Short letters to praiseworthy things.

Dear my tidier desk,

Because spring break was so restful and yet so productive, yesterday I found myself with enough time to remove the following from your surfaces:

• various and random pieces of paper
• a pop up ABC book
• cords galore
• various writing implements

Actually, I did not so much remove them as organize them to the sides of the workspace. And I did throw some things away, a big bag of them. But mostly, I organized them to the side.

Still, my tidier desk, today I was able to work right here, without mad clutter driving me to less productive work arrangements. I felt sharper. I felt like a mug full of sharp pencils. A mug, in fact, very much like the one sitting upon you, in one of the tidy corners I have arranged. To the side.

My tidier desk, you are emblem of a true fact about me: I will never be tidy. But I can be tidier. And that has made all the difference,

htms

ccc

Dear new way of making popcorn,

Historically, there was some ancient popcorn making machine, which you plugged into an outlet, and which required cranking the popcorn, and which conceivably and regularly led to burns. Next, there was Jiffy Pop, which always seemed like a miracle on TV but which I never experienced in real life. At least, I don't think I did. There's that problem of commercials seeming like memories.

Then (skipping forward to modern times) there was microwave popcorn, which is basically the devil's snack, although it's certainly true that I have eaten plenty of microwave popcorn in my day. Dusty tasting, prone to weird scorching, gritty microwave popcorn.

Then, there came the revelation of popping your corn in a pan upon the stove, which was simultaneously retro and forward thinking. You could use your delicious and flavorful oils. You could even use coconut oil! So delicious! And yet, so requiring you to shake the pan on the stove endlessly. So redolent of hot oil in the house! So delicious, it's true, and yet, there, it's your oily pan being all larger than the outcome seems to have warranted!

So when I discovered the method of putting the kernels and the oil in a tiny bowl, and stirring them together with your finger along with salt or whatever you put on popcorn--sugar, if you're a barbarian--and then dumping that into a brown paper lunch sack, folding it twice, and microwaving it for two and a half minutes, my popcorn making experience was transformed.

So suave. The utensils are proportionate to the outcome. The popcorn is delicious.

I'm assuming we have science to thank for this--thank you, science!

htms

ccc

Dear getting the reports written,

I'm not saying they're finished finished, but I am saying they're drafted. They were the last thing on my spring break list, and they are now in the hands of the feedbackers. 

All I'm saying is, I wrote the paragraphs, okay? I pasted in the tables. I organized the headings using Microsoft Word Styles. 

All I'm saying is, I've done my part, and that's me, striking those reports through on my list, both my digital list and my mental list, and there's a little part of my soul that just opened a window and breathed the clear sweet air of freedom.

I said FREEDOM and that's what I meant,

htms