My Office, Myself

ON MY DESK:

graphic of Ganesha symbolism;  binder clips; post-it flags; article about Staten Island Yankees; index cards; rhinestone hair ornament worn by my mother to my wedding; check stub; antique magnifying glass; half-skein of Irish yarn pierced by a fat crochet hook; Swingline stapler; reporter’s notebook; bills; pine cone Christmas stamps;

The Masala Bhangara Workout DVD;

digital camera; op-ed piece by Jonathan Franzen; No. 12 fortune from Chinatown Buddhist temple: “Probability of success: Excellent/Work hard so that your dream will come true/Though it may seem difficult for you/You may soon shape the whole nation’s view/Or design a spaceship for its crew”; checkbook; NYT tear-out: “Best Flea Markets in NYC”; the I Ching Book of Changes; incense burner; iPod player; Gold Tone Chromatic Bluegrass Tuner; seven earrings (2 matching); cell phone; empty drinking glass; Elvis mousepad; Uncle Vinny’s phone number; post-it containing quote from Nietzsche: “Nothing is really equal”; magazine/publication tear-outs of: 1) best oven thermometer (Cooper-Atkins), 2) best bar-concert hall in NYC (11th St. Bar), 3) a collection of tarot spreads, 4) ad for Ceylon pitcher (to make cucumber water), 5) page 39 of my 2008 As The World Turns astrological year-ahead forecast, upon which I’d then scribbled: “sudden short-term depression – negative review in writers’ group  – stopped writing – canceled a meeting – turned out to be a good period to germinate ideas and regain confidence”; non-functioning iPod nano; Spunk & Bite by Arthur Plotnik;

Green Scapular from the Church of the Guardian Angel;

stuffed blue frog; recipe for quinoa salad; “purloined-from-McCabe’s” guitar pick; bookmarks from Strand Bookstore, Vroman’s, and Distant Lands; manila files stuffed with writing clippings; paintbrush; post-it containing these words: susurrus, fantods, etiolate, nimiety;

Circa Who-Knows-? PERFECTION COLORING SET in metal tin manufactured by Avon Products, which says on the back: DIRECTIONS: “ADD COLORING, DROP BY DROP, TO A TEASPOON OF COLD WATER UNTIL THE SHADE WANTED IS OBTAINED. IF A COMBINATION COLOR IS BEING MADE, THE DIFFERENT SHADES MUST FIRST BE THOROUGHLY BLENDED TO PREVENT STREAKING. THEN ADD DILUTED COLOR TO BATTER OR ICING. ICE CREAM MAY BE COLORED WITHOUT DILUTING. DROP COLORING INTO CANDY WHILE BOILING. ABSOLUTELY HARMLESS. MANUFACTURED FROM CERTIFIED BASIC FOOD COLORS BEARING THE CERTIFICATE AND SERIAL NUMBER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.”

BENEATH MY DESK:

paper shredder, half-full waste paper basket; fiddle in its case; mandolin in its case; two power strips; lots of wires.

ABOVE MY DESK:

Framed Kraftwerk poster circa 2004; 2011 astrological calendar.

JUST RETURNED TO THE LIBRARY:

Tabloid City by Pete Hamill

ON THE SHELF, ABOUT TO READ:

The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer

CAN’T WAIT TO BUY/READ:

Joan Mitchell: Lady Painter by Patricia Albers

Joan Mitchell is a favorite painter of mine, who also happens to have been born on February 12th, my day of birth 🙂