What's on your desk?

[Aidan of the tavern]

Just a little idea for a game I had, and it doesn't have to be a desk, it could be your coffee table, shelf, etc. Anyway, the idea is to list 5 things on your desk, why they are there, and what they say about you. Don't go being selective, just the first things that catch your eye. So I suppose I'll start the ball rolling with my laptop desk:

A pile of White Dwarf magazines: Ah yes, before this was my laptop desk it was my LOTR model-painting desk, so I still have the reminders of my arty (nerdy?) adolescence.

An old laser mouse (as in computer): Looks a bit worn now, it used to be my brother's, but he passed it on to me. I only ever use it for playing Age Of Empires.

A framed photo of Welsh countryside: To remind me of my homeland, I think my dad took it years ago.

A silly little dish I made in a pottery class: Its glazed white with blue glass melted into the inside base. Maybe I should keep paper clips or something in it.

A duck brush: By that I mean like a clothes brush, in the form of a duck (why on earth is it even on this desk?!). It belonged to my late uncle and its the only way I've found of getting the fluff off clothes.

 

[Scribble]

Bag of baby carrots, hummus, bag of peanuts, bag of sunflower seeds, green tea in a box.

Sony Walkman MP3 Player.

Pile of pens and highlighters, sticky notes.

Nail trimmer, wooden foot massager (the kind you roll your foot on)

Dark sunglasses.

Two notepads, graph-lined.

Stack of books: Kim Thuy - Ru, Hermann Hesse - The Glass Bead Game, Francis Collins - The Language of Life, SharePoint Server Best Practices, SharePoint Development, SharePoint Web Content Management Development

Receipt for a used PC I just bought from work (a Dell 390 for $125 CAD)

Denon headset, Logitech mouse, two 17" Dell monitors, Dell Keyboard

A glass of water, a cup of green tea.

A mini Space Invaders electronic game from the 1980's.

 

[Pythagoras]

1. Empty beer mug
2. Deutsch als Fremdsprache dictionary
3. Tiki shot glass with two pencils (Black Dixon Ticonderogas, of course) and a pen
4. Two small pewter soldiers perpetually in battle against each other
5. Aviator sunglasses

With the exception of the Tiki with the pencils, everything is here because it's the last place I left them. The tiki with pencils is here because it's my desk.

 

[Spider]

An empty journal-- my aunt gave it to me, but I always have trouble deciding what to write in journals

A doodle book-- given to me by my friend, who knows of my tendency to draw on anything school-related and tried to contain my habit (with no luck).

My nook-- my dad got it for me because he was annoyed that I kept using his

A bottle of water

A little black spider-- always had a soft spot for the critters

 

[Weaver]

First, I should say that, technically, it isn't MY desk.

1) A clear plastic cylinder, originally containing bungee cords in various sizes, that is now used for storing lengths of plastic rod and tubing. My clone sometimes scratch-builds Warhammer 40K models, and sits at the desk while working on them. (Next to the plastic pieces, a pewter mug full of paint brushes, and next to that, another mug with the remaining pencils -- plus a Sharpie marker -- that the cat has not stolen yet. It's kinda a jumble in that corner.)

2) A small, empty box that once held 'Balance Bar' things in a flavor called 'Caramel Nut Blast' -- some kind of protein/nutrition stuff that is supposed to be food but isn't. My clone's idea for how to make himself actually eat more than once a day.

3) A copy of The Character Naming Sourcebook. Reason for it being on this desk ought to be pretty obvious.

4) A tin of wintergreem Altoids. Hmmm... He's away on a dig; he'll never notice if they disappear before he gets back.

5) A resin cast of the inner part of an Allosaurus claw. The Y-parent asked my clone, before going on vacation a few years ago to someplace known for dinosaur fossils, if he should bring anything back as a souvenir. Jokingly, my clone replied, 'Yeah -- an Allosaurus.' The cast of a claw was as close as he could get.

 

[teacup]

An empty teacup - Well, I guess that's obvious. It says that I need more tea.

Chemistry revision - for chemistry revision, what else? I guess it says I study hard...except for the fact that I'm doing this rather than studying...I'm on a break, okay?

