My Printer Vs. Me

I spent much of the day yesterday fighting with my printer.
This was about as rewarding as it sounds.
Actually, I made a little bit of progress. I purchased a cartridge. And once home, I spent some time looking at the printer, which does a hesitant job of printing anything. The thing beeps “paper jam” at me, even though there never actually is a paper jam. It’s lying. Which is jarring.
But at least I am getting to know my printer. I even read a few sentences in the instruction manual (God, being unemployed is boring.) I never really thought before about how the printer can also be used as a fax. Does that mean that if I just put the phone jack in there that the thing will fax something? I think it might. Or do I need to get a dedicated fax line? Cause I am not doing that. I hate faxes. But there’s a certain Vanity Fair writer who told me to fax my resume so he can ignore it. The manual seems to indicate I can really use this as a fax. We shall see.
My home office is in my home, but it’s not much of an office. This never mattered until the ax fell, but now I have learned, speedily and dramatically, that what one needs in a living space changes dramatically when one does not have a work space. I am even getting tired of sitting my fat ass in my glorious red chair, where I have been living since being informed that my career is over.
I have unpacked the boxes and put the crap in the right space—generally speaking. But I need to go through now and throw most everything out. But can I do that when I am feeling poor? Isn’t that toss-it-away instinct a better bet when one has a job? I think so. Right now I would instinctively be afraid to toss out things. Even though it’s still probably not a bad notion.
I promise this: if someone hires me to do a full-time job at a full-time salary (they rarely go together any longer), then I will throw away the things I see right now that should go: the awards I’ve won, the Rolodex from the 1990s exclusively packed with names from New Jersey, the files with story ideas that are not worth pursuing. Probably would not be a bad idea to toss the damn printer, too.