Feng Shite: A Little Book of House Messing
25 journalers for this copy...
Tiny book, good for a laugh of rueful recognition.
I follow the dictates in this book all the time - ie I do no housework (as Quentin Crisp so wisely said, the dust doesn't get any worse after 2 years)
Released 18 yrs ago (3/22/2006 UTC) at Controlled Release in -- Controlled Release, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- United Kingdom
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
Sent to pooh-bear71
Released 17 yrs ago (4/22/2006 UTC) at
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
My flat would look like that if my mother would allow it! I'm glad to hear that stains and mess are useful parts of modern lives. This little inteligent book comes to prove that our karmas benefit from dust and crammed rooms!
I hope that you all like it, as much as I did. I really enjoyed it.
The book left today for Tazzell in Scotland.
You must admit this: My mistake (not telling Boirina in Portugal this was actually a Ray) goes perfectly well with the ... ehem... spirit of the book. I'm sure that my karma has benefited greatly from my own chaos!!! Just pity on those who have to suffer me!!!
Off in the post to bargainqueen today.
Thanks for sharing veleta :D
Loved the book, and loved the little message veleta sent me. Thanks! So I will pm the next person and send it on it's merry way. Thanks so much for sharing!
The one about not putting CDs back in the correct cases (which "will create hours of fun for your anally retentive loved one") did backfire, as I'm quite retentive enough myself, thanks, and while I don't mind (much) if my CDs are scattered throughout several drawers and shelves, I rely absolutely on the correct CD being in the correct case, and would prefer that they not be re-cased at all to being put into the wrong case. Why that pickiness does not translate to more useful areas, such as keeping up with the dish-washing, I do not know.
Will pass this along as soon as I get azuki's address, along with a couple of the bookmarks (I'm keeping one for myself). Thanks for sharing this!
Update: the book's on its way to azuki in Florida. Enjoy!
Finally I realized how ridiculously long I have kept this teeny book with me, so I sat down and finished the rest of it so I can kick it out of my house! (which is not to say I didn't enjoy reading it)
Now it is on its way to Cross-patch!! I posted it yesterday, sorry I couldn't before:(
Thank you Veleta for organising this bookring!:)
I'm so ashamed! Every page, yes, every page scores a hit. Very funny.
Anna Crosbie forgot the stairs. A wonderful place for leaving things to be taken up, leave them long enough and you'll need them sooner downstairs than if they'd managed to get to the right room.
Thanks for posting and sharing one and all
Off to Xanthe-pup next
Released 17 yrs ago (3/15/2007 UTC) at -- Controlled release in St. Austell, Cornwall United Kingdom
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
Off to Singapore and Toyjoy by air-mail
I soo agree with constantweader - Crosbie must have been to my apartment! LOL! Actually, I'm trying to get a handle on my house mess, and this book I think can actually be helpful in that endeavor. Because there are things in here that do tend to highlight how mess arises and what you should NOT to if you don't want that kind of mess. Gasp!! Is this book in fact attempting to subliminally subvert us away from the very beliefs it claims to promulgate ... ??? :-o
A very entertaining book, in any case! I'll have to look through it and pick a few favorites to post here. Thank you for sharing, veleta! The book will travel soon ... I have another bookray which is going to Hippolein next, I'm reading it now and will send both when I've finished it.
Am really looking forward to seeing where this book will travel in the future ... ! :-D
CREATING BALANCE IN YOUR ENVIRONMENT
Use the top of the wardrobe to build a structurally challenged pile of things you might one day either throw away or store in the loft.
POT PLANTS
Kill them. Leave them in situ for six months before burial.
DISH MOUNTAIN
‘This needs soaking’ is a House Messing mantra. Use and abuse it.
COFFEE TABLES
Buy one with a lower shelf designed to display posh, oversized photographic books (Big Cats Close Up and New York Loft Architecture type of thing). Use the lower shelf to create an 8ft2 living sculpture called I Think My Lost Car Keys Are In There Somewhere.
FENG FRIDGE
Cover your fridge door with magnets, memos, alphabet sets, shopping lists, favourite greeting cards and cartoon strips. This will replace a clean, white empty surface with a random visual explosion – Feng Shite at its finest.
PENS
Never, EVER throw one out.
CUPBOARDS
Are not for storing things. They are for hiding things.
THE POWER OF PROCRASTINATION
Where possible, buy clothes that require hand washing. They will linger in your laundry for considerably longer than machine-washable items and take twice as long to dry.
