I put away stuff so well I can never find it
I looked all night, but couldn’t find the damn things. The legs to our broken TV. Why find parts of a device that doesn’t work anymore? Because tomorrow it will be fixed – hopefully.
We already bought a new TV and mounted it on the wall where the old one used to be. But we found a TV specialist who might be able to repair it. If that is indeed the case, we want to attach the legs to it, so we can place it anywhere – instead of having to mount it to another wall. But then we need the damn legs!
Now where on Earth did I put them? We never used them – we put the TV on the wall as soon as we bought it. I’m not the kind of person who would throw away things like that, also not by accident. So they must be in the house somewhere.
Though my girlfriend won’t agree, I consider myself a pretty organized person. I know where everything is, because I either leave stuff in plain sight (which to the untrained eye may look like a mess), or I put it away in one of many labeled boxes. These labels usually correctly identify the contents. (Why have labels otherwise, right?) But I will admit, the labels can be a bit vague sometimes, like “gadgets” or “furniture parts”.
My girlfriend was convinced the TV legs should be in one of the boxes in the attic. I had a feeling they were in my room. I looked in both places and couldn’t find them (that is, I looked in the boxes with labels that might contain them).
I also looked everywhere else, multiple times. No luck. Finally I gave up. Screw the old TV, we’re gonna watch Boba Fett on our new TV! (Episode 5 is terrific)
But before I went to bed, I decided to take one last look in the attic. Then I discovered there was one unlabeled box… I didn’t notice it before, because it was well, unlabeled. I realized my eyes had been scanning the labels, not the boxes. And sure enough, this box contained the TV legs, the screws, the booklet, everything.
I learned two lessons tonight. One: I’m not as organized as I think I am. Or maybe I’m too organized: I put away stuff so well, it’s impossible to find it back. Either way, my labeling system is not fool-proof. And two: my girlfriend is always right.