May 19, 2013
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WIWFTL
When I first mentioned to notion that I might retire, many of my friends looked at me, smiled sympathetically and said, “Oh, I just don’t know what I’d do with myself if I had all of that time.”
I said, “I’m going to write a book.”
And I do write, quite diligently, actually. I have a few other stopgap measures for filling that overwhelming burden, spare time, but I have nowhere near as much of the stuff as you might think.
What I do–often for hours on end–is look for things.
The stuff I had in my hand a few minutes ago. My car keys, which appear to be The Most Mobile Objects I own. That Thing (if only I could remember the word for it) that was right here just before the last time I cleaned my desk. The sissors which, for the fifteen years I lived in my house in Jackson were always in the second drawer to the left in the kitchen. (Not sure where they were in the house in Walnut street, but then, I was dating heavily then and I was almost never there. I’ve only lived here 7 years, six of which I have been home all day most of the time, but they move around here. I can never find the things.)
Not all that long ago I took some old negatives that would not fit my scanner to Norman Camera to have them transferred to CD. I wasn’t paying a lot of attention to this process and it cost me more than I had casually figured. I have two CDs from that project. Somewhere.
The problem appears to be (as it always appears to be) that I cleaned my desk (again) sometime between the last time I had them and the day I decided I wanted them again, which, as it happens, was today.
It would appear I put them somewhere ‘safe’.
I should get over that habit.
Okay. So I didn’t put them ‘away’–I put them in a temporary ‘safe’ place WIWFTL (where I would find them later.)
Where would that be?
It eventually comes down to the Eternal Hoarder’s Quiz:
What good does it do you to have if you can’t find it?
If you know it ‘has to be’ somewhere on this desk and you’ve been looking through the stuff on this desk for two and half hours, does that suggest a.) it’s in the wrong place, b.) your logic is bad, c.) you have too much stuff on your desk and d.) you really don’t need it that badly.
Maybe you threw them away.
Complete with the original negatives.
How long has it been since anyone looked at them?
You don’t even know who most of the people are.
You copied the four photos that were most important to you.
I don’t where they are.
I hope wherever they are, they’re having a party.