I’M BORED OF THIS NOW
Constantly start new hobbies and quickly learn to dislike them. Their incomplete creations make a unique breed of House Mess.
IT MIGHT BE WORTH SOMETHING SOME DAY
Live in false hope that if you keep all your phone cards, postcards and cartoon character bubblebath bottles, they might one day be of value at some nondescript Collectibles Fair.
BUBBLE WRAP
Is an endangered species! Save all used bubble wrap regardless of how much you already have saved and how little space you have in which to store it.
Released 16 yrs ago (3/10/2008 UTC) at To the next participant in Bookring/Bookray, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- Canada
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
This little gem is finally on its way to Hippolein in Finland. Better late than never. :-) I actually sent it off yesterday but forgot to journal it then. Happy travels, little book! It's travelling with another book.
Thank you for sharing, veleta and everyone!! :-)
Looking very much forward to check this one out, then send it to the next person (is a VERY small book with lots of text...)
My wife liked it a lot too, she's still having a second look at the book to find the points that are not ok in our appartment ...
Going for a trip to the UK now ;-)
this cute slime green book came today in the mail from midlifecrisis in the UK. Thanks for passing it on, I think. It's not growing anything and it didn't stick to my fingers, so I'm sure I'll get it read quickly and sent on. Thanks for making this a BXing book ConstantWeader! And hey Veleta, this was a great idea for a ray.
Sorry veleta, I didn't know the list had changed as the changes were made by editing a journal entry instead of making a new one that would go out to everyone.
What a cute little book. Totally fits in with my life style :P Thanks for organizing this ring!
Found it and am sending it off sometime this week end.
Sorry for the delay.
Released 15 yrs ago (2/16/2009 UTC) at Bookring/Bookray, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- Canada
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
Sending to the next participant. Hope you enjoy it !
Happy easter everyone, don't eat too much chocolate;o)
Waiting for seethroughfaith's address so I could send the book.
30 April: seethroughfaith asked to be skipped, PMing hakkalina
The list of next readers can be found here: Forum Post
Or can read here to make easier the followers's situation:
Bookguide (The Netherlands)
eMeReS (The Netherlands)
Violetcumble (Australia)
Erishkigal (USA)
Moriquen (Belgium)
Bongalonga (UK)
Updtae: 2009.05.22.
Sorry I forgot to post it, and now I am ill, but at the end of the next week I will try to mail it. Thanks your patience.
Sorry about the delay.
It goes by airmail to The Netherlands.
Thank you for the small but perfectly formed bookmark and I'm sure my daughter will love the fairy stickers ;-)
(a) teenagers (otherwise known as fully automatic mess-creating units;
(b) BookCrossing. Just think of all those piles and banana boxes of books, notebooks to keep track of rings, envelopes and packing materials, stickers, labels, sticky tape, bookmarks and postcards to send on ;-)
(c) Gardening mess. Obviously you need to collect a complete set of seeds from the seed catalogue, so then you need to amass large numbers of empty toilet rolls, pots of various sizes, several different sorts of soil, fertilisers, etc. etc. etc. And naturally you never put everything away, but leave it at the front of the potting bench so you have to reach over to get the stuff at the back, usually knocking something over in the process.
I was disappointed not to learn any new techniques; it seems that I already practise at an advanced level of house messing (not really a surprise!). I particularly liked (and already implement):
Sheng Chi - This is good chi: a positive energy that flows in a meandering fashion. Make it by leaving your briefcase, sports bag, or whatever else is necessary on pertinent areas of the floor, so it obstructs the most direct walking routes between rooms. Meander past it. - Check!
Harmonizing your inner & outer spaces. Keep stale bread inside your bread bin, and fresh bread outside your bread bin. - Check!
And, of course, Feng Fridge. - Check!
Released 14 yrs ago (7/28/2009 UTC) at Bookring, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
I now feel very virtuous to be in some (very small way) to be decluttering my house by sending this book on to eMeReS. Or, alternatively, in the spirit of Feng Shite, I should be regretting the space it creates!
This book has been released as part of the following BookCrossing challenges:
- Reduce Mount TBR (To Be Read) - read and release books on the TBR list since before Jan. 2009. My reading goal is 46 books.
- The Ultimate Challenge - read and release books, with extra points for a monthly theme
- Pages Read Challenge - read a self-set target number of pages in 2009. My goal is 25000.