Breaking through the Clutter

Amazingly, I very recently finished organizing/decluttering/making sense of my bedroom. I say amazingly, because this project took the better part of five months. In August, back from my trip and ready for the fall to start, I decided to face the indisputable fact that my room was a jumble of objects/belongings/stuff from the 1980s/1990s/2000s. And since I was now going to be sleeping there on a regular basis and couldn't forget about the clutter until my next visit home, I needed to do something about it. I managed to make pretty good headway on about half of the room; I even partially cleaned out this little closet in my room - which I had not touched in years - that was full of old toys. I have to admit I felt pretty proud of myself.

I couldn't ignore, however, how my bookcases were in dire need of help. My tallest bookcase was literally sagging under all the weight and it was getting difficult for me to find anything. In awe of (but also inspired by) my friend N.'s perfectly organized and lovely bookcase - she even has a favourites shelf! so cool! - I knew I had my work cut out for me. The only problem was that the bookshelves my mom had bought in May were still sitting in the basement, in their boxes, so not put together... And in that state they remained for the entire fall until luckily, my uncle F. came to the rescue at Christmas, swooping in like Santa Claus and assembling all three one night (he stays up late) while I was sleeping. I woke up the next morning to discover 3 beautiful (but book-less) book shelves.

Then in the days between Christmas and New Years when the kind of internet sites I like to read (Huffington Post's Living section, Salon) were full of reflections and tips on and for 2009 & 2010, I came across a fabulous blog entry with 27 ways to keep order and declutter a house! One of the tips reminded readers to ask themselves, before storing away an item, if they really need to keep it at all. Since I couldn't even remember one single item I had put in that little toy closet in my room in August, I knew I needed to continue where I'd left off from the end of the summer, and this time do a much better job. Thus round two of my decluttering project began in the first days of 2010.

Just like anything, decluttering can feel extremely overwhelming when right in the middle of it. But then the end result usually makes it all worthwhile. I cleaned out the little closet (it's now the happy home of my suitcase) and I organized all my books (I now even have my very own favourite shelf, and the bookshelves in the basement are full and happy) and unlike the last time, I can legitimately feel proud of myself this time. But, I have a confession to make: I secretly like clutter. Yes of course my room is neater now, it's easier to find things, there's more space, but there's something about cluttered rooms that makes me smile. They are very lived in, and very full of life; and those are always good things.

Pacific Standard State of Mind

I am endlessly fascinated with time zones; so fascinated, in fact, that I get very excited every time I travel to a new one. There's something special about specific times of day repeating themselves over and over around the world. Ani Difranco has a line in one of her songs "How I miss this time zone" which just rings so true for me. I do miss other time zones I have lived in, and always feel a sense of comfort when I am back in them.

Like the Pacific Standard Time Zone for example - that time zone just encompasses everything I love about the west coast (the ocean, the vibe, the clear, fresh air, the landscape) and will forever have a special place in my heart. I was born and grew up in Eastern Standard, and I really do love it. However, as a teenager when I used to dream about moving out to the west coast I always thought about how when it was midnight in Toronto, it was only 9 pm in Vancouver or San Francisco. While my night was coming to an end, someone just like me's night - on the other side of the continent - would be starting.

Often I love both a place and its time zone, or a time zone and its places, and once that relationship starts I get really attached. When I first moved back to Toronto from Berkeley in July 2006 and then from Paris the following summer, it took me over a week both times to finally change the clock on my laptop to Toronto time. Every time I turned on my computer and saw the time, I felt bittersweet. Even though I was back in Toronto, my computer still hadn't said goodbye. Changing the time on my laptop seemed so final, like I had really and truly left Berkeley or Paris behind; and since in both cases I was either really sad (Berkeley) or in denial (Paris) to have/that I was gone, it was quite an important moment when I finally adjusted the time three hours forward or six hours back.

When I visited China in the summer of 2008, I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that it was 12 hours ahead of Toronto. While I was eating dinner around 8 pm, someone back home was eating breakfast. While I was sleeping peacefully at 3 am, someone was still working away. It gave a whole new meaning to the notion of Asia being on the other side of the world.

It is both interesting (lots of people to visit, cool stories and experiences to hear about) and at times hard (I miss all my far-flung friends so much!) to have people I care about living all over the world, in many different time zones. Sometimes it gets quite complicated too as I'm always trying to keep track of what time it in places across oceans and on the other sides of continents. But ultimately, it is so cool. I love how as I finish this post around 2 pm on a Thursday in Toronto, someone in Los Angeles is just starting to think about lunch, while someone in Paris is having a pre-dinner kir, and someone else in Beijing is fast asleep, and someone in Auckland is eating breakfast on Friday morning.