Sam in the Sun

I am hearing a lot these days about a Japanese woman who is into decluttering your home and life. First it was Feng Shui, then it was the Norwegian death cleaning, now it’s her “method.” Well, I’m here to tell you that there is no system – outside of the obvious – for getting rid of stuff. For a short while I ran an organizing company. I learned a couple of things, and one of them is this: People like their stuff. They like to buy things and hold on to them. They like surrounding themselves with some form of protective barrier that makes them feel safe. And the ironic part? That sense of security is a “house of cards,” so to speak. It’s stuff. It can be gone at any time. And all of that stuff just makes it more difficult to live. The more we get, the more we want. The more we have, the more we have to lose. Then we get strung into the fear of losing it, so we collect more to feel more grounded. Trust me. I know. I was the same way. Without a doubt, the very be...

I guess that I’ll never be fit for office work. Or work that involves being around anyone else more than once for any length of time greater than fifteen minutes. This means that I’m not suitable for doing anything other than becoming an underwater explosives scuba diver, or working as a tunnel driller, or maybe spending years doing some type of animal research in some remote jungle or the Antarctic. I can give you three reasons why it’s best if I work in isolation. 1.       People do annoying stuff in offices. Don’t ask me why, but at three different places where I have worked (not spas), three different men, all at high-management levels, have felt it best to perform personal hygiene at work. The first time that I heard the snip of nail clippers, it took me a while to connect not being in my own bathroom at home to the noise I was hearing. “Who in the heck thinks, ‘Gee, my nails are getting long. I need to trim them. Let me reach right here in my handy-da...

                        This is a hearty and resounding thank you to the coworkers who – without physical touch or visible weaponry of any kind – managed to fell me and resign me to bedrest. You know who you are. You are the ones who, because whatever you do is more important than what the rest of us do, decided that the workplace could not live without you for twenty-four to forty-eight hours while you recuperated from symptoms meant to warn you to rest. You don’t have to be contagious to stay home and take care of yourselves. Fortunately, you didn’t. You reserved every day of your Sick Time, Holiday Time, Floating Holiday Time, Annual Time, Authorized Leave and any other form of Comp Time you have. Good for you. Now you can use your Sick days for what they’re really meant to provide – additional days to go watch your child play baseball or a host of half days so that you can extend long weekends and get more...