Roald Dahl's Matilda, and the Sinkholes of Life

Look at this! Talli shared it on FB the other day:


It's Matilda's 25th anniversary!


If you've got grade school kids, there's a contest they can enter:

 

ROW80 - editing is moving slowly. I didn't do much except a bit of research during the week, but have begun another read through of Druid's Moon this weekend.

Now then, do you have a sinkhole in your life? Real Simple editor Kristin van Ogtrop blogged about sinkholes the other day:


I've got a few myself:

1. Sinkhole next to the couch. Where all the daily papers go in one big teetering pile: books, bank statements, to do lists, printed ebooks, brochures, bits and pieces on research and craft, latest knitting project, Folio Society and Tolkien Society newsletters, Wallace letter printouts, and so on.

2. Sinkhole within the To Do list. This is the part of the list where the truly long term projects flounder, such as projects for the house, writing for the Tolkien Society newsletter, and applying for a part time job I don't need (but which would be so much fun!) at Timeout Magazine Istanbul, as well as plot bunnies that scamper way down in the deeps of the list.

3. Sinkhole in the fridge. Behold the tupperware of mystery! Contains: leftovers from last week. Who wants to find out whether they're still edible? Hold your nose...

4. Skinkhole in the two closets in the house. Eventually, someday, I'm going to tidy all the books and CDs and VHS tapes in the garage into nice tidy bins, bring up some of the books we miss and bring down others, reorganize the library, bring down the bins taking up space in the closets and generally tidy up ALL THE THINGS (CDs, scrapbooking supplies, musical instruments, photo albums, etc.).

I have to say, this is one of my favourite sleep aids. Try it: lie there and begin the mental process of sorting and moving and repackaging and purging. I guarantee by the time you reach the second room you'll be fast asleep!

5. Sinkhole in my wishlists and playlists. I have wishlists scattered across two Amazon and three separate email accounts. Not to mention how far behind I've gotten in my library cataloguing (all the ones I have catalogued are down at the bottom of the blog in those LibraryThing widgets).

Rant: What makes the wishlists and YouTube playlists a sinkhole is the truly annoying habit that Amazon and YouTube have of deleting books and videos at random. I understand that some books go out of print or stock and that videos are removed by users or for copyright purposes. But why must they delete the name of the book or song when they remove the actual link? Leave the name so that I can remember what it was! Grr.

6. Sinkhole in my blog. Contains: copyrighted photos that need to be replaced (I've made a list of all the posts requiring this operation), tags that don't exist, extra tabs I'd like to add with writing snips and so on, and lots of fellow bloggers whose blogs I haven't had a chance to visit in a couple of weeks.

And, finally, here's my version of the last one Kristin had:

7. Sinkhole in my head. Way down in the bottom must be the second half of all the song lyrics and poems I only know the beginnings of, the location of the high school diaries I know I had when we moved into this house but can't find now, the endings to all the mystery novels I've read and reread, the Off Switch for Procrastination, and the ability to knit while reading. Among many other feats!

Where are the sinkholes in your life?

Going to be drawing winners from Justine Dell's book launch post on Wednesday!

Comments

Unknown said…
Sounds wonderfully confusing, good luck with sorting it all out, Deniz!
Linda G. said…
Sounds like a sinkhole mine field!

My basement is a big sinkhole--things go down there and are never seen again. *grin*

And, of course, the whole internet is one huge sinkhole, sucking my time away at an alarming rate.
My closets are sinkholes. And there may be one on my desk...
Unknown said…
Ah yes, the tupperware of mystery! lol We have a sinkhole drawer in our kitchen. It began as a place to store coupons and a pen/paper. It has now grown into something horrible and self-sustaining. I swear the coupons are breeding at night, and they've started collecting old batteries, paperclips, and busted chip-clips in plans of a total takeover. We're afraid, very afraid... :)
Carol Riggs said…
Haha, very clever and humorous post. Love all the sinkholes you have! :D
S.P. Bowers said…
I think my mind is the biggest sinkhole. Things go in and never come out.
Nas said…
Hi Deniz!

All the best with sorting through your maze of sinkholes!

I had a back stabbing so called friend as a sinkhole in my life recently, does that count?

Anonymous said…
Very interesting article about the sinkholes. I think my life is full of them too. :)
Trisha said…
Yep, I have a few sinkholes in my life. :) I'm trying to dig stuff out of at least some of them before I move house!!
Anonymous said…
I have a sinkhole on a little end table in my office. It's where I put all the stuff that I don't want to read--bank stmts, bills, junk mail.

Glad you had a fun time (albeit short!) in Chicago!! So wish we could have planned it so we could have met a couple of weeks ago. :)
Deniz Bevan said…
Thanks Carole Anne!

You're right, Linda, the internet is a notorious sinkhole!

Maybe it's a good thing I don't have a desk, Alex...

Love your description, E. J.! Coupons breed all over my house...

Aww, thanks Carol!

Mine too, Sara - it's why I like having a library. I know where to look up stuff I've already read but can't seem to recall!

That's a horrible sinkhole, Nas! Glad you were able to remove it :-)

Thanks Linda!

Good luck with the move, Trisha!

I wish all that stuff would come electronically, Liz - can't believe how much of it is still on paper.
I wish the timing had worked out too!
I could use a caffeinated performance enhancing drug right now.

I just read Matilda a month or two ago. Charming book!

I have all of those sinkholes. I'm organized in some ways, but in others I'm a mess!



Deniz Bevan said…
Yes! I'm off to get my second cup of coffee :-)
Zan Marie said…
The sinkhole of house projects now that it's warm enough to open windows. That take time and money.
Deniz Bevan said…
Eek! House projects! And backburner stuff, like organizing all my saved recipes...
Golden Eagle said…
The YouTube playlist thing happened to me just yesterday. I saw a notice that four videos had been deleted and couldn't remember for anything the names of them.
Deniz Bevan said…
It's so frustrating!
Nick Wilford said…
Too many sinkholes when I think about it, best you can do is tread water (or sand?)

Happy Birthday Matilda! Sounds like a great contest to get kids reading.
Anonymous said…
I have some cabinet and closet space that are sinkholes. I jam everything in there to keep the rest of the house clean. I keep meaning to clean them out.
Deniz Bevan said…
I feel like I'm treading water sometimes, too, Nick!

I didn't even mention my closets, Medeia... It's a good thing we only have two in our condo!