Info Loss

Back in CA.
I'm hanging out in Victor-Chill.

Last night my brother handed back my deceased hard drive and said, "When this is back at room temperature, put it back in the anti-static bag, put it in a box, put it on the shelf. When you make a bunch of money in the next few years and can afford a couple grand, give it to the pros. They'll put the platters in a new device and you can get your data back."

I think about what's on there that I'm missing, I wonder if it's worth the cost.

A year of pictures (2008)? Rather big deal.
Two years of collected references? Sentimental deal, but acceptable loss.
A year of random mp3s collected from the internet? Annoying loss.
Personal art and work? Don't actually care that much.

The last two I never considered in the initial gutting, but now that things are certainly lost, I do notice the lack.

What I miss the most: story notes.

Story notes are gone and will never come back. Off the top of my head I can think of four solid ideas that each had a few hours of development done on them. A few hours each isn't spectacular, but comparing that to the few minutes I've spent on most others, it feels like a big deal. I can't remember the last time I had an idea that could be built into the size of a novel. :|

I need to get cracking, tap into those wells again, plant some seeds. Starting over from nothing (or near nothing) is painful, but considering how much I've changed since I first taped out those ideas, so brilliant in retrospect, it may be better to begin from scratch instead of returning to and renovating concepts that may not have aged well.

This has been the funeral for my dearly departed data.

Mourning over.