Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in SortingMyLifeOut's LiveJournal:

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Monday, December 4th, 2006
12:40 pm	Not updated for a while ... ... but that's only partly because not a lot has happened in the sorting (lots of other things going on in my life and they are all distracting me from getting on with this) I had the central heating system flushed a couple of weeks back ... because water wasn't getting around the system (and so no heating!) ... which meant that the plumbers would need access to every radiator (so they could switch each one on to flush it through and off again to let the chemicals get through to the next radiator ... )and there was *so* much stuff in front of the radiators that it meant a couple of (nearly) all-night sessions of sorting/moving/boxing/shifting. And of course, I was attacked by the usual problems of when I should be moving a big box of stuff I'd instead spend an hour sorting through it, some of which was good (I threw out another 5 bags of rubbish and things that weren't suitable for charity or selling, including some clothes that I've been holding on to for far too long (worn out, wrong size and will *never* be fashionable again!) though the big bag of shoes still needs to be sorted and half of them donated to charity/burned!) And so the computer room (which was piled high with stuff) is now a lot more accessible and a lot clearer of stuff. The 3rd bedroom (box room, about 2m x 2.5m) is much better sorted (even though it is now stacked higher in there), the main bedroom is a lot better sorted (and I got some drawer organisers from Ikea for the chest of drawers, but I now need to sort through my big bag of socks, pair up all the decent ones and dump the rest) The kitchen is a lot better (I had another minor clear out of things that I won't be eating before they go off) but there's still too much in there in terms of kitchen tools and such ... I think I need to sit down (possibly with someone who cooks regularly) and figure out what I should keep and what I should get rid of ... for example I'm fairly sure I now have far too many kitchen knives of various kinds! The "moving stuff for the plumbers" meant that a lot of stuff that had gotten scattered got sorted back into boxes/folding crates (but I have too many of them, and they shouldn't be lining a wall in the dining room or an alcove next to the fireplace in the living room) ... so the next time I get a free day, I think that moving stuff around in the garage to clear a space and then moving some of the boxes of stuff that will survive out there, is in order. (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 18th, 2006
2:01 am	Interesting article ... (cross posted from a personal journal to this one which is public) .... do you think "hoarding" is something that is more prevalent among science fiction fans than among the population at large? http://www.ocfoundation.org/hoarding/index.php We can define hoarding as acquiring and keeping objects to such an extent that they begin to impair the normal use of one's living space. Most of the time, non-hoarders do not think the saved objects have little or any intrinsic value. However, it is also possible that a hoarder is a collector as well. ( Does this remind you of anyone? Long set of extracts, most of which describe *me* ) The Obsessive Compulsive Foundation are trying to lay claim to hoarding as a variant of OCD, but without some of the other aspects of OCD or OCPD I suppose there are a few important things to say here: yes, I guess that does describe me pretty well (including the losing of medications!), being late for appointments etc. medication has not been shown to be particularly effective for this, but Cognitive Based Therapy has had some good results as there is often (?usually?) an emotional attachment between the hoarder and the items, just removing the items or forcing the hoarder to dispose of items is extremely stressful and highly emotional (and not, I believe, a successful "therapy". Neither is shouting "for god's sake, do something about this!"). It's far better to work on removing the perception of value in the hoarded items (so, for example, I'd feel a lot happier getting rid of some things if I knew they were available somewhere should I want them again, which is why I'm happier loaning out guitars/books etc. even if I never ask for them back than I am in getting rid of them ... also why I'm happier getting rid of old computers, old monitors etc. as I perceive their "value" as much lower) In particular, anyone who is a compulsive hoarder, or is worried about a