Last night, after strength training, Pete went shopping, and I went down the street to the Bishop’s Attic Thrift Store. Oh Oh. I ended up with a hand shopping basket full of stuff. My treasures (among other things) included a large Ziploc bag full of lead pencils, colored pencils, crayons, markers, and a pen that is of an Angel praying. My store stash also included two stuffed animals (for the dog), a plastic musical instrument, a ball (for the horses), and books (for me).

More stuff equals more clutter. I knew this, but rather than acknowledge this, I instead paid homage to the hoarder in me. I don’t know if it’s oxymoronic, but I aspire to be an organized hoarder. My taking these goods on was actually fortuitous in that I am at a lull workwise. I’m now waiting on Pete to give me an assist in finishing up three projects – my agility videos need to be posted, my proposal needs to be proofread, and my American Humane application needs to be uploaded, with documents attached, and sent on to the animal rescue powers that be.

I work in a very focused fashion, stopping now and then to read a book or two. I’m like a tornado – I move fast, and in a concentrated fashion. I also leave considerable debris in my wake. Good stuff, that which is scattered about.

Actually, it isn’t stuff, it’s archival material. I would leave it all for my biographer, Christopher Benson to clean up, but I would not want to incur his wrath for this would influence his judgement. It just would not be right for him to say that I was very disorganized and then leave it at that.

A short while ago I emptied the contents of the Ziploc Bag on the floor of my study. I then put pens, magic markers, and art supplies in boxes that contained like-items. Paydirt – the bag contained this pen that has the body of an angel. I wrote the first draft of this dispatch with it. The pen nib drags along; it is not at all a fast moving pen. I think that this is because the ink inside the pen is somewhat dried out. But perhaps the good lord is telling me here that slower is better. This pen, it does bring all sorts of religious imagery and connotations to mind. Maybe using it will make me a better person.

As I began writing this, it occurred to me that this cleanup effort is going to take at the very least, a few days. I at first was a bit panicky when I realized this, but now I have accepted this as a truism and am making my plans accordingly.

My inner list of inside things to do is long and is going to need to become my outer list of inside things to do. I have not yet even begun to consider my inner list of outside things to do; it too is going to need to become my outer list of outside things to do. I just put this second, outdoor list aside and will deal with it when I go outside. This is called categorizing.

I do wonder where this pen came from. It’s one of a kind for sure. Let’s see how long I can go before I misplace it.

Next: 30. 1/31/19: When Things go Awry