I have some thoughts tonight about the papers I gather . I gots a lot of paper . . . -Tonight, after I got home , I decided to take a stab at the pile of papers I have set aside to look at later. The pile consists mostly of Magazines, subscription renewal notices, charity donation requests for my 2 years dead Mother, and various articles that I pull out of the aforementioned magazines. A lot of times , I pick up the mail, sort my brother's and mine and then bring my pile to my room . I pick out the bills and leave the rest to deal with the in the distant "later". "Later" can take a long time to arrive . I am not too rushed in creating "later". "Later" may never come. I would much rather go out and have a good time than rush home to take care of my junky mail. I am pretty good at ignoring things . .. -When I was a kid, I loved the idea of having my very own subscription to a magazine. I think my first subscription was to Young Miss. Later , to Seventeen. As I matured , I had a subscription to People,Glamour & Cosmopolitan. Oh the the untold damage Cosmopolitan did to me in developing certain expectations about relationships. Both Glamour & Cosmo always made me feel like , no matter what , it was my fault if things went wrong in my relationships . I eventually realized , I am not that powerful and sometimes things are not meant to be. That being said, I loved getting those magazines in the mail. It was such a treat to come home and have a surprise waiting for me !!!! . . . okay , well, I knew it was coming , so it wasn't exactly a surprise. Still , I loved looking at the pages of those things. I dreamed of fashion and beauty and wearing make-up and nice clothes and shoes. Loved it ! -When I was a kid, they had some sort of program where you could order books at school . There were all kinds of topics covered. I loved ordering those books and I loved getting those books. Mum wasn't too excited about paying for them , but I treasured those books. On the day I received them , I would stop whatever I was doing and start reading them . Some of my favorite summer memories for me are me listening to the radio (AM) and reading for hours at a time . I'd "waste" beautiful summer days inside reading. That is still my favorite way to spend a vacation. -Don't ever donate to a charity, ever, . .. ever . . .If you do, don't give them your real name or let them know where you live . And , especially, don't donate to any catholic charities. Those suckers share their mailing lists with each other like nobody's business. My Mother's been dead for almost 2 years and she's still getting solicited for money 3 times a week. It's really a form of abuse ! I am still finding unopened envelopes from when Mum was alive. She didn't know what to do with the mail and couldn't throw away the pleas from Indian reservation orphans and legless painters . . . the pain, the pain . . she was terrified of chain letters. Not me, I break 'em without hesitation . I'm still alive, you don't speak for God or the Blessed Mother, don't threaten me with your imaginary curses ! Your pyramid schemes of dollars and t-shirts . I don 't care ! -I keep the junk mail to actually go through it in case it's not actually junk mail. I received an envelope recently that looked like a subscription renewal form, I opened it , it was a check. -Publishers' Clearinghouse -Leave me alone !!!! I am not going to win ! I know it, you just refuse to believe that I know it . I don't have to the time to go through every piece of paper in your envelope. Scratch this , attach it there , wait three days, mail it , stick this thing there , put it in the pink envelope, circle your initials. I'm not playing that. However, I am terrified that some information will get out into the trash which will be fished out by some dumpster diver and then used to create another me .. . . just leave me alone -I cut my name & address from every piece of mail. It's slightly easier than putting it through the shredder . Labor intensive, but I will continue in this manner until I come up with an acceptable alternative. I chop it into tiny little pieces like I am getting ready to decoupage something. -Yes, this is a little crazy and a lot messy, -I still love getting stuff in the mail. I love my magazines. I love reading them . I love having something new to read all the time. I also , flip through magazines quicker now. I just read what is interesting then I recycle them , either to friends or out in the recycling trash. -This was on my mind tonight. Perhaps not the most scholarly missive you will read , however, I hope it doesn't sound too crazy . . . .