Underneath the display of lead figures is this mess:
"Mess" is a word that applies to many parts of the room I work in, but it's an orderly mess — I do know where everything is.
As you can see, the bulk of this section of the room is music CDs. Some I bought, some I inherited, some were given me, some arrived in exchange for equally naff CDs I was attempting to offload on not-as-unsuspecting-as-I-thought relatives (my dad gave me that pink tin of 5 CDs from the 60s "by the original artists" — yes, but not the version that was originally released). I have everything I want from these piles on my iPod now, though, so I may donate them to charity if I remember when I go into Colchester some day. I might put some in the car for when I forget the iPod, too.
To the left, on that hooky thing, is a pile of CDs that have things burned on them, mainly holiday pics (mine and my dad's) but also other stuff. The top one, for example, is a screen test I did to examine the feasibility of my delivering a streamed talk for the Technology Intelligence Group. Sadly, it was a test that failed — I'll be trying some other mechanism instead...
On top of the CDs is a CD wallet I got for Christmas from my dad, into which I shall be transferring the CDs currently on the hook when I get round to it.
Behind the CDs, you may be able to make out some cassette tapes. These have recordings of some of my radio appearances on them, and a few music compilations I used to play in a previous car (which had a tape player but not a CD player). Next to them, behind the CDs you can see, are some more CDs and DVDs; these have old but free software on them, and I haven't thrown them out either because I think there's a possibility they may be useful or I hold out hope that they may eventually be worth something (those early installation discs for Second Life and AOL could mean a fortune for my great-grandchildren) .
The box the CDs are standing on is one of two that I use for storing music cassettes. Inside are classical tapes featuring pieces by multiple composers. This is because I can't file them under a single composer's name, so they get put together. Both boxes are both pretty well full of tapes. I don't look in them as often as I might, because there's a hundredweight of CDs standing on top of them...
At the bottom right is a day-to-day diary where you make a paper aeroplane using the paper from the pervious day. I got this as a Christmas present from my wife's brother and family. I don't actually make the aeroplanes every day, though, because some need tape and other accessories, so I wait a few days and then do them in bulk. It renders the calendar aspect of it redundant, but this was never about the calendar, heh heh. I don't like all the designs, because I'm not generally in favour of guesswork in paper aeroplane construction and some of the plans they have involve folds that aren't exact (if you can't specify it in terms of matching up some corners, edges or other folds, I don't want to know). Some of them are a devil to make, too. So far, though, they've all flown well; I'll keep up with making them.