D.I.T.C

Going through some boxes today, I found a treasure trove of video tapes. Back when I had a functional camcorder, I used to lug it around everywhere. I was fond of sticking a camera into people's faces, recording every moment big or small, and accumulating enough Hi-8 tapes to fill two good sized boxes. This is on top of the VHS tapes I've got on the side. Well, since these snippets of the past were staring me in the face, I decided I better just buy a replacement power cable for my super old Sony Digital-8 camcorder. A short trip to Fry's later and we were in action.

I got classics. Five whole tapes from a trip to Tahoe in 2002. Music videos made in college. A whole bunch of dance practices, performances, and random culture show riff-raff. Two birthday parties from high school. A short snippet as we stood outside staring at debris caused by 9/11 -- contemplating what we're going to do. Footage of twenty people crammed into a tiny karaoke room, singing their hearts out. The greatest vacation ever from spring break Miami. I've got a whole hour of people playing games in our dorm room while the camera is pointed squarely at a mini rice cooker and an iron. Like I said, priceless stuff.

In the coming weeks, I'm going to figure out how to digitize everything, load it onto a hard drive, and take it online (where appropriate). You aren't really alive until your existence can be documented and fit into gigabytes right? Mainly, I'm just concerned about losing this stuff forever and since I'm a huge pack rat, I need this stuff.

Of course, once the videos started hitting, I've decided to start using a recently acquired scanner to digitize all my pictures from high school and college too. I mean, when people lose all their possessions in a fire or whatever, they usually lament all the mementos lost. I don't want that to happen to me so I'm dedicating my time to bringing it all somewhere safe -- the Internet.

The problem is, I'm so excited about this project that I want to finish it all now! Clearly, it's impossible but maybe if I can just not sleep for a week I can get this done. Or you know, I could take my time like a sane person might.