Well here it is, January 13. My 12-day hiatus is due primarily to a major snafu. I completely scrambled my own hard drive, just as my office was shutting down the server, changing the phone system, and moving to a new address. Not a recipe for system coherence. Because I was too embarrassed to ask for help, given my pack-rat tendencies (yes, in cyberspace as well as RL), I tried to fix it myself and made it far worse.

However, because each new crisis in my life seems to result in my developing new computer skills, I became obsessed with redressing the situation, to the extent that I was a) partially successful (successful enough, in any case) and b) I learned a lot about how the system is configured. For instance, I did not previously know that folders could have particular properties in their own right(s) or that to be able to work properly, certain files had to go into particular folders, or that libraries were not just a bunch of old books but that they actually contained necessary instructions. (You can see from the detail in this description just what a total mess I made!).

I am quite completely disorganized in RL, although I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time attempting to organize myself. The last six weeks have been particularly bad. During my computer crisis, I somehow started thinking, "I wish there were such a thing as file compression for my closets." (I have some really nice clothes but many of them are currently lying in a tangled mass on the floor).

This led to a startling revelation. I (cerebrally and organizationally) have a system configuration problem! The 'operating system', 'applications,' 'extensions,' 'folders' and 'files' are all jumbled up. Instructions (e.g. "put your sweaters on a shelf.") are issued, but the files aren't in the right places, so the 'orders' are filled partially if at all, with a good bit of energy wasted churning in wrong directions before any connection is made.

That doesn't necessarily improve the state of my closet--but it makes me feel better to have a framework for understanding my dilemma. Very nice, too, since it is not based on the medical model (focused on pathology) or deep Freudianism (focused on sexual repression).