Sunday, January 27, 2008

Clutter and more clutter











I’ve been cleaning the room I’m using as my atelier. This is where I do my drafting, design work, and my paintings. It’s a small room, 12’ x 12’, and it has my drafting table, a console table, a rack and my easels; and it is now cluttered with a lot of things. I have hardly any room to move around. I have to sort out all the clutter – throw some away, shred some, keep some and organize them. I have an old record player I have to discard. I thought I could still play my old vinyl records, the turntable, however, doesn’t work anymore, and so does the cassette player. The radio is the only one that works and the speakers which are in very good condition. I, however, have decided that it has to go bye-bye.

Old documents I have sorted out careful. Those with vital information I have to shred them. That would prevent identity thieves from stealing them; old magazines, books, others I tossed in a recycle box.

As I sorted through the pile I found a poem written by “Boney.” I’ve been looking for this poem for a long time; and I found an old Christmas card dated Dec. 1993, which was sent to me by a young woman. I met her three years before that. She was a nice young Filipina born and bred back home. She was charming; has so much respect for her elders, always addressing me and my husband with that word “po.” I rarely hear those words nowadays, except of course here in the internet from young men and women born and raised back home. After she sent me that card, she stopped coming to my house. From what I heard she’s doing well. I miss her and I wish the best for her.

I found a shoe box full of old letters from back home, dating back in the 80s. I reread some of them, and then shredded each one of them. Letters from my mother are still tucked away in my closet, untouched.

The books and magazines I kept are now organized on their respective shelves. My drafting table, however, is still cluttered. I am slowly sorting them, and I found some old poems which I have written sometime ago. My sketches will be filed in an album.

To this day I am still sorting some odds and ends. It’s been more than a week already. I thought I could do it in a day or so, but it’s taking me longer than that.

The poem by "Boney."

Stan and Sam

There was a man
Named Stan
Who drove a van
And owned a toucan
Named Fran.
Bored on the road the man,
Drove over a soda can
And stopped his van;
And fell asleep with Fran,
His beloved toucan.
Unbeknownst to him his van
Was unlocked, and Stan,
The next morning drove his van
And heard a voice not of Fran.
The voice said, “Sam, I am.”
He looked around and saw Sam
Sitting behind a can of Spam.
The voice said again, “Sam, I am,
And I do not like Spam,
Please being me green eggs and ham.”
So Fran told Stan
To drive to Pam’s
Where he traded the Spam
For unknown Sam’s
Green eggs and ham.
When Stan returned to his van
With green eggs and ham
To his surprise there was a man
On top of Sam.
For Sam wasn’t a man
But a woman named…Samantha.

“Boney”

****************************

30 comments:

Pepe said...

Oi, malinis na ha-ha....! Okay na yan Mari, masmaliit pa nga dyan ang working area ko dahil nasa isang corner lang ng living room sya tapos naglagay lang ako ng dalawang magkatabing tables, one short and one normal height, chair, easels, lightings, at ang mga paints, pens, pencils, pastels, etc. ko.... Mukha pa nga syang work of art din kasi parang yung display sa mga museum ang dating ng pag-setup ko plus the stains ng paints na magandang tingnan.... Importante lang organized ang mga gamit at hindi pakalatkalat.... =D

Nance said...

ohhh, i should do the same ... can't even see the top of my desk anymore! I don't know why we accumulate so fast.

Have you found any treasure yet from your sorting? :)

that is a cute poem! it puts smile on my face! lol thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

cleaning and organinizing is always one job I keep putting off. More power to you, mari!

I have a hard time throwing old letter and cards away. I have a couple of boxes of them in the closet. yikes!

Anonymous said...

sa akin bawas ng clutter kung lumilipat ng bahay...dati kasi ako vagabond/hobo :P

Nini said...

the rhymes were so carefully crafted there. very entertaining poem.

come to my room, it looks like the twin room. good luck sorting, everything seems important when it's time to throw away.

nini

Mari said...

pepe,
Buti ka organized yung studio mo. Ako kasi aayusin ko pagtapos di magtatagal ay magugulo na naman. Ngayon talaga kelangan ng magbawas para di masyadong makalat.
Malapit na at makakapag-painting na rin ako.

Mari said...

nance,
Yeah, can't use my table anymore because of the mess on top. LOL

I found some old pictures tucked between papers, a newspaper clipping, and other stuff.

Thanks for dropping by.

Mari said...

jmom,
It's about time I clean and organize. Too much junk already.

Mari said...

backpacker,
That's a plus for a vagabond...no clutter.


nini,
I have to consult with my hubby if I can throw away some very old documents. So my shredder was working overtime.

tina said...

im like that too. my desk is full of all that "clutters". i clean it one day and it goes back to it's original clutter after two days. oh well.. :)

Anonymous said...

