the purple chai
now :: then :: me :: them

a fifty-something under-tall half-deaf school librarian in the jersey suburbs with two grown kids and time on her hands

Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries.


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Oh My. 138

05.09.2003

7:30 pm

A most intriguing Friday 5 this week. In a moment.

Last night, Thursday, Sibs and I had dinner with Old Friend, who was making a rare guest appearance in New Jersey to help out her mother, who's recuperating from something. She will generally not make the trip, public transportation being difficult for her because of her various ailments and especially her size, but she had gotten a ride out here from someone and only had to take the bus back.

She's so much better than she was for a long time, even after the loss of her cat, which was pretty devastating for her, since she lives otherwise alone. I think she finally found a) the right doctor and b) the right anti-depressant, which is a really important thing for her. She's light-hearted, seeing friends, working two days a week now (after years of not being able to work at all) and even willing and able to help out her mother for a few days, which is more than the old witch ever gave her daughter. So it was a really happy thing to be able to spend that time with her, since it's generally hard to come by.
Intrigued by the Friday 5, because, after all, what is a librarian if not a Professional Organized Person? That notwithstanding, I am also one of the world's premier packrats (it's in my DNA) and my relative level of organization and related abilities have been an issue of debate (and amusement) for some time.

1. Would you consider yourself an organized person? Why or why not?
As I said at the top, oh my.

People say to me all the time: "You're so organized!" so I must seem to be. Then I go home and I tell Hubs about it, and he laughs! Because he knows.

I consider myself a semi-organized person. I believe I can always find what I'm looking for, but only because I never throw anything out, so it has to be around somewhere. If I do clean off my desk and throw something out, I will most certainly need it the day after the trash or recycling has been picked up.

(Now this is odd: For some years, I would be rushing around my house looking for something, for a Girl Scout meeting sticks in my head, and my mother would call. I would explain that I was harried, busy, looking for something and couldn't talk. Since this never meant "good-bye, I'm hanging up now" to her, she would keep on talking, supposedly closing out the conversation, but really keeping it going. And then, whatever it was I was looking for, I would find it. It happened so many times that it became familiar, and when I was looking for something in the house that I couldn't find, I would actually call her, say that I was looking for something, and that she needed to keep talking until I found it. In her last years, when she was most ill, she especially enjoyed this; it was like the last power she still had. And it worked! It worked almost every time! A couple of days after she died I realized with a start that now I would never find anything again. But I do. Some people say the Saint Anthony Prayer, but I just say "Okay, Shirl, where is it?" and wherever she is, she hears me, and since she's probably still talking, I find it.)

I have been able to train myself to become extremely well-organized in one or two specific ways over the years (and that's a lot of years, so I've got this stuff, at least, down pat.) I never lose my keys or wallet, because I lost them so often when I was a kid that I learned to keep them in just one place always. My keys are always in my right front pocket, either of my jeans or whatever jacket I'm wearing. My wallet is always in my right back jeans pocket, though now I'm sometimes using a nifty little bag. (I've never been particularly a purse carrier, but that's another entry.) I finally got into a routine of remembering to take my medication at night, but I haven't gotten good yet at taking my allergy pill in the morning.

I have files, file folders, and filing drawers. I love -- LOVE -- to try to organize, to make up systems and plans, to go to an office supply store or to paradise The Container Store, so I can finally get everything really well organized. I am virtually incapable of maintaining any plan I develop.

I am pretty much the same at home and at work. But all the library books are on the shelves in order, more or less, so that's a good thing. I, however, am not personally responsible for that, since I avoid shelving books with a burning passion.

2. Do you keep some type of planner, organizer, calendar, etc. with you, and do you use it regularly?
Oh heavens yes. I have kept every type of planner, organizer and calendar there is, because I need to keep improving on the system I've got and then I need to find a better one. I've used the traditional Day Planner thing, with the address book and everything in it, but it's bulky and I've never done well with that. I used a Pocket PC for a good few years; it had some limitations, but it mostly worked, except then the Pocket PC crapped out and I decided never to get another one since they can never be upgraded (although they always say they can when I buy them, but they can't) and so I went instead with a nice cheap real notebook PC. I use Outlook and now I'm keeping everything there. I print out the weekly pages and carry them around in a little folder. This has been working extremely well for at least four weeks now. ** ahem **. Perhaps one day I will go with a Palm, but I'm very happy for the moment with what I've got.

3. Would you say that your desk is organized right now?
Here is a picture of my desk:



You decide.

My new desk, a rolltop, is scheduled to be delivered on May 27. It has all kinds of little drawers and slots and things that fill my heart with joy. All I can tell you is, we'll just have to see, won't we?

4. Do you alphabetize CDs, books, and DVDs, or does it not matter?
Certainly I do. That's the librarian in me, for sure. When I was a kid, I kept all my comic books sorted by title, and then in date order. It only matters if it makes it easier for you to find what you're looking for. If you can find stuff without alphabetizing, then don't do it.

5. What's the hardest thing you've ever had to organize?
Anything big, I guess. That would be my kids' rooms, the library supply closet, all of my parents' possessions when they died, moving from the apartment to the house. Okay, clearly these are not all equal, and I suppose Shirl and Jack's goods was the hardest. It's just that I've really got to get to that supply closet -- I can't open the door anymore -- so it's on my mind. As for the kids' rooms, working on them wasn't only a giant chore, it always really pissed me off. Mostly I would just find garbage, actual garbage, that they never bothered to throw out in a waste can, they just threw it on the floor. Like used tissues. Those plastic strings that keep tags attached to the labels in new clothes. Gum wrappers.

Of course, the hardest thing I've got to organize is my mind. After that, everything else would have to just fall into place. Right?

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I'm watching Friends
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