out with the old…
February 21st, 2005
This bag was my constant companion for about four years. I’ve carried numerous sketchbooks, laptops, pens, notebooks and chocolate wrappers around in it. It looks like it too. Today I had a wave of nostalgia for it and considered getting it out of mothballs and starting to reuse it. I’m really unsure whether I want to or not. Symbolically it doesn’t feel good to go backwards, but hey it’s only a bag isn’t it?
My new bag is much lighter (and cleaner) and I do like it, but suddenly new doesn’t feel so good. Maybe because I’m getting used to lots of other newness. Lots of it is good, but there is a lot I just don’t want to lose. I’m trying to see all that is happening just now a a painful but necessary growth but can’t help hoping that some things will not be lost forever. Perhaps using an old a cherished bit of yesterday will make things feel a bit easier…
February 21st, 2005 at 6:26 pm
Sometimes only a *loveworn* old friend will do - I have a couple of things like this that are great for unsure days or when I need a hug (even if sweater hugs are not as good as the real thing). A new bag is good for a new trip or adventure tho’ …..
February 21st, 2005 at 9:13 pm
I am sorry, Michael, but there is not such thing as ‘only a bag’. The perfect bag is such a rare commodity that when the perfect one is found, it is like finding gold. Once found, it should be cherished. I think that I am close but … I am still looking …
February 21st, 2005 at 9:55 pm
That bag does look like a familiar old friend … I have a few older frayed ones which I use when I’m going to go drawing out in nature and don’t want to worry about sitting one of my nice new ones in the mud.
February 21st, 2005 at 10:20 pm
Hi Michael, I’m still not able to read much, but wanted to drop by to see your bag drawing. I, too, have an old pack I cherish very much, which I’ll draw sometime before the end of this week.
Our lives are a mosaic of things old and new, habits that serve us well and others that perplex us. I can never figure out whether I’m holding onto something because it’s good, or simply because it’s familiar. Best wishes to you.
I met my new therapist today and liked her pretty well. I hope she’s good.
Van
February 22nd, 2005 at 3:08 am
hi michael! don’t look at it as going backwards =) you can consider it as ‘appreciating vintage’ hehe, even if your bag isn’t really *that* old to be called vintage. but, you get the idea
besides, you don’t discard old friends for new ones, right? and it’s cool to hook up with an old friend once in a while!
– ian from everydaymatters =)
February 22nd, 2005 at 4:47 pm
When I was leaving advertising for sunnier climes (both literally and figuratively) my wise shrink/astrologer said that I needed feel I must throw out my past live wholesale. A bit of back-&-forth, whether in the form of freelancing or retrieving a cherished possession from the rag bag, isn’t recidivism–it’s transition.
Gently, gently, my friend…
February 22nd, 2005 at 9:47 pm
Regardless of the emotional baggage your drawing resonates with character. I can never remember the Spanish word that means ‘the character an object acquires through long and honourable use’ - bakara? Typically, we don’t have an English word that means quite the same thing. But that bag has got it.
February 23rd, 2005 at 2:31 am
Michael — leaving behind the painful things and things that are no longer necessary are part of growth. Knowing which things to retain and treasure — I think that’s maturity.
A good bag is a good thing. Another “arty” thought that I always have when I get stuck remembering painful things — life would look pretty two dimensional without the shadows, right?
February 23rd, 2005 at 4:17 am
Michael, Very nice redition, I like the colors and the angle in which you presented the bag. Nice work, u da man!
February 26th, 2005 at 11:00 am
Oh no - Someone else that can’t spell lose.