Junk Drawer 02

Here's our second installment! Let's get right to it.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

• Accigone. This fake commercial about an accent-removing spray with "Arnold Schwartzenegger," makes me giggle every time.


• These Come From Trees stickers. Put these on paper towel dispensers and help save the trees!


• World Champion Beat-Boxer Joel Turner. Another video: this kid is amazing. My favorite is his whistling trick.


• How to Make Easy Baby (and Kid) Pants. SO ADORABLE! I might use this tutorial someday to make my own pants, but hopefully longer haha.


• Mathieu Alvado on Vimeo. He does great music for beautifully animated shorts.


• 13YoC on Conspirama. My post on people taking themselves too seriously somehow got categorized as "conspiracy" related enough to go on this site. Ok. Go figure I guess.


• Furoshiki gift wrapping. A classy and pretty way to wrap gifts environmentally.


• Google Loves Denmark. This is a fun trick: you type in "why are [nationality] so" into Google and delight in the suggestions it gives you in the dropdown menu.

Ok enjoy, and hope this brings an extra junk drawerful of happiness to the end of your week. :)

StructuredProcrastination.com

I read this essay on "structured procrastination" in hopes that it would enlighten me in a way relevant to de-cluttering, as well as justify my incessant habit of procrastinating. (The latest task I'm dreading: a 10-page synthesis of my school observations and readings in a class about the sociology of education... due Thursday, nothing written, and the outline is pitiful. My F will be such a surprise.)

But sadly... I think it's missing a few things. Maybe turning "marginally useful things" into structured to-do lists with the real, important stuff at the end of the chain works for some people, but that's some people. The author, John Perry, makes sweeping statements about "procrastinators," but I think he might be forgetting the theory-defying new generation of procrastinators who don't do anything useful while they put off their lives. Today's skilled youth procrastinators don't really pretend Facebook is an immediately "more important" task that is just leading up to later real tasks... No, the smart ones actually realize that Facebook is unimportant. They simply dread doing real work at one point or another, and the Internet is there to soothe them with its warm, motherly bosom of vapidness.

These young people can accomplish an amazing slew of awesome things. To wit: brains at MIT change the world. And I can guarantee you that a good percentage of those kids spent some highly useless time online or on their iPhones buying stupid apps while they made their way to stardom. They had no delusions about the uselessness of their activities, but they knew how to manage their time. They're procrastinators - definitely structured procrastinators by Perry's definition - but they don't really fit the mold.

Maybe I'm wrong. (Lord knows the Internet has shown its wrath when I've had an "incendiary opinion" before.) Maybe these electronic brain-cell killers popular with the youth actually do have some "marginally useful" quality to them. Since you're probably procrastinating right now, I'm sure you can tell me what you think of this whole question. But you're probably more interested in going on your dimly lit interwebby way... Facebook calls, after all.

Variations on Themes

I've been thinking about movies lately. I've become a movie person, it seems. I love when movies happen to strike very neat chords of relevance in my life, such as when Im Juli (In July) reminded me to welcome and be open to destiny.



Wall-E was also great because it came out right in the middle of my de-cluttering project(s), and Wall-E had a great system for organizing his treasures. :)

Anyway, this got me thinking: what are your favorite movies or TV shows that feature themes like clutter and, for those of you coming here for NYU info, the NYU area/New York?

Clutter movies/TV could have a character who's into organizing (I can think of one you might know of...), or maybe a clutter-related conflict. As for NYU and New York, I know I liked seeing Washington Square Park in scenes from When Harry Met Sally, but there are plenty of others. Which ones do you like?

Junk Drawer 01

Martha Stewart's super-organized junk drawer, via Organizing LA.

Well, I'm home sick and I'm feeling legitimately guilty that I'm missing work, because normally today I work in a class of fifth graders and I miss them a whole lot. But, to brighten up my day and yours, I'm introducing a new post idea for the blog.

Every week, I will bring to you a hodgepodge of links that bring me unabated joy - the Junk Drawer of links, if you will. Most people in real life have that one drawer in the kitchen or the office that holds everything you can't be bothered to organize properly. Mine has printer paper, a sewing kit, cough drops, and old Blue Books.