friend/family member who is a CH, or who is convinced that they themselves are not a CH [1] then perhaps this page may be useful to you. It's why TV Programmes like Life Laundry can be so very damaging ... One possible cause of my hoarding of stuff was moving to the US when I was five. New house, new school etc... and I assume that I only felt in control when surrounded by items that I could keep hold of. OCD (in general) requires activities to reduce anxiety/stress (compulsive hand washing, going back to check the door is locked etc.), Compulsive Hoarding on the other hand requires doing nothing (not getting rid of stuff, not making decisions etc.) to reduce stress and acquisition gives a positive boost (Compulsive Shopping is certainly one example of Compulsive Hoarding, so if you buy new shoes and new handbags every week and don't get rid of the old ones, then you too may be a Compulsive Hoarder). [1] Just like "So I do a little E.E.Doc Smith every now and then, I can handle it" or "Stargate is a gateway drug to Stargate Atlantis and Star Trek Enterprise ...", here are things to beware of saying ... "I don't think I really have a hoarding problem" "I know my house is pretty cluttered, but I don't think it's that much more cluttered than other people's houses" "sometimes I get really frustrated with the clutter, and I worry that it's a fire hazard. But I'm not a hoarder. All I need is to get a little bit more organized." (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, June 12th, 2006
2:33 pm	WIDTW 10-11 June A mixed weekend, partly recovering from a long week, partly getting some things accomplished at home. ( Saturday ) ( Sunday ) ( Footnotes ) Current Mood: accomplished Current Music: none (11 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, June 5th, 2006
11:28 am	What a weekend! I had the Telewest cable TV installer coming on Saturday morning (between 8am and 12) and so I knew I'd need to have a clear path to both the TV downstairs and to the TV in the bedroom ... which gave me a great incentive to get some stuff done ... and I also knew this was going to be the first warm, dry weekend when I'd be at home for months so it was about time to do some gardening. ( Accomplishment ) Summary: did a lot of work on sorting, cleaning and tidying, plus about 6-7 hours of gardening. A weekend of real accomplishment, but very tiring and my arms still ache today. Also had lots of lovely comments on my main journal and several offers to help get things sorted (and more offers were made at the Sunday evening meal ... I've got great friends! I just have to figure out how to use them now ... <grin!>) ( Footnotes ) Current Mood: accomplished (12 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, May 22nd, 2006
2:22 pm	Update ... frighteningly little has changed ... life has been busy. However the last two weekends have seen a massive investment in getting clothes sorted out, resulting in FIVE crates of trousers and shorts (approximately ten pairs of trousers per crate), many crates of t-shirts, etc. All the drawers in two chest of drawers being emptied (well, all drawers but one) and all socks (far too many pairs and singles) brought together. Also a lot of stuff that shouldn't be in a master bedroom was removed. Tonight (assuming I feel better than I do now) will be paper sorting night. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, March 17th, 2006
5:30 pm	This weekend's plans Friday evening. go home, cook dinner, watch TV, sleep (though putting on a load of washing may be a good idea!) Saturday morning First a good night's sleep but up reasonably early to get stuff done Finish off kitchen sort (search lower cupboards for food stuffs that can be thrown away, decide what stuff needs to stay in the kitchen, what can be thrown away and what to do with the other stuff) Sort clothing upstairs (and try to get together at least one bag of stuff for recycling, and identify at least one pair of shoes that can be thrown away as too worn out and too small) Build list of work that needs to be done on the house (minor repairs, major upgrades) Do more laundry Saturday afternoon Put new hard disk in computer with harddisk reporting S.M.A.R.T. errors before it fails. More laundry Continue clothing sort Locate additional bag of useful wiring (audio, power, computer) in conservatory and sort/velcro tie the cables Rewire hifi to get harddisk recorder properly integrated into sound system etc. Saturday evening dinner maybe sort a couple of boxes of paperwork while relaxing Sunday Morning Continue clothing sort More laundry Sort boxes of chaff Get PA speakers, electric guitars and wiring out of storage unit (a work colleague is repairing a PA amp for me and he's coming around Sunday afternoon to test it out and to play some guitar together). And somewhere in there, watch the Formula 1 Grand Prix. (Qualifying coverage Saturday after lunch, race coverage starts 6am Sunday with an afternoon repeat and a late evening highlights show). (1 Comment |Comment on this)