Bakit nga ba hindi nauubos yang mga yan, kahit ilang beses akong magtapon dito ng mga kalat laging marami pa rin. Mga test papers at books pa lang kasi ng mga kids yearly ang dami na.

Mari said...

tina,
Ha ha I'm like that, too. Clean one day, and in 2 days it's cluttered again. But this time I'm overhauling the whole room. LOL

Have a great day.

Mari said...

ann,
Oo nga. Normal siguro yun. May mga taong laging maayos at malinis ang bahay...hindi ako ganoon. Ha ha ha

Ingat lang.

Anonymous said...

yey! himala sa lahat ng himala! nakapasok ako lol!
Nice poem Mari. Minsan yung mga things natin esp with sentimental value ang hirap i-let go.
Ako rin may maliit na room sa pinas,andun lahat ng drawing paraphernalias ko :)

Mari said...

nona,
Naghimala ang Blogger. LOL At hanggang ngayon ay naghihimala pa rin...hindi ako makapasok sa loob. LOL

Totoo yung sabi mong mahirap pakawalan ang mga may sentimental value.

Ingat.

ghee said...

nice Boney poem,Mari :)

you have lots of paintings pala,i hope you would post them in your gallery one day.They worth to be displayed :)

ive heard that artists prefer their desks and their stuffs as is,they dont want anyone to put them in places coz it would be a disturbance to their work :)

Mari said...

ghee,
Some of those paintings need to be retouched, I just don't have the time to do them.

A cluttered desk makes one looks busy. Di ba? LOL

Have a great day.

Gina said...

Hi Mari! So...this is your digs (blogsite)! When you first left a comment on my 'Take it From Me'(now i renamed it Light and Shade' blog (which is just my test site for templates), I clicked on your name but found no link.
My main site by the way, is the Not From the Peanut Gallery . Hopefully, mapasyal ka =)
Anyway, let me do some more reading here...
Have a nice one!

Mari said...

gina,
Yeah, this is my site. It's full of sh..., err, whatnots. Whatever comes to mind, I post it here. I will take a trip to your site.

Care to link?

Thanks.

Anonymous said...

blogwalking..hoping for xlink! thaks

Vk-mahalkaayo said...

hello Mari,

kumusta na, hope everything is ok, not like what you post-pics, here....lol

the kids room-table too, i have headache pagpumasok ako sa mga room nila, kaya laging closed and door nila, pra hindi daw ko makita.
at sabi nila, Private na daw nila yon room nila....bahala na daw sila.

Thank you very much, again....speechless ako for having you as my true friend......

regards

Vk-mahalkaayo said...

ay oo nga ako rin, ang daming, files na ewan ko kung anu-ano na lang....

meron pa nga yon 1st n the last letter from bernie....so mag-25 yrs, na,....ako rin si file ng file, hanggang hindi na mapasok lahat, minsan nasira ang shelves or closet.

Si bernie, si tapon yon,...reason nya, wala daw kaming lugar.....underground and attic full daw sa mga basura.....lol

si ako naman, mahilig magtago, hala tago kahit hindi na kailangan.....

sabi pa nya, kung matanda na daw kami, wala na daw kaming energy, sino daw ang magtapon or karga sa mga basura ko......tapos MAHAL daw ang basura....lol

sigi, uwi na ako, my eyes pababa naman....

bye n regards to all

Mari said...

don,
I dropped by your site earlier; it's a good one. How about linking?

Thanks.

Mari said...

vicki,
Tama si Bernie. Masyado na ngang maraming basura ako, kelangan na talagang magbawas. Si mister nagbawas na rin siya matagal na at ngayon maluwag na ang files niya. Shred niya yung mga luma at hindi na kelangan.

Magaling ka na? Huwag ka masyadong magpagod para gumaling kaagad.

Thanks for dropping by my site.

Take care.

Gina said...

Hi Mari!
I've linked you already after I visited your site yesterday =)
I see that you put me in your blogroll too. Thanks!

Pepe said...

Good weekend Mari, still busy cleaning pa rin ba....? I haven't posted any new drawings in my art-blog yet kasi talagang busy lately sa trabaho, pero madami na akong naka-lineup na mga sketches naghihintay na lang na tapusin ko.... Anyways, have a wonderful end of the weekend, trabaho na naman ulit bukas and take care....! =D

Anonymous said...

Thanks Mari, I link you up already!

Mari said...

gina,
Thanks.


pepe,
I'm sorting out some of my paperwork, sketches and whatnots. Some I'll post.

Have a good weekend yourself.


don,
Thanks.

Unknown said...

I'm having a hard time maintaining my desk or my room clean. Ewan ko po ba, pero pag naglinis ako at nagbawas ng mga kalat, bukas magulo na ulit..

Mari said...

razzy,
Same here. Clean today, messy again tomorrow. ha ha ha Pareho lang tayo.