This doesn't mean I can go shopping.
The manga storage situation had gotten pretty bad. Even with Shelly, Coworker1, Coworker2 & Spouse, and Dreaming0 borrowing large chunks of books (at one point I counted and had over a 100 books lent out) I still had piles of books on the floor because I had nowhere else to put them. I can't tell you the number of time I tripped over a stack and sent them sprawling across the floor.
My small studio apartment was seriously starting to look like Yomiko Readman's apartment in Read or Die. Not quite so bad as to have to worry about crushing death by manga, but getting closer. So I decided to take stock and figure out what else could I get rid of or move to get them homes.
I couldn't give up my computer desk, or my workbench. I sleep on my couch (no room for a bed...). My kitchen is full of art supplies and fabric. I already rebuilt my coffee table to be a bookcase. Hmph. But! I do have three book cases full of vhs tapes.
I can't even remember when I last watched a VHS, plus I have a lot of duplicates. There are series that I re-bought on DVD. It was definitely time for a purge. But before I can purge I need to see what I actually had. So I spent most of this past weekend putting one book case into Movie Collector (a database program) and packing them away in boxes.
I managed to fit 143 tapes in that bookcase. Now, Movie Collector searches IMDB, Amazon and their own user submitted database to pull info and covers based off title and barcode on movies. I'm sure this works pretty well with recent movies. But 10-15 year old anime VHS? Not so much, no. So it was mostly manual. If you're curious as to what I was watching 10 years ago, feel free to take a look.
I always knew there were tapes on that shelf I'd never watched before too, because when I worked at Blockbuster whenever a used anime tape went on sale I bought it. (I got 40% of tapes marked $2. It was more of a "why not" situation.) But I was pleasantly surprised to find it was a pretty small list. I always thought I'd wasted a bunch on things I hadn't watched, but half the stuff on that list I got free (Last Labrynth and MezzoForte for example) and the rest I didn't pay more then a $1 for. So really only a "waste" of about $6 bucks.
All 143 tapes fit nicely in three Office Depot paper boxes too, which leaves me a nice empty bookcase! Well, not empty any more. I've already got it half full with just stuff that was laying around on the floor. The lent out books would fill up most of the rest of the first layer. And my "unread" shelf is packed flat with the bottoms facing out (so I can get 4 rows instead of three), so if they were properly placed that would probably fill up the rest of it.
So, even though I have a bookcase with gaping holes of space. I CANNOT GO SHOPPING FOR MORE MANGA. I have nearly a 100 books on my unread shelf. I can't even fit anymore books on my unread shelf! It's packed tight. I've got to institute a no more manga till that stuff gets read rule. (and stick to it.) So Borders, please stop sending me $5.00 rewards certificates and 30% coupons.