hi bill , all the way from New Zealand here , I am the opposite of you and am quite OCD in the cleanliness side and minimalistic style , I have read through all the comments and posts ... you are getting a rough time from some people who only know you from the posts or pics you provide , or from their interpretation of yours and julies condition , they need to take a step back and let you do your thing .... if you want to muck around on the net all day and night ...go right ahead ....if you want to sleep all day ... fine ... if you want to work , do it , clear a 10x10 section , excellent .... its your life , yours and your wifes , if people want to walk on the street , who cares .... we all make our choices .... we all live our own lives .... my idea of a clean garage is sure as **** not the same as yours .....and it shouldn't be , americans have a huge sense of personal freedom , and you have fought wars to preserve it ...to all out there in the forum, watch and read the posts by bill , if it pisses you off stop reading , if you offer help and he doesn't accept it , so what , its not a personal attack on you , shrug it off and walk on by .... this is just my opinion and not me forcing my way on others , but for eff sake let the man breathe ...
GOOD WORK bill , do as little or as much as you want . !!!! cheers from the other side of the world , and happy thanksgiving day !
stumpy-blair,
Cheers to you and happy thanksgiving as well. I forget that people from all over read this. And thank you for YOUR support.
While it is sometimes gut-wrenching, even what I sometimes perceive as negative comments, are in most cases, concerned help.
The net is a tough enough place to figure out tone and meaning.
But also, there is a certain get r done, don't get your ******* in a twist, man up and just do it attitude that a lot of guys have, that I need to have pointed at me. I need my feathers ruffled. I need shaking up. And boy, I can come here and get a treatment, in spades.
I don't know what you would call the malaise I suffer from, hoarding, depression, etc. I do know it has depression and panic attacks as elements or symptoms. Now, depression is not sadness. Sadness is a deep emotion. Depression is really a lack of emotion. If you have met a depressed person, they are flat. Flat in the tone of their voice, flat in the look of their face. Flat in the way they even move and walk. It's as if they put their emotions away in a drawer.
The member here that came out to my place. I remember talking to him as I gave him the tour. It was very important, his visit. I saw myself mirrored in his view of me. I was that flat, emotionless person, just showing him all the miserable conditions. Conditions that should have aroused ire or even anger in me, as they would in anyone.
So some of the posts here are hard for me to take. But I eventually read them and react to them. I try to compare the reality in my head, which I know is off, to the reality espoused by the members here.
Now, I know that advice on the internet runs the gamut. It's like a bell curve. You get nutty, extreme info on either end, but the middle is the sweet spot, where advice is sage.
So I take the top and bottom bids and throw them out and look at the advice from the group of guys in the middle. Doesn't matter if they are pushing me or applauding me. Their take is apt to be good advice for me. The fact that it sometimes smarts, means I need to hear it.
Let's take one example. The "lazy" accusation. While I refute it, and rightly claim that hording is a lot more work that not doing so, it is also true. If I had gotten up every day and worked on this place every day, starting years ago, it would long ago have been fixed up and cleared out. Even now, as I type this, I COULD be downstairs boxing up stuff for trash or donation or sale. So you see, their pushing and cajoling and even name calling many times has a ring of harsh truth that I need to hear.
But today is turkey day, and I'm getting up in a few minutes and going outside in the freezing cold and getting 3 of those large trash cans ready to go on the curb tonight. And then I'm doing some more pulling of stuff out of the yard, because it is heading toward a tipping point where I can show you photos of just empty spaces. And where I can put everything important away, not left out in the rain to be ruined.
When I started this back yard cleanup the yard was a sea of tarps with no way to get into the back yard except by the back door. And you couldn't get into or out of the yard any other way. And even that was an improvement over how it had been before, when I couldn't even get through the downstairs to get to to the back door.
Now, I have 6 different ways to get into the back yard and can cross it at will in every direction. Soon all the outside areas will have nothing but the typical BBQ's and smoker and patio furniture.
And someone made a comment to me that if we can do this, in extreme weather conditions and with a deadline, how easy will it be to do the rest of the inside of the house. Indeed!
And THEN, when we are living like normal people, I can really get going on the great little garage!
Bill
