Makiko Itoh : Not a nameless cat.

It’s the 10th day of the new year, and I’m deep into a satisfying process of decluttering my life. Besides getting rid of two jumbo bags of unwanted clothes (those funny conference giveaway t-shirts must multiply like bunnies in the closet) I’ve also called up and cancelled a number of subscriptions and services that I don’t really want to continue.

It’s quite annoying that so many places want you to call them to cancel, when they let you sign up oh-so-easily online. But of course they do so in the hope that the customer service rep can try to talk you out of cancelling.

When I make the effort to call a number to cancel, my mind is firmly made up that I am not going to renew or whatever under any circumstances. On the other hand, I don’t want to get into a protracted argument with the rep person, who is after all only doing her job.

The ability to download whatever one wants with no restrictions has its disadvantages.

Happy New Year!

2007 was quite an eventful year, which ended on a very sad note around here. I have so many mixed feelings about the passing of Martha…she was a lovely lady, but also very tradtionally minded. She was after all born in the 1920s, and had only been out of the country once in her life. I remember vividly one time when we were discussing our new neighbors. She was marveling at how ‘international’ the village was becoming - Frau T. was from northern Italy, and Frau S. was from the Ticino!

I so, so need to clean the house from top to bottom.

I feel the clutter and the mess holding me down, like a big weight. It’s holding me back from doing so many things! Argh.

I need to make a list of where to start, I think. And I start playing with iGTD and OmniFocus beta and get all distracted.

This can’t do at all.