3:49 pm	Woo-hoo, progress! Spent many hours last weekend overcoming the backsliding that has happened since I started my new job (last July) and particularly that happened before, during and after Christmas. My friend P came along on Sunday to watch the Bahrain GP and then helped with a lot of stuff for most of the rest of the day. ( what I did on my weekend ... lots! ) Current Mood: accomplished Current Music: none (Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 16th, 2004
1:54 pm	More thoughts on tidying ( Current status: ) (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, November 15th, 2004
1:27 pm	This weekend ... ... more stuff done on the house, thanks to Patrick, Janet and Robert for their help. ( cut for your safety ) Current Mood: accomplished Current Music: Getting Nowhere Fast with Mervyn Stutter (BBC Comedy) (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, November 12th, 2004
12:24 pm	Tidying the house, tidying the house, we will go rejoicing ... A weekend of tidying and sorting lies ahead ... ... for the moment I'm still considering Feltham as "home" but at the same time I am spending Monday-Friday in/near Cambridge and some weekends away from both, so I need to have some level of duplication or decide what is inessential. ( wibble about decluttering/realigning priorities ) Current Mood: Allergic (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, October 31st, 2004
3:06 am	Long time no update .. ... as some of you know, I've got a new job that means that I won't be "at home" as much, so it's been a hectic time the last week or two ... ... hired a storage unit and put most of my guitars, guitar amps, other musical instruments and such in it, plus many boxes of comics and various other big bits and pieces ... ... and this weekend, so far, with the help of James S. we've thrown out 7 bags of rubbish plus filled the recycling box ... cleared out and cleaned several of the kitchen drawers, threw out a bunch of food that was going past due date, cleaned and packed away some of the cooking implements, sorted and stacked crates in the dining room, packed away a lot of DVDs into a wooden rack that will go to the storage unit, sorted the rest of the DVDs into small plastic crates that will let them be easily moved and cleared up a lot of mail from the dining room and put up bamboo screening (rollup blinds) over some of the bookshelving. Tomorrow we'll possibly do more work on the kitchen as well as sorting out the CD collection plus I'd like to make a start on the computer room. ... ... in previous days/weekend (and with Patrick L's help) did a lot of tidying of the dining room, took down the video projector and packed away the projection stand, sorted and stacked all the artwork, and with the help of rdmaughan and greylady put a lot of boxes into storage and cleared some shelving in the conservatory for more stuff to be moved out there ... ... plus a lot of clothing has been sorted into packing boxes (trousers in one, coats in a second, shirts in a third etc.) as well as sorting a pile out for disposal (charity, cleaning rags, throwing away etc.) and all the spare bedding, sleeping bags, spare curtains etc. have been put into large storage bags ... ... a big pile of clothing has been freshly washed, shirts ironed, and the first BIG bag of mixed socks has been through the laundry (to freshen them) and a few dozen pairs have been matched up and a few more identified that need darning ... but I may just cut my losses and keep the good pairs and throw the rest away ... ... among the goals still to accomplish is to sort out all the guitar/music making magazines (and cover CDs) into some coherant order for future learning ... to sort out the hifi magazines to find the ones I want to keep ... to sort out the "house pr0n" (magazines about self-build, house decoration, DIY etc.) and to get rid of a lot of the other magazines that are cluttering the house (such as old computer magazines etc.) ... another goal is to sort through the old software boxes and ditch the old stuff that I'll never use (e.g. SQL for OS/2, hyptertext systems for Windows *2* etc.) ... and James wants to start building the pile of stuff to ebay, which seems like a great idea to me! ... as I get a little further into this process, I may ask for volunteers for a "house cleaning/tidying/painting party" (pizza and/or chinese food provided, bring your own duster!) but more about that as and when ... Current Mood: accomplished Current Music: Radio 2 (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 1st, 2004
