i am generally an organised person: i can locate any file on my computers within seconds; i have an appointment calendar and alarm clock, a filing and shelving system; and tidy house (mostly)… but as i type there is a spot right here beside me that gives lie to all my self-congratulation.

now, my desk is HUGE. it is a solid wood former bank manager’s desk i snapped up about 10 years ago from a used furniture depot, for just over $100. it is 1.6m long and nearly 1m deep, with tons of huge drawers and lots of leg-room underneath… in other words, there is plenty of space for storage, equpiment and work area without being cramped. yet seemingly without any conscious effort, the area directly in front of the printer (about 1 foot square) is permanently obscured by random bits & pieces that were cast aside and left behind; just like on the beach after a storm – but less smelly!

right now there’s a roll of duct tape, sunscreen, a pile of dvds, an empty glass, more dvds, empty dvd cases, a reel of fishing line (wtf? where did that come from, i don’t fish!), glue, receipts, bits of plastic sheeting, a tin of thread & needles, my water bottle, one of my cameras, a nail file, and TONS of notes on scrap paper. i’m not posting a photo because it’s too embarassing. i cleared all the junk away only a couple of days ago, but it has all returned once more, or taken other forms. this pattern repeats itself continuously no matter how i resolve to end the cycle. it’s like the cobweb that grows on your side mirror each night which you notice and remove on your drive to work each morning.

nowhere else in here accumulates such mess, (except periodically my kitchen bench, but that is all food-related); yet to my everlasting annoyance every time i need to print something i first have to schedule 15 minutes of cleanup time to make a space for the paper to exit the printer. (sometimes, i don’t even try… i just balance a piece of card over the top of the junk and under the printer, to catch the printed sheet and allow it to ride up and over the pile!)

am i alone? does anyone else have a similar high-tide point in their home, marking the exact spot at which your subconscious says “i’ve carried that far enough, it looks good here”? but why THAT spot? you know, it actually DOESN’T look good there. is there some kind of localised gravitational anomaly which causes things to increase in weight or awkwardness at those coordinates? or is it some psychic phenomena that causes me to just forget what i am carrying as i pass by? (don’t smirk – have you ever searched high and low for something you are actually holding in your hand?)

i have no way to test either theory so it looks like i will have to resign myself to living with the inconvenience indefinitely. and since no one needs to actually SEE my junk pile, here’s something far more attractive from a recent evening outing…