Virtual Clutter

Just to prove that every aspect of my life is spiraling out of control, I currently have close to 1,000 emails in my inbox. Yes, that's right. One thousand. In the inbox.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I had about 700 emails and that's generally where it would stand. I'd get 100 or so a day that I could work my way through to maintain the 700 mark, but lately, I've been freelancing, so I haven't even been able to do that.

You might ask why 700 would seem like a reasonable number to me, or why I'd have that many at all times anyway. Basically, I could only keep up with new ones or read emails without having a chance to respond. Or, I wouldn't have time to capture information that I'd want to keep from my birth class pals.

What's sad is it took me about two months to congratulate a friend on his wife's pregnancy. And I just remembered that one of my cousins sent me a nice note about a month ago I have yet to respond to.

Back when I only had 700 to go through, my goal was to have my inbox cleaned out by the end of the year. Now I'm not sure it's possible, what with all the other chaos in my life that needs addressing (a spare room full of clothes to be ironed, a dresser full of papers to be sorted, thank you notes to send, a holiday party to plan and decorate for, presents to buy, wrap and mail, Christmas cards to conceive, print and mail, and more freelance work to be done). But I'm going to give it the old college try. Wish me luck.

Note: Holy crap, I just did a google search of 'piles of clutter' for a photo I could use for this blog entry and the number one option was a news story about a woman in Washington state who suffocated under piles of clutter. This shit really can kill you.