4:23 pm	Recent activities 1) Job hunting goes on apace, see the_magician for latest details 2) Took suit into dry cleaners today, will be ready tomorrow 3) Booked a pair of gardeners to come in tomorrow morning and start taking care of the garden (if I have to sell this place, a well tended garden can add 10-15% to the value apparantly!) 4) Discussed house extension plans with the next door neighbour and got some ideas for ways of extending the house (if I decide not to move) 5) Put all outstanding cheques into the bank (including two from alexmc which I hope won't cause him a problem) 6) Booked osteopath appointment for Friday morning 7) Had phone interview for job in Cambridge, which went very well 8) Booked doctor appointment to review knee x-ray and to discuss dietician referral 9) Booked doctor appointment for annual diabetic review (different appointment) 10) Collected guitar magazines that have been accumulating at local corner shop (which is where I found the gardeners) 11) Did an initial house hunt online for Cambridge properties to get some idea of prices and locations 12) Updated my LJ 13) cleared spam 14) bought two shelving units for my mum on ebay 15) put stuff in the recycling box 16) hung out laundry and put on second load 17) emptied dishwasher and put in partial load 18) vaccuumed living room floor 19) sorted through lottery tickets, discarded out of date ones and took rest to shop to get them checked over, found I'd won ten pounds! 20) sorted through computer leads box to find infra red adapter and backed up mobile phone phone book. 21) updated palm with appointments 22) recharged palm 23) late last night/early this morning, (with the help of P) added drives to sbisson's old machine, installed Windows XP, activated it and configured machine. 24) labelled front of the new PC with spec (1.7 P4, 1Gb PC800 RDRAM, 200Gb Maxtor, 32Mb GeForce2/MX, 12x LG dual layer DVD writer, 12x10x32 Creative CD writer, built in Lan, sound, USB ) will be adding pro sound card, TV tuner card etc. when I have time, other priorities first. And in the last few weeks 25) Have had several dentist appointments (a number of fillings, but I have one crown and one extraction still to go, and they are worried that the "crown" tooth may actually be cracked and so it may be two extractions ... next appointment tomorrow morning) 26) Been to the podiatrist who said I had, quote "perfect feet" and wrote it down on my chart (yay!) ... sadly the diabetes has been working longer than I had realised and I do indeed have some neuropathy (loss of feeling) in the toes, but hopefully good diet and medication will stop that getting any worse. 27) Have had my knee x-rayed to see if there is any long term damage before doing additional exercises to strengthen it further. 28) Been to opthamic clinic to confirm that the small spots on the back of my eye are not of concern at the moment and I don't need to go back for another year 29) Several outplacement appointments (job hunting skills) 30) sorted bedroom from one side to another (which was a major task!) and sorted all clothes into main types (trousers, t-shirts, socks etc.) ... this evening will continue by sorting each section into throw/charity/too small/wrong season/duplicates/ok and actually putting "throw" and "charity" into bags to take out to the car, and "too small", "wrong season" and "duplicate" and put them into bags to be put in attic. There have been other things as well, but as I remember them I'll add them to this list. Current Mood: accomplished (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, July 5th, 2004
10:16 pm	Much delayed update ... Haven't updated in a while, and while some stuff has indeed been done, not sure how much I'll remember, so if I duplicate stuff in a previous posting, then my apologies! ( long list of stuff done ... up to you whether you want to read on! ) Current Mood: accomplished Current Music: Beach Boys - Heroes and Villains (Comment on this)
Thursday, May 27th, 2004