A screwdriver - ...I don't even know why I have a screwdriver...

A pile of old revision from exams I've already done - I'm not very organised it seems.

(Ah here's my tea)
A full cup of tea - I was thirsty...

 

[WarriorPrincess]

Let me also start by stating...I don't have a desk.

But on my coffee table I have:

My Silver Sony Touch screen laptop - For writing my masterpiece and speaking to you guys of course.

A can of Coke zero, and a box of Donut holes (a girl can have a off day)

A few books from the wheel of time series by Robert Jordan

Composition books

And my telephone

 

[CupofJoe]

My Desk is a kitchen table...
Laptop [almost 1 year old - do I get the SDD or not?]
Bamboo pad [it's easier for drawing maps]
Printer [mainly unused]
Cup of Viennese coffee [brewed yesterday and chilled to almost icy]
Wristwatch [I take it off when writing]
A Microfibre cloth and a Blue-tooth headset [that isn't mine]

 

[Guru Coyote]

My desk is my lap.
On it sits my Mac.
I sit on my bed.
Good night!

 

[Aidan of the tavern]

An empty teacup - Well, I guess that's obvious. It says that I need more tea.

Chemistry revision - for chemistry revision, what else? I guess it says I study hard...except for the fact that I'm doing this rather than studying...I'm on a break, okay?

A screwdriver - ...I don't even know why I have a screwdriver...

A pile of old revision from exams I've already done - I'm not very organised it seems.

(Ah here's my tea)
A full cup of tea - I was thirsty...

Yes I've got loads of torn notes from past assignments which I just haven't bothered to move. Probably because I do the work in a few sittings and then don't want to do anything related to it for a while.

 

[teacup]

Yes I've got loads of torn notes from past assignments which I just haven't bothered to move. Probably because I do the work in a few sittings and then don't want to do anything related to it for a while.

My school friends have burned their old work. I decided to be environmentally friendly and hoarded mine. Yes, that'll do for a reason.

 

[Penpilot]

1 - An Optimus Prime Transformer - My desk is actually four desks put together in a C shape. (My command center.... haha) So I can keep a lot stuff around. I like to keep stuff that sparks my imagination, and when I was young, nothing sparked my imagination like giant robots. My desk is pretty cluttered with them.

2 - Cork Board with writing tips and notes on it - I used to have this grand vision of using a cork board and note cards to plan my stories, but it was too small and I found it easier to just to use a spreadsheet or the virtual cork board in Scrivener. So now the cork board is used for writing tips to keep me focused, story idea fragments, and map of a world for my next book.

3 - Pile of writing books - Well pretty self explanatory. Sometimes I need reminder/refresher on writing approaches, and there's nothing like skimming a writing book to give you ideas on how to tackle a problematic situation.

4 - Wrist brace - I have carpal tunnel syndrome.

5 - A cup of Chocolate Ovaltine- Never had it before, so I decided to give it a go. Not bad.
Forum won't let me post more than images... just imagine this... haha

 

[Pythagoras]

I've also got an affinity for the eight-legged ones. My friends are a bit disturbed by it.

 

[Filk]

penpilot - I have a cork board in that exact location. Mine's covered with maps I've drawn and index cards.

 

[Ireth]

1. My copy of Lord of the Rings, because I like looking at the elvish and dwarvish scripts and writing with them.

2. A lamp, because my window doesn't light up this corner of the room too well.

3. A notebook, in which I'm handwriting my Celtic/Norse mythology-mishmash WIP; also a pencil and eraser for said WIP.

4. A metal statue of an owl, which I got for Christmas a few years back. I love owls.

5. A tin of Werther's butterscotch candies, which I got as a gift a long time ago and haven't actually dived into yet.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

My office is a very tiny room with every wall surface covered with shelves and our two desks. Behind me is our research library of random knowledge. The bookshelves go from floor to our low ceiling. Under my left elbow is my writing reference library with all my writing books. My writing partner only tends to read the ones I'm actively reading and leave out, for some reason - maybe I should assign her reading lol.

