With school getting ready to start up again, my brain decided that there weren't enough distractions for me. So I got a Tumblr. Goodbye, productivity.
You detail-oriented people may be curious as to why this blog post is called "Goodbye, Time" instead of "Goodbye, Productivity". "G, P" would fit perfectly if this post was just about Tumblr; but it's not. My joining this extremely addictive and time-consuming website reflects what I'm going through in my non-Internet life: the realization of the passage of time, with all of its wonders and frustrations.
My Tumblr is super random. I am also an extremely annoying user, I'll admit. I reblog about a million things at a time, often about the same thing. However, when I'm not on one of my "attractive Asian man" binges, I find the time to reblog some pretty cool stuff. I like cool stuff and cool stuff comes in many different forms, whether it's old British comedy shows or plants. Everyone is not going to agree with me on what constitutes cool stuff. You may be into Steve Buscemi gifs; I certainly am not. Still, there's something really special about sharing the stuff you like and realizing that other people like it, too.
What does all of this have to do with my big realization of the passage of time? I reblog some old photos: Robert Plant, mid hair-flip; Jimmy Stewart doing something awesome; even Walty looking like a boss (that's Walt Whitman, in case you were wondering). And while I'm spending my time looking at these cool old pictures, I realize that, at some point, the people in them were probably collecting stuff that they thought was cool, too. We, as humans, just like cool stuff. Cool stuff. Cool stuff. Cool stuff.
Why do we like cool stuff? Because it lasts. Stuff lasts longer than we do and with the Internet, it will last longer than some of the longest-lasting stuff has ever lasted. We like to think that, even as time passes, other people will still like the stuff we once liked. That's what time capsules are for; and Tumblr is a virtual time capsule.
Recently, my grandma had to move out of the house that she inhabited for over 50 years for health reasons. Since then, my family has been going through all of her old stuff, taking the things they would like to keep. Part of me wants to leave it all there and have some sort of mini museum erected in honor of my grandma and all she's done for our family, but let's face it: stuff in-and-of itself really isn't that cool. It's what you do with the stuff, what you say about it, what you think about when you use it that makes it cool. My grandma's house was only full of cool stuff when she was in it because she made it cool.
So time passes. Things change. People change. And even though the stuff remains, we can't keep that cool vibe in it forever because that cool vibe is a part of us; these changing, passing creatures. So enjoy your stuff. Put all of your cool vibes into it. Breathe life into it. Make other people excited about it and get excited about other people's stuff. Use your time wisely and never forget that the stuff in our lives, whether it's on Tumblr or displayed above the fireplace, doesn't mean anything until we decide it does. Only we can create meaning. I think that's a pretty awesome power we humans have.
P.S. For those of you who are curious, I do have a box of stuff from my grandma's house. Because it's still cool to me.