2:05 pm	Overview - Status Update Status Update There have always been several BIG FRIGHTENING areas to get sorted out in the house: The Garage of Doooooom! The workshop at the end of the Garage of Dooooom! The conservatory of Destruction! The utility room at the end of the kitchen The kitchen The Front hall The Dining Room of Darkness! The Living Room of ... er ... far too much stuff! The small spare room of junk attraction The computer room of ... everything else! The master bedroom of far, far, far too much! plus other areas (such as the bathroom, the landing, the attic) And of course ... The Garden ( In the last couple of months the following has been done ) Current Mood: accomplished (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, May 17th, 2004
5:51 pm	WIDTW A very productive weekend! Following on from the previous weekend when James and Patrick came around and helped me sort out the main part of the garage, this weekend Patrick and I spent two days working on the back of the garage and the conservatory. ( so what got accomplished? ) Current Mood: accomplished Current Music: Damien Rice - O - Cold Water (Comment on this)
Friday, April 30th, 2004
5:03 pm	Too much stuff! alexmc has already confirmed that I have too much stuff in my house (but then I *knew* that!) I have too many books (gasp! Surely that isn't possible!), too many CDs, too much hifi equipment, too many bits of luggage [1], too many old computers (every year I have a cull where the oldest machines go to the tip ... last year I think we got rid of the final 486s though I may be wrong ... definitely still have the Pentium 60Mhz), two many monitors (I think there are only three or four upstairs at the moment, plus a couple more in the conservatory or garage, and one on loan to a friend), too many old printers (I *think* I have two Epson colour inkjets, two HP deskjets, two Canon bubblejets and an HP laserjet, I think I threw everything else away!), too many hifi racks (well, depends on whether you call a separate turntable shelf a "rack" but if you do, then I have eight hifi racks, otherwise only six!) Currently (due to some mistakes on my part) I have FIVE tents (small three man dome from Millets that I've used for the last three years for festivals, another dome tent from Tescos that was cheap last year (under 15 quid in their half price sale), a BIG frame tent that I need to get rid of (massively heavy but still functional and comes with a front awning, free to a good home!), a smaller frame tent that I got for a fiver on ebay and a very very old small frame tent that I forgot was in my mum's cellar that I got twenty years ago in America (cheap, plastic, single skinned, probably rotted away by now!)). And let's not talk about musical instruments. I must face the facts ... this is an unhealthy compulsion rather than just normal packrattedness. [1] Luggage ... sigh, my downfall. Everytime I go to the US (or abroad for work) I decide that *this time* I'm not going to bring back tons of stuff with me ... and just about every time I end up having to buy luggage because I've got more stuff than will fit in the cases I took with me. This means I now have: Two good backpacks (proper big hiking type backpacks, one bought in 1981 and still going, the other bought about five years ago in Hong Kong, with a zip off day pack and straps that can be covered up behind a flap) At least five smaller daypacks (some with lots of pockets, sort of school backpack style, some just small camping style backpacks/daypacks) At least three rolling backpacks (not included in the daypacks above), two black ones and one green one, each with wheels and a pull up handle. Two grey wheeled suitcases with pull up handles One BIG (32") black suitcase with pull up handle One fair sized (29"?) brown suitcase that was given to me to carry stuff back from the US last time (see below) ... it is getting kind of battered so it was supposed to be its final journey. One Samsonite carryon/rollon with pull up handle (no backpack straps!) One leather (or leather look) red suitcase with red leather straps and buckles One big soft bag with backpack straps At least three "courier" bag type bags with shoulder straps or backpack straps A couple of sports bags A big rolling duffle... a bit like the link but without a pull out handle as it is long enough it doesn't need an extending handle. At least three bigger soft bags with zips and a shoulder strap A hard sided small rolling bag with pull up handle At least four bumbags/fanny packs (probably more) plus smaller pouches and shoulder bags. Oh, and a picnic basket, a couple of big "cool" bags, a couple of smaller ones, a coolbox (with refrigerated lid) etc. Then there are several briefcases and laptop bags, including one briefcase with "saddlebags" that go on over the briefcase to give "overnight" storage. Strangely enough, with all that, I don't actually have a suit carrier (though I do have a little case designed to hold ties without them getting wrinkled!) Unsurprisingly, this much luggage