{Just a Bit} OCD

Last fall, I was talking to my little sister on gchat (obviously, what else did I do when I worked at my old job?) when the following exchange took place:

Me: So then {two friends} and I decline plans altogether but in separate emails to add volume to the chain and distract from {other friend}

Gracie: Yeah that’s gold…  But all your friends are like… High strung

Gracie: By all I mean a few

Me:  By all you mean all.  And its true, we’re all crazy.

Gracie: Yeah, okay I was softening it. But if you agree then yes, all.

Me: It’s ok, I can accept it.

This is probably definitely an accurate representation of my life.  Not only do I tend toward the wheels-on-the-crazy-bus-go-round-and-round sentimentality more often than not, I happen to purposefully surround myself with friends and cohorts that do the exact same.  Gracie might argue that it exacerbates my tendencies, but I prefer to think that I’m just creating a supportive environment that embraces and understands me better.

Remember my intern days, filled with several running to-do lists? Yeah… nothing has changed, other than the emergence of my recent ability to adapt googledocs beyond the realm of undergrad/classes to organize my social life. Behold: the many uses of shared documents (all true, all scary… all borderline-crazyface YET EFFECTIVE)

Exhibit A: coordinated sub-email efforts to control larger email chains (see opening conversation)

Exhibit B: 100-square Bachelorette Bingo Drinking Game – just an average night of Monday night fun, created with a Googledoc table.

Exhibit C: 112 Things to Do in 2012 – one time I coerced encouraged my friends to help me brainstorm 112 bucket-list activities for this year.  Guess who is the only one that printed the list and actually checks things off?

Exhibit D: To kick off my upcoming housing search, I created a rating sheet with roommate columns, sub-categories, and a ratings system I stole from sorority recruitment.

names removed to protect my innocent future roommates, who are also very tolerant (read: share) of my organizational madness, and as you can see, don’t like hobbit-holes either.

Other Googledoc uses have included Thanksgiving Dinner sign-ups, baby shower book basket planning, and letter drafting.

I still keep running to-do lists at my desk for groceries, work tasks over the next week/two weeks/month, and life. Recently I’ve taken to using 3×5 note cards to plan my days/packing for trips, and I have finally achieved maximum organization to plan ahead and pack two days of clothing (including gym clothes and 3 pairs of shoes) and essentials into my work bag if necessary. Google calendar remains my dear friend (I still know what I was doing at 1:30pm on May 17th, 2010, thank you very much), and few things compare to the satisfaction of checking off a {perfectly square} little box on my to-do list.

Oh and recently, this photo on tumblr made me very happy:

pure happiness: the ultimate {ice} queen in coordinating colors.

So you see, a little organization never hurt anyone… Now I’m off to alphabetize some atrocious business cards and put my labeler (the single office supply I missed most during my interim time away from the Museum) to work!