That is the idea of the Junk Drawer post: everything I can't be bothered to organize into 13 Years of Clutter relevant posts, but that I want to share with you anyway. :)

• Aladdin from Compton. This hilarious re-dub of some scenes in Aladdin may be overdoing it, but it makes me laugh all the same.


• The Top Ten Benefits of Play. Even after seeing all those annoying "Be a player" ads (seriously, they couldn't find a better wording?) with Shrek on them all over the city, I never realized that playing is essential until I saw this. As for how I'm going to put that knowledge to use, well that's another story.


• Toilet paper roll sculptures. This is amazing. I feel like this type of thing is the ideal way to de-clutter: do something crazy awesome with some old trash, make it famous, and get people to buy it so that trash becomes worth something. Kinda far-fetched for other stuff like used paper plates though.


• Argenteuil student residence plan. Scroll to the bottom for pictures of this amazing French university dorm.


• Street With a View. Some awesome people in Pittsburgh, PA decided to make their "street view" on Google Maps more dynamic than others.


• Sushi no Suki. I played this game for hours the other night while avoiding work. I can't figure out what the title of the game is supposed to mean though. "Sushi no suck"?


• SkyDance. Beautiful aerial views of France. I just wish the video lasted longer!.


• SFGirlByBay. The title alone makes me homesick, and the photos on this blog are very pretty.

5 Reasons I love Gmail

Over the years, I have had so many e-mail accounts that I am almost ashamed. "Almost" only because I know in my heart that many people my age have also had similarly embarrassing Internet pasts.

I always just kind of dealt with the inefficiency of crap like Yahoo, Hotmail and once, when I was 12 and "rebelling" against my anti-e-mailing-strangers mother (yeah that whole debacle made everyone involved look real wise or whatever), Email.com. Wow, those were the days. I mean, when I look at Email.com now, it looks like a batch of email keywords threw up on itself.

In any case, I took a deep breath and switched from my most recent, main account at Hotmail to Gmail. It was a daunting task, because of how much personal stuff I accumulated in my Hotmail account. But now. Oh, now.

I am so in love. So in love that I have had to remind myself that saying "I love you" out loud to an abstract, unfeeling entity like Gmail would make me feel really stupid later. Here are some reasons why I love Gmail so much.

1. The themes. Mine is the "Bus Stop" one, and it was already great before I discovered that it changed with the real-life weather! When it rains, my Gmail is adorably rainy. Yesterday, when it was nearly as foggy as San Francisco, my Gmail was foggy and SUPER ADORABLE (see above, click for larger). Maybe I'm just a huge girly girl, but I love when my inbox is adorable.


2. The labels. I am a very organized person when it comes to my computer and my e-mail. Call it OCD, call it endearing (by all means), call it whatever you like. When my inbox is fresh and clear because my messages have all been tucked away in their proper folders, I feel in control of my life. And Gmail makes that very easy with labels - you can even attach multiple labels to one message.


3. The neatness and efficiency. I love how Gmail keeps track of your "conversations" so that each new reply between you and the other person is encapsulated in one little clickable bundle of joy.


4. The Labs. I consider myself pretty tech-savvy. I like knowing as many keyboard shortcuts as possible, I type like 100 words a minute (srsly, I checked with the uber-scientific Typeracer), I've troubleshooted (troubleshot?) a fair share of epic computer disasters. I like when I can make my Internet work for me. So the labs feature is perfect; I can customize my way up the wazoo. That said, I only have one enabled right now (toolbar drag-and-drop cause that shit is useful), but it's nice to know I have options.


5. The prestige. I may be a superficial girl only just out of my teenage years, but I'm not afraid to admit I'm a sucker for brand names. Especially nerdy ones like Google/Gmail and Sony. I can't help it, they're just so alluring and sexy. Having @gmail.com attached to my very own name makes my heart swell with ridiculous, misplaced pride, and God damn it, I like it.

Gmail. Switch today. This message not sponsored in any way by Google or its affiliates. :)

San Francisco fog image via Crazy-Frankenstein