Is your workspace too crowded? What surrounds you in your "personal space?"

-- Anonymous, January 21, 2000

Answers

my god- you're watching me, aren't you?! my desk at work is regenerating at an alarming rate- well, not the desk, but the crap on it. i have an "in" box that is a total curse- i constantly throw things it in, and they mutate into scraps of paper that are unreadable. i STUPIDLY volunteered for a massive project, and there are dorm (i mean RESIDENCE HALL) photos scattered everywhere. my wedding photo album is in one corner, and various little creatures (bear, toad, etc.) are hidden somewhere near my nameplate. the new nameplate with the new last name. about every two months i do a major desk cleaning to take up some time, and this next one will be AT LEAST a 1/2 day project.

-- Anonymous, January 21, 2000

This journal entry describes my desk at work. Let's not even get into the amount of junk in my apartment.

-- Anonymous, January 21, 2000

Let's see... so much mission-critical stuff, like a Webster's Dictionary that's so old it's probably missing words like "Megabyte" and "hard-drive," a New Year's Eve feathery tiara, a small nerf promotional football for Netpliance and the all-important Chick-Fil-A promotional beanie-stuffed cow, dressed as Santa and wearing the "WE WISH U WOOD EAT MOR CHIKIN" sign.

Yup. I need all of that.

-- Anonymous, January 21, 2000

I have shit on my desk that I can't even classify. I compensate for the piles upon PILES of paper by, every now and then, getting out my trusty "FILE" stamp, stamping some papers, and then stacking them on the left desk corner. That is my system. Nothing is actually every "filed," though I do have this cool, ancient green filing cabinet (made out of like, iron or something it's so heavy) in the corner of my office. I use it to display photos.

Have I ever mentioned that my office is a former Examining Room? Really. It has a sink in it. (But no paper-covered table with stirrups and no, you weren't the first to think of it, but it IS funny.)

-- Anonymous, January 21, 2000

It's not STUFF that's my problem, although I've got a lot of it. It's CATS. There's a cat on the monitor, a cat on the scanner, and a cat next to the computer, planning to make his move and jump into my lap. He's got his tail on the keyboard and he keeps bumping the caps lock.

Cats and Victoria's Secret catalogues. I've got a million of each.

-- Anonymous, January 21, 2000

My room is the esscence of "crap". You can walk in, not knowning me at all, and immediately you know exactly what person I am.

Hanging on the wall next to my bed are an assortment of postcards: some from Europe, Vietnam Memorial, Virgina Beach (from friends), Marilyn Monroe in "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend", Audrey Hepburn, couple of Beatles (I bought those myslef), plus a crumpled drawing of a fish wearing a suit and tie (from my sister's boyfriend). On the wall next to that are my speech contest plaques, plus the album sleeves of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (Simon and Garfunkel), plus a concert poster from the Beatles at Shea Stadium, and another drawing of a fish (larger, not wearing a suit) from a friend. On another wall, a picture torn out of a magazine of Tom Wolfe. This usually stops everyone in their tracks. An old guy, wearing a pristine white suit, and bifocals on the wall of a 17 year girl:). Also, my picture of John Steed and Emma Peel from The Avengers movie. On the desk underneath is my debate trophy for getting the most points on my team last year. On top of my CD player is a Paul McCartney action figure (sister's BF again), two mushroom candles, a little green fairy from Disney's Sleeping Beauty, and a butterfly. Add to this some random pictures of my friend's and I, a "Toys We Used To Love" calendar, and my stuffed Kermit the Frog, and you have a disorganized mess. But I love my room:)

-- Anonymous, January 22, 2000

I have every single card that someone has sent me all over my office. I have cards that some visitor to the Museum has sent me over two years ago collecting dust along the walls of the office. I have a little tiny glowworm puppet that my Mom gave me when I was 12. Coffee mugs that I NEVER wash out, so they just collect and the cafe manager that owns them throws me a dirty look or two a day. Papers, postcards, crap, crap, crap. At home it's worse. I have three cats that need to be up on the computer table whenever I am on it, so that there are three tails on the keyboard at all times, and if I didn't correct it all my sentences would be jflsfgshsghklsdgh from the wagging.

I am a complete an utter mess and have been from the day I was born. I cannot seem to straighten stuff up, it affects my creative thought process. right.

Nancey

-- Anonymous, January 23, 2000

At work my office doesn't really look cluttered on the surface, but if you really start looking, I have a lot of crap in here. I have a mousepad that looks like a Monet painting, Framed Thomas Kinkaid rip-offs (I'm too cheap for the real thing) on the walls, a Beanie Baby cat on top of my radio that is meant to remind me of my kitty Maggie, although there really is no substitute for a cat as cute as she is. I keep scented candles in my office, and burn them from time to time. No one has complained yet, and until someone does, I will continue to light them when I feel the need to be soothed. I have a sheet of Cartman note paper taped to the side of my terminal, Christmas cards in my top drawer, 3 kinds of hand lotion, empty boxes in assorted shapes and sizes hidden under my desk that I might need one day, Pepto-Bismol, life savers and aspirin are usually plentiful, a pair of uncomfortable shoes in my cabinet in case someone from Corporate visits, gel pens in all colors I can get my hands on live in my yellow pen cup, and my Sticker Book is always within reach. I have about 30 pages of stickers for all occasions, neatly organized and often flipped through for no reason other than they cheer me up. Stickers rule.

At home I am very anti-clutter, but we got a puppy last Friday, so right now there are chew toys scattered everywhere, wee-wee pads on the floor, child gates to block certain doorways and anything loose within her reached has been moved to a higher spot for a while. A puppy-proofed house is a non-tidy house. But she's worth it.

-- Anonymous, January 24, 2000

It's weird. I'm much more cluttered at work than at home. To the right of me in my cubespace I have a blue glass bird, a pineapple-shaped candle, a pewter fish candleholder, a candy jar, 2 glass paperweights, a monkey Pez dispenser, a photo, and a cup filled with really goofy pens. To the left of me, I have more photos, lotion, a grungy coffee cup, a radio, my phone, a glass cat, tissues, and some purple metallic Christmas garland with angels on it.

Oh yeah, I have some work papers scattered around.

-- Anonymous, January 25, 2000

Cluttered? Heck, no. My workspace is like living in Purgatory. All day, I do nothing but sit and monitor, sit and monitor.

Perhaps my space is more like a Skinner box. The phone rings. Sometimes it is meaningful, other times no one is there. I.S. manager says it's due to an outdated phone switch.

drift...drift...concentrate on novel...get into it...so quiet...ring, ring!!!"hello? Thank you for calling?? hello?" No one is there.drift...drift...read...peaceful...ring, ring!! "hello?? hello? Oh, yes, sir, right away, sir!!repeat ad infinitum...

-- Anonymous, January 27, 2000