what my desk tells me

[natlyn]

Today is day 3 of cleaning out and organizing my desk. I have just finished the top. Next week I will tackle the far more time-consuming bottom half. I thought I'd share with you what I learned about myself during the cleaning.

1. Apparently I worry that I will not have a pen when I need one. I threw out 26 pens that did not write; that was about one-third of my inventory of pens.
   
2. I worry that I will need to write something down (with one of my pens) and will have nothing to write on. I have more than enough notepads, note sheets, sticky notes, and printer and notebook paper for the next 5 years. Well, maybe not printer paper.
   
3. I want to donate money to the local rescue squad. I had about 10 donation envelopes that I was going to send them money in.
   
4. I have not renewed my subscription to Locus and the Chronicle. I had about 4 renewal notices to Locus and 2 to the Chronicle. Since my subscriptions ran out almost a year ago and I barely noticed, perhaps I don't need to renew these.
   
5. I keep important papers well beyond their usefulness. I threw away insurance papers from my surgery in 2000, many monthly account statements from 2003, and carbon copy checkbooks from 1997 to 2006.
   
6. I apparently believe that I will someday again have a computer that will read those little 3" disks. I threw away backup disks from more than 5 years ago and startup disks to Mindspring, which I would not have had a use for since 2002 at least.

I shudder to think what I will find when I start cleaning out under my desk. Well I'm off to put my garage back in order so I can park my car in it. Then I'll clean the kitchen and reread War Surf.