Trash for Sale. Cash Only. No spammers.

Trash for Sale. Cash Only. No spammers.
3rd
April

Posted by Esther Einhorn on Apr 03, 2009 in

Welcome back, I'm Esther Einhorn. You haven't heard from me because I've been busy with my engagement to a butterfly and my impending move. I'm moving from the quiet, hot, stilted, gigantic strip mall that is the San Fernando Valley into the loud, hot, gritty funk of downtown Los Angeles. And I'm selling all my crap. In my reorganizing, I counted 70 t-shirts. Does that sound like a lot? I was able to get rid of maybe 20. Jeans are even harder. I had 16 pairs, I got rid of 4. Two more were snatched back from the Goodwill pile when I just got too emotional. Why is it so hard to let go of shit? Because everything in our hoarding pack rat mentality tells us that the more we have, the safer we are. And I think we are predisposed to that mentality even before corporate advertising digs their talons into our central nervous system.

I must say, getting rid of things feels wonderful. (But so does buying things.) Putting junk up on Craigslist has been way more fun that I thought it would. I like meeting random people at the nexus of when and why someone needs the exact thing I am getting rid of. There's a French lady coming by in an hour to buy a red desk. Happy Birthday to the guy who bought my old piano as a present from his mom. Call me, hot girl who bought the bar stools.

A big reason for the move is to have more community connection. Downtown LA is a hub of frenetic energy. It's about 40% homeless, 30% dogs and 30% smart, young people searching for meaning and inspiration. And the historic buildings are absolutely beautiful, probably because many of them are still in a sad state of decay. There are people everywhere- shouting, singing, barking, banging on buckets. The sleepy valley has lulled me into some kind of dream state where I never bump into anybody. I've lived in the same building for 6 years, and almost every day I see someone who lives here that I've never seen before. It's only a 3 story building. Plus, the old people in the building have started dying.

And when they die, the dumpsters fill up with SO MUCH CRAP. The two large dumpsters and three recycle bins spill over with broken and dusty smelly plastic junk. As everyone dies with so much junk I have horrific visions of the world filling up with trash. We're drowning in it. It's killing us. Time to move... to Mars.