Sunday, August 19, 2007

Anal Retentive Obsessive Compulsive Collecting

Okay, so I realized after my last post that I have a problem. It's called "Anal Retentive Obsessive Compulsive Collecting" or AROCC for short. Here's an example of what I mean:



"What's that about?" you might ask yourself. That, obviously, is a pile of business cards. I started picking them up when I was in high school, I think. They're free, they want you to take them, and they're small. I very rarely pass up a business card that is just sitting out in the open. If you're not careful, and you did not offer, I'll sneak one out from off your desk when you're not looking. Most are just from stores and restaurants or from friends and business associates, but I've got some from artists, museums, and I don't know who else. Every once in a while I'll unearth a little stash of them while "cleaning" in my house. That's the obsessive compulsive part.



To serve their useful purpose, I devised this oft-neglected organization system. I have a binder with these card sleeves in it. Business cards are sorted by type. From the picture, I think you can tell where I usually shop for my wardrobe. If you're in the know, you can probably also guess that I'm a UCLA alum (mmm...cookies). Originally, I thought this would be useful. Like, "Oooh, I want to go to -fill-in-the-blank-restaurant-here- tonight, I should make a reservation. Let me get my business card book." Yeah right. I never use this thing. I also haven't put a new card in it since 2002. It may have something to do with increased internet use. Yet, I still compulsively gather the cards. My anal retentiveness makes me feel like it must be perfect or I won't do it at all, so now I have cards sitting in boxes and bowls all over the house.

You may have noticed that it also says "Menus." I collect these too, under the assumption that I might want to order take out sometime. I haven't in years. Now, you might say to yourself that you have a menu drawer or folder too. Well, do you laminate them? Alphabetize them? I didn't think so. I do this with directions and maps too. For years, whenever I went somewhere, I pasted the map into Word and added directions to/from my house. After printing it, you guessed it, laminate and alphabetize. This way, I never had to print the directions again, they were spill-proof, and they looked uniformly tidy. In fact, nearly everything I own that can be alphabetized will at some point in time, be alphabetized.

Okay, enough about my neuroses...I think I've over-shared.

;P

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