The two desks are easy to tell apart. She is a very neat person, very organized - therefore her desk is pristine. Mine usually looks like a tornado hit it. I currently have 10 empty A&W Cream Soda cans - I am a minor caffeiner, and drink about 2 a day. I also only do trash once a week.

Hidden behind all the cans is a framed picture of my partner.

I have a pair of 3d glasses from Man of Steel, because the have the Superman logo on them, and are blue and very cool.

I have a tiny elephant for luck, in between 2 pocket dragon sculptures. One holds a cookie behind his back, and the other has an empty coffee cup.

On my right is a large stack of purple posties with my metal slinky sitting on top of it. I cannot live or work without either one.

On my CPU rests my Logitech headphones that I wear when gaming in vent and my Alliance baby griffon.

And then there is the pen jar of doom, actually a flower pot, that holds my massive collection of Pilot v ball grip extra fine pens. I am a huge pen freak and I can only write with the one kind... so I tend to buy in bulk. I dread the day they stop making them and I have to go out and find a new pen.

Oh! And on the floor behind my desk are the wrist braces I never wear, even though I should, because I am a goober.

 

[ThinkerX]

Hmmmm...should I answer this one? How much time do I have? How long will it take?

Ugghhh....

First off, my work area is TWO old line institutional office desks, arranged to make a sort of 'L' at the one end of my bedroom. Two walls of said bedroom have floor to ceiling bookshelves on them; the larger one fiction (fantasy and sf), the smaller one nonfiction (history, magic, astronomy, religion, geology, astronomy, and other weighty (and often dated) material. The larger set of shelves is also a sort of chaotic catch-all for tools, model railroad figurines (I have a model railroad in another room) and weird odds and ends.

As to the desk tops...

1) This computer, along with modem, printer, keyboard, keyboard and mouse pad, along with the tower and keyboard for my previous computer. In a month or two, I'm going to have to update. Uugghh...

2) Books and notebooks. Lessee...

2A - two notebooks with notes pertaining to my boring astronomy project
2B - volume one of 'Burnhams Celestial Handbook' (volumes 2 and 3 are around here somewhere)
2C - an olde pocket dictionary (I should probably get a new one), an olde thesaurus, a latin-english pocket dictionary, and a copy of the 'Emotion Thesaurus'
2D - two or three olde AD&D 'historical reference' books, along with their maps (the rest are around here somewhere)
2E - several small notebooks filled with cryptic notes made whilst browing the internet, along with several pens

3) two small 'organizer' deals stuffed to bursting with model railroad figurines and a model house

4) three calculators, including a nice scientific one from Texas Instruments

5) sheafs of papers, some of it astronomical, some AD&D, some WFRP, pertaining to my writing.

 

[Guru Coyote]

My school friends have burned their old work. I decided to be environmentally friendly and hoarded mine. Yes, that'll do for a reason.

You can write on the backsides. That's what I used to do with last year's worksheets and stuff. I folded them in half and put them in a ringbinder. Perfect notebook.
(That was back when teachers would hand out worksheets every class...)

 

[Aidan of the tavern]

Most of you sound like you actually have some kind of system going on. My desk has just kind of piled up in a very natural kind of way with very little organisation. If I need something I just rumage around and it moves to the top of the desk. I really have no sense of organisation .

 

[Sheilawisz]

This is a great thread, Aidan!!

Well, my bed is pretty much my desk and my Writing place at the same time. I keep many things on my bed during the day, which my friends always find strange when they visit my room for the first time...

Alright, here I go:

1- My plushies: A white duck, a giraffe, a cute little lion, a white and brown dog and two other creatures of unidentified Fantasy species, one red and the other purple.

2- My Dreams Diary.

3- All of my favorite DVD's.

4- My compass.

5- My white ice skates.

6- A little purple lamp.

7- A wine bottle from my last birthday.

8- My Super Mario 64 cartridge.

9- The printed editions of Joan of England 1 and 2.

10- The printed edition of Entre el Hielo y el Cristal.

11- TV and Satellite Dish remote controls.

12- My first Aluminum sword.

I do not sleep with all of this on my bed, I move everything every night and every morning. My plushies do sleep with me anyway, and I always keep my sword beside my bed.

Yeah, I am strange... I know!! =)