DEFICITS

When you bring in more than you take out, something has to give! We are all aware of the large trade deficit in the US, but how many of you are aware of the more insidious, defeating and insurmountable deficit that is building at this very moment, in my studio?

I’ve been tossing stuff out just about every six months or so, but the stuff grows daily. The closet is supposed to house a fax machine, and supplies, but every thirty seconds, something else grows in there! Books, pencils or lamps, find their way into my closet with regularity.

My desk, if I can find it, lies somewhere under books, files and computer stuff, that is all very active. Some of it may be breathing! I have file drawers that are stuffed with things I need, but haven’t used in years.

Some people are breeders. They breed anything from ants and bees to horses and cattle. Me, I breed stuff. You need stuff? I got stuff. My house although under control, has a “junk drawer” that TLW (The Little Woman) introduced early on in our marriage. Some of you out there may have one too, where you put tools that need fixing, screws that you will never use, pencils without points and pens that don’t write. There are candles that were once used, usually big and fat, a magic marker that lost its magic, and little trays that are suppose to organize all the stuff. The trays allow everything to spill over into the next tray and back again later.

Then there is the garage. How many of you out there park your car in the garage? Not many I bet. Why? Because the recycling people took it over, that’s why. Bottles in bags, and newspapers in boxes, old mail and magazines separated in bags and bundles.