Except, of course, for the huge piles of boxes everywhere. Man-oh-man, packing sure takes way more time than it’s worth.

Well, maybe not. It does force you to examine your life, especially if you’ve reached that stage where you’ve been in one place for a while and your friends aren’t going to help you move. When you’ve hired movers and you’re paying by the pound, you tend to become more circumspect about your possessions. More introspective about your motives (This toothbrush is the grossest thing I’ve ever seen! Why the hell did I keep it????) and more thoughtful about your future life (Will I honestly ever have a use for three gyroscopes? Ever?). You are reminded of your old life – Oh, here’s the letter I kept because I felt so guilty for dumping the guy who wrote it, and one day the world will >need< to know why Spanish nurses like beer with chocolate sauce! – and also reminded of why your current one sucks way less – Here’s all the (ahem, kaff! kaff!) “sales” awards from that old corporate kiss-ass lifestyle!

Yeah, it takes longer than just sweeping everything off the shelves into a box without worrying about whether or not something’s breakable, but it has tons o’ intangible rewards. Woohoo!