Besides the usual reference stuff, like dictionaries, thesauruses, and so on. Among other things I have a couple photos of my dad during WWII, a brass name-plate from my days as lawyer, a framed quotation from ee cummings on the wall above my keyboard: "To be nobody-but-yourself, in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else, means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting."
A decorative lamp of a boy holding the lamp itself. A small black ball of stone. A decorative bowl that usually contains fruit among normal people, mine contain old receipts. A small decorative porcelain container holding coins and a USB device. When I say decorative, I mean it's in antique style, with extravagant patterns and designs. Why? I just like it that way... Oh... and cups of tea...
Three guitars, a bass, a bunch of financial spreadsheets from work, and a half empty bottle of Macallan 12 that is looking mighty tempting at 2pm.
At the moment, a lot of half empty boxes because I'm still moving in. But I do have a closet that's designated for writerly stuff. I have a bookshelf in it with empty journals, binders of my old work, my poetry collection, and my books about writing. On the wall is a bulletin board, and then my signed Noah Gundersen poster, an exploding TARDIS from the Vincent Van Gogh episode of Doctor Who (my second favorite episode), a pressed flower from I don't know where, some artwork my sister did (a sunflower on canvas), and I'm going to get a photo printed my niece took and put it on one of the emptier spots. Oh, and Zac Hanson's autograph. All things to help me keep my creativity.
Damn dude, watch that keyboard!! I make sure never to move a beverage over the keyboard, after suffering a debilitating spillage once.
I guess I could go on. A pignut hickory nut, and yes it does look like a pig's nose; two feathers from my lovebird, stuck in a hole in piece of volcanic rock I picked up in San Francisco Bay nearly 40 years ago; a Waterford Crystal magnifying paperweight, and a daruma doll with only one eye filled in.
Stacks of books, cups full of pencils, pens and brushes (I also draw here), a camera, a 1/3 scale plastic skeleton and an ecorche figure standing next to it. Those are for drawing as well—an ecorche is a human figure with skin and some layers of muscle etc removed to show the construction underneath the surface. I also have boxes of drawings, sorted by decade, going back to the 80's.
Oh lord, a fucking mess. Let's see, a Turkish lamp that may or may not work, assorted foreign currency, a miniature Portal gun, scissors, two dollar-store calipers, a Tamiya semi tire on a 3d printed motorcycle wheel I designed, a pipe cutter, some textbooks, an artist's mannequin missing one leg from the knee down, a back massager (analog, not electric), a Predator action figure, a Finn action figure, an action figure of some Japanese lady from the AVP comics whose name I don't remember, a new webcam for my classes, a broken iPod mini, a bowl of assorted m3 nuts and bolts, some paint thinner, a cricket ball.... "Are we there yet?" "No, shut the f**k up you little %&'()#()'(&''#"&%'!"
Hand cream (I have very, very dry hands), a cup of hot chocolate, an empty mug that once contained tea, a stack of photoalbums, a selection of my books I regularly return to for research and all that in history etc..., a printer, my gas mask (yes, an actual gas mask), three knives (a swiss army knife and two kitchen knives (knifes? knives?---??.... it should be knipods or kniviis, much more cute and cuddly)), a metal ruler that I use to scratch my back with, my flute and finally my mechanical watch which is out of time because i havn't wound it in a few days now. There's also a bunch of office supplies like paperclips, pens, paper, etc.. a bunch of used tissues, an empty cardboard box. there's also a couple socks and clothes over my desk that I have yet to bother myself with moving it to the laundry basket.
Well I have a somewhat large desk that spans an L shape, or more accurately: 2 perpendicular sides of a square. In the corner is my computer. It has a glass panel and a red light illuminating all the circuitry. Then on one side of the square the monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Left of that, a large mug of water and smaller mug for coffee/tea. And an ashtray with my cigarettes next to that because I was an idiot in highschool. This constitutes the digital work/entertainment section. On the wall above, a bunch of pictures of stuff I like or find inspiring. Art and a couple of quotes I like. I also have a statuette of Annubis taking a soul from a sarcophagus that my parents picked up for me in Egypt. My mug also has a skull on it. Both of these were gifts from my family. I guess they think I'm pretty morbid. On the other side of the square, is the hand-writing/homework/drawing section. On one corner, all my supplies. Several pencils and pen and two rulers. And a big stack of notebooks and sketchbooks. I really need to find a way to be more organized. But each notebook is used for a different purpose. I also have a calendar nailed to the wall on that side. And a multipurpose pocket knife. And this side is right next to the window so when I'm bored or have cabin fever I can crack the blinds slightly and stare longingly at the pavement outside or my car parked on the curb.
Nah, we had a cricket ball at my old school as a classroom description item (What's this? What does it look like? How do you think you use it?). When the company went bankrupt it came along with me. I like it as a sort of a fidget ball, nice to toss up and try and get the spins just right to land it in your palm with the seam on a particular orientation.
Well, should you ever feel the urge to find out what all the fuss is about... https://cricket.or.jp/archives/regional_association/kinki-cricket-association
I feel lost without two screens so I always like to have another monitor plugged into my laptop. It makes referencing and research a lot easier while writing and I've grown very accustomed to it. Other than that? Speakers and headphones, external hard drive, notebooks, books, pens, a coaster and water bottle. I try to keep it fairly tidy.
A 7-year old banana which, instead of going mouldy, somehow became petrified, therefore I’ve kept it as evidence of an incredible and unknown force at work in the Universe; thinking about getting it mounted in a display case. A Venus Flytrap which I’m trying to convert to Vegan Flytrap but not having much success. An ashtray purloined from a restaurant in Krakow, now holding several hundred Fender 354 medium shell plectrums, one of which - borrowed by a friend - travelled all the way to Singapore, where it lived out its best life for 3 years before miraculously returning to the fold: forever changed, but not unusably so.
How about non-digital references near at hand? I have (1) The Chicago Manual of Style - 15 (2003); (2) Ragbag of Legal Quotations (1960); (3) The Art of Readable Writing, Rudolf Flesch (25th Anniversary Edition 1974); (4) Dictionary of Humorous Quotations (1949); (5) Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (3d Edition 1979); (6) Indirections for those who want to write by Sidney Cox (1981); (7) Strunk & White, The Elements of Style (3d Edition 1979); (8) Roget's Thesaurus (4th Edition 1979); (9) The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry (1973); and (10) The New Oxford American Dictionary (2d Edition 2005). Most of them are remnants of my tenure as a legal editor, some are garage sale and similar pickups, and the oldest ones were inherited. I find all of them useful, though of course on-line sources are handier; when I pick up one of the hard books, I tend to wander off point.
At the moment? a messy counter top with 2 empty bottles of Mike's Hard [insert flavor], an empty bowl of dinner from 4 hours ago, a water bottle, a couple of chargers, my ipad, my phone, 3 notebooks, and rubber cement (i have no idea why i have rubber cement beside me....) I actually made a little reading/writing spot for myself in the basement. Painted it, put in a bookshelf, a nice floor lamp. repurposed a couch and bought a couch cover that reminds me of the Beatles' Yellow Submarine movie (very psychedelic). Bought me a few giant psychedelic, mixed matched pillows. Only reason i'm not down there is because I dont have window curtains yet, and it creeps me out working down there with a dark window right across from me. I keep thinking I'll look up one night and see something looking down through the window at me.... So its my day work space, I guess. for now
