I have found something more boring than watching paint dry

[klwilliams]

This evening I looked at a box on the side of my office, and it told me that it was full of old papers that needed sorting and shredding. I figured that it was something I could do while running some quests in WoW, and it wouldn't be that bad. No, it was worse. It made WoW boring. I decided to soldier on, quit playing WoW, and got down to the serious business of sorting and shredding. For over two hours.

I had bank statements from the nineties. I had lots and lots of paperwork from jobs I had left, documentation that I had had insurance (In California, if you have insurance coverage with no gaps longer than 30 days then you can't get refused insurance for pre-existing conditions.), stock option offers from companies that have gone out of business, that kind of thing. Ugh. There were some treasures, though. I found an actual letter sent to me by kateelliott from when she and her family lived in Mexico. (We used to do things like send letters using paper back in the previous millennium.) I found an old photograph of my friend Coke that I took when were in high school. He was dressed in a pink chicken costume for a play. Classic Coke. (Yes, we made Coke Classic, New Coke, and all the other jokes about his name.) I even found a very interesting, chatty, funny letter from someone with a terrible signature who was going to grad school at Princeton. I have no idea who it was, but the letter is great.

And I'm done. For now.

Comments

[kateelliott.livejournal.com]

!!!!

[maryosmanski.livejournal.com]

I really should see about getting a shredder one of these days for dealing with years-old receipts for paying utility bills, packs of checks from bank accounts that are now closed, etc.

[hrj.livejournal.com]

More boring than watching paint dry? Why is it that my first thought was, "But surely turtle sex is inherently fascinating?"

(This says the woman who once stayed late at work to watch a faucet run.)

[kahnegabs.livejournal.com]

Don't complain: I have been trying to work through 55 years of records. The trouble is that some of that stuff is kind of historic and could be something my heirs would like to see. I know I treasure my mother's little record book where she noted that she'd spent 4.95 on shoes for 3 kids, and less than 15 dollars on a week's groceries!

[al-zorra.livejournal.com]

Somewhere in my files I too have two or three Kate Elliott letters from Mexico.

el V keeps buying shredders that are too small.

You know what he did? He packed up a bunch of throw-away records and carted them from NYC to MD, where he shredded them in the office shredder. Now these NYC and NY state papers are in MD landfill, no doubt.

Love, C.

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

It was an interesting letter. I think I kept it because I meant to answer it, but I'm a terrible correspondent.

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

I found some old pictures that I took when I got Dymphna, and one of them is of G'Kwan sitting on top of her. Poor girl. I also found some old pictures where I was extremely fat and had red hair. I'd forgotten how red my hair could get when I was out in the sun a lot.

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

Chaz talked me into composting, so the shredded bills will probably go in there.

[darcyjavanne.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah. Sorting through old documents is dull, dull work!

[mafirilo.livejournal.com]

I recently went through 6 store-alls worth of household paperwork. Many happy memories of when I was just starting out on my own and aquiring necessities, then feeling dismay over all the stuff I had bought (some things never used and now being given away) and gone into debt for. As I shredded things I felt as if I was throwing part of my life away. But there was a lot of satisfaction when the boxes got condensed down to half the amount. I'm looking forward to the next clear-out.

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

I had many moments of "why did I spend money on *that*?"

[mafirilo.livejournal.com]

A lot of my "that" is going to the Ducal garage sale!

(mostly cotton fabric that was ok for garb 20 years ago.)