Decluttering

Posted on March 8, 2004 in Routine

I am performing a task that I havn’t attempted in at least two years by the looks of the bent photographs and postcards that I find behind the computer monitor: decluttering my desk. If you need to blame something, I guess marie’s article about Dust Bunny Blues is as good a target as anything. In making her case for Martha Stewart as a homewrecker, she brings up the concept of

“intra-household demand,” a situation in which the perceived needs for household chores spiked in response to the expanded dreams of domesticity. What does this mean in plain English? Too much nagging, worrying, and arguing over decorating, housework, gardening, and entertaining … all of it shouldered by women, with the men listening….

Damn, I felt evil. I looked at the wires, the empty medicine bottles, the spoons left over from ice cream enjoyed in front of the monitor, the coke cans, the books, the photos, and the reams of paper; and guilt curled up the corners of my placid demeanor — ok, it really wasn’t placid, I was pissed off at someone — so I brought over an empty plastic storage case and started in on the cellulose and plastic sediment.

---

No gloating or sociopolitical analysis allowed.

---

My digging turned up many items that I had feared lost:

• Vintage postcards that I had dreaded that I had thrown away or at least lost until the next move.
• Plenty of blank contemporary postcards. Want me to send you one?
• My dragon-enameled chi balls which tinkle as you roll them around in your hands
• Numerous reference books including my Blacks Law Dictionary, Abridged, The Natural World of the California Indians, and my very worn out copy of Tales of Ancient India.
• Two asthma inhalers — I need them with the dust I am raising
• Lots of lost program CDs and an album of music by Handel
• All the pens that I thought Lynn was taking to work with her
• Two screwdrivers and a pair of rosary pliers
• A magnifying glass
• A box of wooden matches
• An empty case of diabetic test strips
• A bottle of ointment for Boadicea’s eye
• A piece of rose quartz
• My orb
• Several back issues of Free Inquiry and Skeptical Enquirer
• A Victronix Swiss Army Knife
• Two packages of dental floss
• Our iron mouse
• A key to the locks at Alcatraz

Cough cough. I need an air filter in here.

---

No gloating or sociopolitical analysis allowed.

---