Time, Travel and Time Capsules: Keep, delete, or bury?

To anyone who's ever moved, travelers and expats especially, there comes a moment of sorting through the 'stuff' that represents your life, and deciding what to keep, delete, or bury.

Yes, bury!

After my recent post linking to the beautiful 100 year old time capsule, my own mum got in touch to tell me that she's been inspired to bury a time capsule. She asked me for suggestions of what to put in it, and even asked me to put out requests over social media for suggestions.

So I did. 

And the responses were fascinating.

What started as a list of items such as "photos of the local area" and "pictures of family" became a short debate over what format should go in a time capsule. Some people said only include hard copies of photographs and paper materials, others suggested hard drives, old laptops, video footage, etc.

Which is going to last longer and be most relevant in 100 years?

It reminded me of when I was packing to move to the USA for good. I sorted through all the stuff that I'd accumulated and the memories that it held, knowing I only had limited shipping space. I ended up packing an old VHS of a Snoopy movie, even though VHS is obsolete, I'm not sure the video still works, and it definitely doesn't work in the USA anyway. I just couldn't part with it.

We humans are funny and emotional like that. We like to hoard things that we think represent ourselves. And we do it online too. How many pins do you have on Pinterest for example? Or how many photos on Facebook? How many of your blog posts are going to matter to you in 50 years?

Some people think that we should regularly delete elements of our past, and that the internet is detrimental to our need to forget. I'm not sure I agree.

First of all, I think it's important to keep mementos of our past and present. When I worked on a project helping baby boomers set up healthy aging initiatives, so many of them were concerned with memories and reminiscence. Our memories are important, and they keep our brain healthy. Cool apps like the Museum of Me (which creates a visual museum from your Facebook page) could be really useful to help us look back, but could even help to delay forgetfulness in old age.

Secondly, digital is not quite as permanent as we think. Sure, the Way Back When machine is archiving the internet, and the Library of Congress is archiving Twitter, but formats get corrupted or deleted, and new technologies come along. Old film prints are slowly deteriorating and without funding to transfer them to new formats, we're slowly losing bits of history.

So when it comes to my mum's time capsule, should I put my Facebook wall on CD, or print it out? Should I send back my dated Snoopy VHS and put that in too?

This is probably not the kind of debate that would take place 100 years ago. It would be funny if the time capsule only contained emails, Facebook posts and this blog post discussing what should go into a time capsule, and nothing else. Imagine 100 years from now, digging up the most annoyingly post-modern time capsule ever!

What useless thing did you keep with you when you moved or traveled somewhere new? 
What would you put in a time capsule? What should my mum put in her time capsule? 
How will you feel in 50 years looking back at your old Facebook timeline?

Stuff wot I brought with me 5 - Journalism textbooks

Studying for the NCTJ distance diploma in journalism is no mean feat!

After working for an innovation agency, attending the Edinburgh International TV Festival trainee scheme, and doing a stint on a BBC consumer news show, I registered to study towards a diploma in journalism. I think journalism skills are going to be vital for the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs. They should be taught in every high school.

I fully appreciate that journalism is a tough industry. But despite cut-backs and job losses (such as those initiated by the Philly Inquirer),  the shut-down of many local papers in the UK and the USA,  and the revelations of the unethical 'phone hacking' culture at certain papers in the UK, I don't think it's a dying industry. It's changing. Completing the diploma will qualify me a journalist, but I think there's so much more to modern journalism than shorthand and reporting style. With the growing influence of the internet in our lives there are opportunities to re-shape how people get their information and news, and to re-shape how media businesses get revenue.

That's why I also think programming skills are going to be vital for the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs. At the age of 11 I taught myself HTML and made some zany Geocities sites from scratch. This year I've slowly been working through the Code Year modules, especially in CSS, to brush up my skills. I'm creating my own DIY course in modern journalism skills!

I love to keep tabs on innovations in news, media and community journalism. I love to follow community journalists, journo-bloggers, media analysts and academics on Twitter. Homicide Watch is a really interesting new model for crime reporting in DC and Clear Health Costs is a brilliant initiative set up by journalist-entrepreneurs to help Americans analyze the costs of healthcare options, to name but two exciting examples of new journalism ventures.

My diploma is all long-distance home study, so I was sent a box full of books and I've been working my merry way at them, amongst moving to another continent and spending catch-up time with my hubby. I knew there'd be a time for adjustment to my new country, and doing this has been great for focusing my time while I search for jobs and opportunities. It's tough work though, especially when I don't have class-mates to keep me motivated or to bounce ideas around with and share insights. If you see me on Twitter or like my little blog here, please do send me some words of encouragement!

