“Creative Chaos” …goodbye Prickles… 37th Expo
One of our clients called yesterday to say she wants to stop by my office to drop off some tickets to an event. Oh, no, what am I going to do? No one ever actually stops by in person anymore. Business is done totally by email, phone, text, Facebook, LinkedIn, Alignable, Twitter and the such. But stopping by in person? As I look around my office I feel I have two choices, clean up this mess of a space I call “creative chaos” or just present it as “creative chaos” with a laugh. I mean there is stuff everywhere. On the wall is what we in the magazine and newspaper business call the “morgue”. Shelves of the old editions carefully labeled as to which month and year they are. Problem is, I ran out of shelf space now that we are in our 23rd year because I need space for at least 276 slots with about 10 hard copies in each space. Nope, the morgue has flowed out onto the floor along with other items such as wrapping paper from Christmas, old electronics waiting the next recycling event, piles of old newspapers, press releases and other paper items. Paper, paper everywhere. I thought this was the paperless generation. I will get around to recycling ALL of it. None of my “creative chaos” will end up in the landfill. I have my own landfill right here, and a client will be here today at 4 pm. I have to do something about this. I can’t let her see this mess. Archeologists should have a dig in my office and help me date some of these artifacts. But I need to stop talking and get to work. Where is that big recycling bag. Oh, over there against the closet door full of papers. There I go again, talking instead of cleaning. I could wait until Spring. That’s when everyone cleans. But she is coming at 4pm today! I can use the “creative chaos” gag. Yea, that’s what I will do. All creative people are messy. Have you seen Van Gogh’s studio? Oh, neither have I, but I bet it was messy. And what about all the other newspaper and magazine offices in the world, I bet they have piles of stuff everywhere and they win Pulitzer prizes. Dang, it’s almost noon and it will take me at least three hours to clean up this mess before she gets here. Someone once said a cluttered desk is the sign of a genius. Well move over Einstein, JB Lester is in the house. I should be proud of this, not embarrassed. So I am gonna stand by who I am. I am going to take ownership of my creative chaos… Dang it, I better get moving. What if she shows up early?
Strong winds toppled our 32-foot Blue Spruce we called Prickles this past week. I know, it wasn’t like losing a family pet. But my wife Niki gave me the then 6-foot Prickles right after we moved into our house on Innisfail Drive 24 years ago. As she grew, we donned Prickles with holiday lights as a beacon of joy for the neighborhood. And now she is gone. She was home to many birds and squirrels over the years. She had just gotten her cones. Prickles was a part of our family and will be surely missed.
Hey, stop by our 37th Natural Living Expo on March 31 in Webster Groves. It will be the best expo ever and you can find out more about the expo on page 4 and get 2 for 1 tickets on page 5.
See You At The Expo, J.B. Lester; Publisher