ends up taking up a fair bit of space (even when stacked inside each other), so I end up using it for storage. If anyone needs to borrow some luggage sometime, just give me a call! Last time I went to the US I was more sensible. I took a good sized bag with me and had arranged to bring someone else's spare luggage back with me full of stuff so I had a big "empty" bag waiting for me ... ended up leaving the smaller bag behind and buying yet another even bigger bag (the big black suitcase mentioned above) as I ran out of luggage room, plus I got another small carryon which slipped over the handle of the big bag so that I could carry more on the plane with me ... sigh. Current Mood: aggravated (4 Comments |Comment on this)
4:41 pm	Furniture rearranging Furniture rearranging could be considered a cross between large scale flower arranging and Feng Shui ... but in this case, it was a gentle upgrade and to make more space. There are those that can afford to refurnish a house so that everything matches ... I'm not in that position at the moment, so everything is second hand or doesn't match! ( Net result: one beside table in, one bedside table out, lots of other things moved around. ) Current Mood: accomplished (Comment on this)
1:28 pm	I wanted to be a tree surgeon ... ... but I fainted at the sight of sap (old joke, sorry, I seem to have left the funny bit at home!) So Wednesday I've nipped home at lunchtime to tidy the spare room as a friend is renting it for a few weeks while he's working locally ... ... and I'm just about to head back to work when there's a ring at the doorbell ... it's a tree surgeon ("Trees R Us" of Slough), someone who's done work on next door's trees etc. so I know he's reliable and does a good job. They've mentioned that I wanted some work done on my garden and since he's in the area, he's stopped by. ( one afternoon and 270 pounds later, the garden looks better! ) Current Mood: accomplished (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, December 11th, 2003
11:03 am	House Redecoration - Initial Tremors copied from my journal Well, last night (Tuesday), while doing a little pre-game tidying up, James S. grabbed the pile of artwork I'd bought at Novacon and put it in one of the folding plastic crates, aside from the two big David Hardy framed prints which wouldn't fit. So we took down the large oriental fans that were over the fireplace and above the couch opposite and replaced them with the two D.Hardy's (which were much smaller than the fans) and suddenly the room feels a lot more open and empty and, strangely, a little "unfinished" as the piles of junk and boxes of stuff now look like I'm halfway through packing or unpacking. So I'm going to spend a little more time this evening working on the front room and hallway to make it look a little less "all over the place" and getting some laundry done. that "little more time" never happened of course Current Mood: accomplished (Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 15th, 2003
3:27 pm	I want to write something ... I just don't know what ... ... life is currently winding and winding like a pocket watch, with the tension increasing ... or perhaps it's more like a game of buckaroo with more and more being piled on and just waiting for me to throw it off or collapse under the weight ... ... I have need for holiday days for a trip to Ireland and a trip to the US but I could also do with the days to just unwind and/or to get things sorted out that badly need sorting out. Again I'm not getting enough sleep for one reason or another and the house is a mess again, this means that when I get home I'm already dreading walking in through the front door and trying to pick my way across the piles of stuff in the hallway and trying to clear a space on the couch and then the sheer quantity of things that need to be done drains my energy ... the kitchen has too much in it so there's no clear work surfaces for complex food preparation (and no energy on my part) so it's all ready meals and very simple constructions (like sandwiches) and insufficient quantities of fruit and veg. I can't find stuff (due to the mess) and there's certainly no room to get out instruments and practice. And when I get back from a weekend away (a convention, a recording session, a music weekend or whatever) then the bags get left in the hallway or fill up the remaining free space on the couch ... and then I'll dig through looking for stuff and the contents of the bags end up all over the place increasing the mess ... ( ok, I've cut this now since the original posting was *far* too long! ) Current Mood: crushed (6 Comments |Comment on this)