In hopes of being able to get updates out more frequently, I joined Twitter.

Have you ever run out of space on your hard drive? I mean really run out of space, when the operating system is throwing warnings up on the screen. “What can I possibly delete?” you think to yourself. There are a few first places to start that are relatively stress-free. You take a cursory look in your Trash, making sure that there’s not something in there that you would in retrospect like to keep. Then, you hesitantly tell your computer to empty the trash. You get a little space back. Maybe you delete some funny videos people forwarded you in emails. Crisis averted… For now.

Eventually, you get the warning again. But it gets to a point that there’s nothing in your trash and you’re still out of space. This is where I am at with my computer, and it is a perfect metaphor for where I am at in my life. Overfull. My computer is sluggish from being full of data, my drawers are bulging with clothes I’m never going to wear again, and I think I have my pre-algebra book from 7th grade on a bookshelf somewhere. I’ve simply taken on too many things in my life, and they’ve made me physically, mentally, and emotionally sluggish.

I’m lucky to be young. I’ve got the better part of my life ahead of me. So far I’ve lived in eight cities in three states and one “metropolitain county” in two countries (and visited more), and there’s little doubt that more adventure is in store for me. The adventure that is currently on the horizon for me is moving my life to the opposite side of the country, continuing my career at Apple in the San Francisco Bay Area. Everything from my past will be far east from me, or farther west when you take a spherical world into account.

The move that is part of my next adventure affords me the opportunity to declutter my life. At the hard drive level, I’ve been able to delete gigabytes of files and emails corresponding to organizations, activities, and people who will be part of my collective past; my memories, but not my future. In the real world, I’ve disinvolved my time and attention from the physical analogues of these things. Over the next few days, I’ll continue to separate my wheat from my chaff: what clothing won’t I wear again, what books I’ll give away, what furniture, knick-knacks, and people from my childhood, adolescence, and early twenties it is time to leave behind as I begin to furnish my independent adult life and mind.

This is going to be an interesting and challanging change for me. Rarely in life do we get a chance for a clean break; to put our life through the wringer. I’m going to try to do better with creating and cataloguing my future memories in ways that still let me have a balanced and invigorating clutter-free life. It’s time to buy a digital camera, to get some healthier food for the pantries, to put my computer to sleep, and to go for a walk in the warm May air.

I like to write, but I don’t like to feel like I have to write at a certain time or in a certain way. I’ve abandoned my previous weblog into the ether of cyberspace (Google ranking be damned!), and I am thinking that my writing in this space will be a bit different from now on. Most of you who come here wanting to know what’s new with me should, like me, instead strive to use the most rewarding possible medium of communication. If we can get together for a hot (or frosty cold) beverage, let’s do that instead. If you have my phone number, call me. Don’t worry, I’ll still post some things here, for those who don’t know me yet or who don’t have a better way to contact me yet (start with my first name at billstevenson.org), as well as to share some things I think you’ll enjoy.