Piling systems

Day 17: smidgins of joy

There is a smidgin of joy in every pile of paper.

While it is often said, and studies seem to indicate, that intelligent, creative people tend to be messier, we should remember that maintaining an excessively messy space for years is unlikely to make one any more creative or intelligent. It is likely to make you more prone to sneezing, from the dust.

I am smart enough to know that most smart people will not be fooled for a second by the above as an argument to clear out those crates and stacks of paper. Mainly because they know that push rarely comes to shove, and who in their right mind even cares whether they have a filing system or a piling system? I mean, you cannot tell by just looking at someone that they have a secret stash of trash, can you?

I got rid of, i.e., tore up and threw away, a pile of papers just over an inch high yesterday. It was not satisfying, since it does not change the general landscape much. Much more satisfying, however, is coming up with original reasons (also known as excuses) for the disarray if, by some cruel twist of fate, someone — like a visitor — should see the mountain of disordered rubbish.

Anyway, my inch-worth of rubbish removal did reveal an old habit of mine that I had forgotten about: I used to paste things such as cartoons, or quotations onto the inside covers of notebooks and diaries. They were useful things to look at when stuck in a boring waiting room at the dentist or doctor. I threw one such cartoon away – but not before I took a photo of it and added it to my digital pile of crap:

I smiled, not because of the “piece of cake” pun, but because I was reminded about the earnest discussion my partner and I had to have as to the surname of our two younger pedigree Labradors. Such detail was required for forms. Quite frankly, since they weren’t named Frank Lloyd, Wilbur or Orville, I saw no reason for appending my name, nor did I care.

My partner did care, and, arguably, the dogs were more “hers” than mine (except on wash days). So I resolved the issue quite easily. I told her that since, like her, they were both naughty little shits, they could have her name. She was thrilled. Hence Eli Nunes in the above pic.

Yes, I know my blog post went off at a tangent: it was a pile of paper that made me do it.

©2019 Allison Wright