I was out working in Kansas City yesterday. I left home at 6:00 am, and got back around 6:30 pm. On arriving back I dumped out the loose content of my gear bag onto my desk. This morning I was standing musing on the mess when the urge to take a couple of pictures came on.
I was reminded of the saying that the state of one’s desk reflects the state of one’s mind, “A tidy desk equals a tidy mind”. For the last several months, my mind — and my desk — have been in a messy place; I’m not sure what the cause is. A bit of depression, a bit of listlessness, a lack of enthusiasm? Who knows? The mind is a messy and strange thing in and of itself, well mine is.
Anyway, to me the desk looked a mess. I’ve spent years with a ‘clear desk policy’ whether self or corporately imposed, I’ve found it helps. I’ve also told myself the story that what would also help is building a new desk top with drawers and putting up office shelves. I’ve been promising myself those things for a long time. I’d then be able to keep the keyboard and mouse of which ever computer I wasn’t working on out of the way, and all my fountain pens would have a home that wasn’t just laying on the desk top. Well that’s the excuse I want to tell myself for not keeping it clear.
Working from farthest right towards the camera, the reality is that my :
- hand bearing compass (an obvious thing that one uses all day every day while standing at a desk),
- driving glasses,
- Capture Pro camera clip,
- cell phone,
- daily pills,
- 35 mm lens,
- lens cap,
- chewing gum,
- empty glass,
- lighter,
- knife and multi-tool,
- mini tripod,
- Cell phone bracket,
and on top of the speaker: - film container full of Allen wrenches.
Just need to be put away. The rest can stay.
Copyright © 2019 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.