Oh, and if you love new media as much as I do, I'd love, love to chat to you! Follow me on Twitter or visit my other site where I'm going to try to focus my media blogging in future. And if you don't love new media as much as I do, don't worry, you know I love trashy TV too, and all the new US shows are coming to screen soon.

Are you learning any new skills? What do you think is the future of journalism? And have you been doing Code Year too? I'd love to hear from you!

Stuff wot I brought with me 4 - The Moon

Yes. The moon.

Before heading to these American shores I was given a few leaving presents from close friends and family, including the heart home bracelet from my mum. My dad gave me the moon.

Last night's moon - the same old moon

I am terrible at keeping in touch with my friends and family. Sometimes when things aren't going so well in my new life, I'm scared to let people know in case they think I 'failed'. And even when things are going well I forget about the time zone and by the time 6pm rolls around I know it's 11pm back in the UK and I missed my chance. At least when I was the one in the UK, and my husband was here in the USA, I could stay up later to match his evening (if you're in a long distance relationship don't do this - it leads to bad nights of sleeplessness and fatigue at work).

Then the moon comes out and I remember the gift from my Dad: It's the same moon around the world.

Yes, it's corny, but I brought the moon with me. It's the same old moon I'm used to seeing: I'm not so far away!

And to my friends and family - sorry, and let's Skype soon.

Stuff wot I brought with me 3 - wedding trinkets

This is probably a no-brainer for expats emigrating on a spouse visa: wedding trinkets. But how much to pack?

It had been a mad, frantic, wedding day, and the next morning we'd woken up with bags of stuff, everywhere.

After a wedding there are things that don't last, such as the flowers, the favors, the cake(s), some of the small funny memories of the day.

And there are things that do last: the paperwork, the invitations, the pictures, the clothing, the feelings, and well, the marriage.

Mark took our wedding album, from our amazo photographer Nikki, to the USA via hand luggage. Although the boxes I shipped turned up perfectly thanks to careful packing, lots of parcel tape, and mountains of bubble wrap, I did not want to trust such a precious thing to sea or air.

The dress remains in the UK. But that's another story altogether.

What did you do with your wedding trinkets? And what did you do with your dress!?

Stuff wot I brought with me 2 - heart home bracelet

This one makes far more sense than an outdated, unusable video cassette. It's a double bangle with names of places I've lived (including my new USA home), joined with the phrase "heart home". It was a Christmas gift from my mum.

And if you think that's sweet, you can get your own. I'd recommend choosing your own lettering. Having my hometowns on your bracelet would be a bit weird.

Stuff wot I brought with me 1 - Snoopy Come Home

For want of a better name, this post is going to be part of a series named Stuff wot I brought with me, or what (not) to pack when you move three thousand miles.

I was strict when I was packing for the USA move. Most of our wedding gifts had been delivered to the USA, so I was lucky in only having clothes, books and belongings to pack up. I shipped five boxes using Seven Seas Shipping, and I cannot imagine the hassle of having to pack up a whole house and move its contents internationally. Oh my.

I dumped a lot of stuff. Stuff I'd hung onto and had to admit I'd never use again. It was after an encounter with my nan that I felt okay chucking it all out. She'd said that most of the people she knew as a child/teen were no longer in her life for one reason or another. But her family has grown, and she's shared most of her life with her husband and family.

I've moved over to create new moments with my husband. There will be new knick knacks. It's important (and easier in the 'social age') to hold onto moments and things and people from the past, sure, but I've also seen that show Hoarders. There's a limit. My limit was five boxes.

But as irrational and emotional beings are wont to do, I did hold onto some sentimental items. This video is a classic example. I found it while emptying an old chest during the packing process. The chest contained some old bears, a school recorder, some sheet music, old candy wrappers (why did I keep those?) and this video cassette.

It is fully useless. But I loved Snoopy Come Home as a kid.

When I was a toddler my mum, an art student at the time, painted a giant mural of Snoopy and Woodstock on my bedroom wall. We lived in a rented apartment, and while I thought it was the coolest thing EVAR, our landlord didn't agree (but Snoopy stayed).

When I found the video I did a terrible thing: I looked it up on YouTube. Copyright violations aside, it's the saddest movie ever made, and really not fit for watching when you're about to leave one home for another: Snoopy puts his kennel up for rent and leaves after a goodbye party where everyone cries. I learned later that apparently Schulz got divorced when this movie was released, which would explain a lot.

I was in bits. I emailed Mark in a panic over what to do. I'd had the video since I was three, but VHS is entirely outdated, we don't have a video player, and a UK VHS would never work in the USA anyway. This video is entirely obsolete, but I wanted to keep it. Makes total sense, right?

Mark replied: It is ok. I understand. Bring it. I insist.

So I did. Now I have this daft old 1980s video cassette that I can never use…But I'm glad I do.

Have you kept or shipping anything weird or useless? What couldn't you live without?