Friday, June 5, 2009

De-clutter Bug Hits Penang

Josh came back from the US on 26 May for the summer holidays. In view of the H1N1 flu outbreak my sis told him to keep himself in tip top health and not show any flu symptoms 'cos that would either mean a delay boarding the flight in US or a quarantine when he arrives in Malaysia.

He arrived safely. No flu bug but he came back with a de-clutter bug which he caught in the US. Now the guy is into de-cluttering, not only his life but his mom's as well.

In fact, he is so much into de-cluttering that he trashed all his assignments for the last semester. Now he has no portfolio to show the person who has offered him a writing position. No hard copy. Not even soft copy.

I think trashing things in the computer is carrying the de-clutter obsession a bit too far. After all, soft copies don't take up physical space at all.

And you know what's the problem with de-cluttering? It sets into motion the Law of De-cluttering which states that: You will not need an item, which will only become important, after you have disposed of it.

I'm serious. A classic example is the boss suddenly asking for some relatively unimportant document, which had been gathering dust on your desk for the past few months, which you have thrown away the day before when you suddenly decided to clear your desk.

Or you throw away a receipt only to find out later that you can use it for tax exemption.

Does that happen to you? It always happens to me.

That's why my desk is so messy. It may take me some time to find what I want to find, and what I want to find may not be where I think it is, but I'll eventually be able to find it because it is still somewhere around.

So I end up with a lot of junk. Help! Does that make me a junkie? : (

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