Catchy title, huh?
Yeah, it’s not as great as it sounds. For those who aren’t following me on Twitter, here’s a partial recap of the event. I was going to live tweet the progress, but I was cleaning my desk for the most part, and the lappy had to be moved. So I did a recap, and now this blog post about it.
It all began Thursday, when my printer died on me. I didn’t have time that day to fix it, and Friday I pretty much ignored it because the usual fixes didn’t work. This means I have to reinstall it. Reinstalling it means unplugging things and moving stuff around and and and…yeah. It means a lot of work I don’t really want to get to. This morning I needed to print something and…well…you get it. Disgruntled and surly, I turned to Twitter to vent.
I will now turn this post over to what I posted on Twitter to recap the day’s events.
Reinstalling my printer was NOT on today’s agenda. I am not amused by this.
Like I don’t have enough to take care of today. I wonder if this is my office’s cry for help. *looks around* I suppose it could use a tidy.
Writer’s offices aren’t exactly the neatest of places. Mine is no exception.
Of course, I could be procrastinating. If I clean my office, I can ignore the rest of my to-do list, right? That’s an adequate trade.
*insert some checking e-mail, Facebook, blog, etc. Random procrastination* *back to Twitter*
*sigh* I should probably go and get to stuff. *stares at to-do list* *stares at dirty office* I would work better with a clean office….
My printer *does* need reinstalling. I can’t print anything. (It does this about twice a year it’s either possessed or a piece of crap.)
Decisions, decisions. *looks around more* Wow. Yeah, this should probably happen today. *gives in* I’m tempted to do before and after pics.
Alas, I did not take before and after photos. There may have been some shame involved. Or simply forgetfulness. Or the fact that there was little actual documentable evidence to show that I did spend the majority of the morning cleaning up in here. Hours were dedicated to stuff I should have done either “at the time” or a lot sooner. Then I wouldn’t have to spend hours on it.
That’s right. I spent the morning opening junk mail.
I put the envelopes and stuff without names and addresses in the recycling box I have in here, and the shredder stuff in the shredder box. Husband and I take our stuff to a local shredding business every so often, and we’re gearing up for the Spring Shred event.
Being a writer, this means, for me, sorting the old versions of manuscripts and such out from the general shred pile. I do have a home shredder in here, and I’m supposed to be shredding a handful or more of pages a night in order to keep the pile down. Do I? No. Of course not. But now I can! I’ve sorted the shredder/junk mail pile! (Then of course found another pile…it NEVER ENDS!)
As I said, I was going to live tweet the Great Office Cleanup, but as I was tidying my workspace, that meant the lappy had to be moved. I did take a short break around midday, and once again went back to Twitter with some observations and the hashtag #greatofficecleanup. Here they are:
I think a blog post may be in order. I was going to live tweet the Great Office Cleanup, but there’s too much and the lappy was in the way.
Reasons I don’t tidy my office: 1 – I can never find anything after. #greatofficecleanup
Reasons I don’t tidy my office: 2 – No matter what I do, there’s always MORE. #greatofficecleanup
Reasons I don’t tidy my office: 3- This is organized chaos. I know it looks horrid to the outsider, but this is MY STUFF.
Reasons I don’t tidy my office: 4 – I have to move one thing to tidy something else. This doesn’t exactly encourage productivity.
Reasons I don’t tidy my office: 5 – It forces me to find boxes and file folders I should have stuck stuff in a long time ago.
Reasons I don’t tidy my office: 6 – Discovering “oh THAT’S where that went!” Sometimes this isn’t a good thing. #greatofficecleanup
Now that we’ve done a few reasons I don’t tidy my office, let’s move on to Things My Desk Needs To Understand. #greatofficecleanup
Things My Desk Needs To Understand: 1 – THE TEA MUST FLOW. I will arrange you in the manner most befitting this, ergonomics be damned.
Things My Desk Needs To Understand: 2 – I am right-handed. My mouse needs to go on the right side. Don’t give me that look.
Things My Desk Needs To Understand: I realize those racks are to hold CDs and not my junk mail. Cope. #greatofficecleanup
Things My Desk Needs To Understand: Those things aren’t “junk.” Those are my talismans and writing charms. They stay where they are.
Okay. Breaktime over. I know I’ve been working here all morning. I know I’ve made progress. I’d just like to know where. #greatofficecleanup
At the moment, the office is clean-ER, but not entirely clean. I didn’t even get to the thing I meant to get to in the first place.
The printer is still not reinstalled. The guest bed in here is still not stripped and remade. The nightstand in here is still piled high with books and ANOTHER FREAKING PILE OF JUNK MAIL. (It must spawn when my back is turned – it’s the only explanation.)
For those who haven’t seen the previous pics of my office, you can see my desk here on flickr. These are old photos. My desk doesn’t look like that any more. When I get this place tidied up again, I’ll take another photo, but for now just be assured that if nothing else in that photo is the same, I still have the desk.
Why am I mentioning this? Because here’s the part where I mention Random Things Found Under My Desk.
See the bottom of the desk there in the photo. There’s a small space there, about an inch or so off the floor. Apparently this is a great space for Random Things.
Under that space today (I TOLD YOU I tidied!) I found:
Four socks
Two pairs of slipper-socks
Six cat toys
Two receipts from years I’m embarrassed to mention and
Enough pet hair to make a seventh animal. (I know…that’s what I said too.)
It really makes me wonder what I’m going to find under the bed when I move it next.
I don’t think I want to know. (Though really this office is due for a rearranging. Badly. Maybe tomorrow.)
So that was my day. The office, as I said, is only partially finished being tidied, and I still need to reinstall that damned printer.
Oh, well. Tomorrow, maybe. I still need to make with the words tonight.
Those might have to wait until tomorrow, too. I’m beat.
Kerry Schafer says
You are very brave. At least you found the hair before it formed that extraneous animal all on its own. Oooh – scary story idea. : ) (We are not going to talk about what might be under my desk. Or my bed.)