I learned a cure once and try to implement it when things get occasionally out of hand. Got a big filing pile? From today onwards put all your paper away properly and file one other piece each time.
Got an out-of-hand filing cabinet? Every time you put a piece of paper in it, throw two out.
Somehow large jobs make us feel as if we can only tackle them in one. It's a lie.
A couple of years ago I realised that using labels on my blog posts would be useful and I should have been doing it from the outset. I labelled every post doing 25 a day for a few weeks.
I have another similar job to start on. Since 1977 I have kept a list of the music Mrs W (The Water Walker's Apprentice's Wife - soon to be a major new novel by...) and I own. I allocated a few pages of a hard-backed notebook to each letter of the alphabet - entirely failing to imagine that there would one day be a magazine called Q which gave away free CDs - and wrote each acquisition in there.
Today 18 of the 26 letters say 'Continued at back.' And at the back the alphabetical order goes potty because they are continued in the order they ran out of space.
For those who care about this sort of thing that order was Q, D, G, J, E, R, B, M, C, P, S, L, Y, A, F, H, O, T.
It means that entering a new CD or download now involves a convoluted search through an allegedly alphabetical order to find the right page. No more. It's going digital at the rate of one letter every two days - first singles, then albums.
Guess what? I'm going to be sharing it with you. I have no sense of shame (some really bad ones will be along) and will not feel humiliated if you find it necessary to comment. Here is yesterday's list. All my singles beginning with A:
V= vinyl
VT = vinyl 12 inch
ABC 1982 (V) The Look of Love
1982 (V) Poison Arrow
Richard Ace 1978 (V) Stayin' Alive
Adam and the Ants 1980 (V) Ant Music
1981 (V) Ant Rap
1981 (V) Stand and Deliver
Bryan Adams 1984 (V) Run To You
Adamski 1990 (V) Killer
After the Fire 1982 (V) Der Kommisar
A-ha 1985 (V) Take on Me
Alarm 1983 (V) 68 Guns
1987 (V) Rain in the Summertime
Alice Cooper 1972 (V) School's Out
1973 (V) Teenage Lament 74
1973 (V) Hello Hurray
Allman Brothers Band 1973 (V) Jessica
Alphaville 1984 (VT) Big in Japan
America 1972 (V) Ventura Highway
Artists United against Apartheid 1985 (V) Sun City
Art of Noise 1984 (VT) Close Up
Atlanta Rhythm Section 1979 (V) Spooky
Atomic Rooster 1972 (V) Devil's Answer/Tomorrow Night
Auteurs 1993 (V) She Might Take a Train
Automatic Man 1976 (V) My Pearl
Average White Band 1974 (V) Pick up the Pieces
1975 (V) Cut the Cake
4 comments:
I'm doing somthing similar with my recipe collection index which was started in an A5 ring binder (I could add extra pages) and sorted by type of dish, indicating which book it was found in. However I got lax about it and it ceased to be useful as the recipes I use now aren't in it and a lot of what was there has been superceded.
I'm redoing some old ones each time I add a new one, but Oh, it does take a long time.
Pauline
Why does Poison begin with A?
Love it - looking forward to the rest of the list. You going to do albums as well?
Yes Alex. 52 days worth of fun.
Ruth, Poison Arrow is the second of my singles by ABC. Try to keep up.
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