felt like I was saying ‘goodbye’ to older periods of my life, and embracing some new beginnings, and removing old physical and spiritual baggage that my life doesn’t need any longer. It was a wonderful feeling of accomplishment and growth, and if you’ve never done this, I can’t endorse it enough.
On Sunday, Nolan had an All Star soccer game…so I once again got to enjoy the stunningly bad behavior of soccer parents. That was nice. It’s been at least 2 weeks since I saw some parent taking out their frustrations with their own inadequecies on their kid. Once again, for those of you keeping score at home, when a bunch of 10 year olds are playing soccer, it is, in fact, as important as the World Cup.
Sunday afternoon, I went and did an interview on The April Winchell Show. It was really fun. April is supercool, and the show was really laid back and silly. We talked about FARK, Jane White, and life in general.
Then, last night, Ryan and Anne made dinner: Steaks on the George Foreman Grill. Once again, I can’t tell you how awesome this Foreman Grill is, man. Get one, and use it. You won’t be sorry.
The only drag for me, the whole weekend, was that The Simpsons wasn’t on at 8 last night, so we missed it.
I’m thinking that if the worst thing that happens on the weekend is not being able to watch The Simpsons, things are going very well.
Very well, indeed.
