Friday, April 20, 2007

It's April and I'm shedding...

I have obsessions. They come and go. Some retain and pop their heads back into my life every now and then. Others die as quickly as they came.

Remember my obsession with watching all the Little House on the Prairie episodes? I’m 6 away.

My latest obsession is with decorating cakes. I’ve made a ton of cakes the last week simply because I wanted to decorate them.

I know that sounds weird but obsessions don’t need reasons.

Last week my obsession was Back to the Future. I don’t think I ever saw II or III in their entirety. Nevertheless, the trilogy played on cable and I left it on while flitting around the house. What was wrong with Marty’s kids that made the doc tell him to go to the future? If I went to see my future, would I be able to go back to the past and effectively change my future? How old is Einstein the dog?

Why do I bring my obsessions up? Because my cataloging obsession that has been with me since the earliest memories seems to relaxed. This was the first sign I had the same quirk as my grandfather. Can you name another 8 year old who categorized her library of Nancy Drew books and biographies and created a library with an index card file catalog?

Usually, when I start obsessing, I need to complete it. I need the wholeness of an item. Years will pass. I will wait patiently just so I can say I have a full set. However, I have a stack of items that need to be cataloged in my computer and on my desk that I don’t feel the need to address.

I’m not sure if this is a good sign or bad. I really don’t want to be disorganized, yet in a strange way I’m not since I know where the item is. Normally, I would think this is clutter and fear that I’ll be one of those people that dies under a pile of newspapers and old valu-pak envelopes. Now, I feel as if this most likely won’t happen if I leave a pile on my desk in the ‘To Do’ box.

At work, my pile of ‘To File’ stayed in it’s bin for over 2 months. Ok, this doesn’t sound like much for most but for me this is a big deal. You’re talking about a girl who has reminder tasks scheduled for filing, resorting and backing up set on her Treo. And for those interested, I file on the 30th, resort on the 15th and back up weekly with a backup of the backup scheduled bi-weekly.

Could pantrygirl be shedding a layer of her compulsiveness? Could I be slowly moving away from index cards and spreadsheets to the crazy-loose-fly-by-the-seat-of-one’s-pants idea of letting things lay?