Paperclip Chains

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Periodically, when I need a paperclip, I reach into my handy box of paperclips and pull out one, only to find an entire chain of clips trailing behind.

I find this surprisingly irritating as it automatically impedes the normal rhythm of my day, as I must carefully unhook clip after clip. I couldn't understand who had the time or the necessary boredom to link the clips together and then the rudeness to leave them in the supply area where I occasionally went to grab another handful of clips.

I am too embarrassed to confess how long it was before I realized that it was I who linked those clips together.

Something about a phone call where I am concentrating on what a person is saying, yet not needing to take copious notes, brings out the paperclip-chaining in me.

I guess now I have only to figure out what activity I must do to bring out the paperclip-unchaining in me.

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