Even though I try to keep my desk tidy, there are lots of things on it. Most of them don’t merit a second glance; they are just the things I use every day.
To open my eyes, though, I’ll take a close look. You follow along. Grab something from your desk now…what did you pick up? I’m holding my dictionary.
Here are a dozen questions to get you started. Of course you’ll see more details than this, so don’t stop here…
- What does it weigh?
- Does it make a sound?
- What scent does it have?
- Does it have the same texture all over it?
- What color is it?
- Is it in good condition?
- Is it warm or cold?
- What size is it?
- Where do you keep it on your desk?
- How does it move?
- Can you taste it?
- What do you call it?
1. My dictionary weighs about the same as my half-full coffee mug. 2. If I flip through the pages quickly, it sounds like a bird in flight; if I hold it by the spine and flap it, it makes a flop-flop noise like someone running. 3. A light sniff smells sweet, probably from all the candy that I nibble at my desk. If I open it and take a good whiff of the pages, I’m transported back to my school library. 4. It is a little bit tacky on the covers, and the edges of the pages are soft and dry. 5. The cover is dark dark navy blue with white and yellow writing ad bright red, green and yellow designs. On the back cover there is a pale green and pink sample entry. 6. I’ve used it a lot, so the edges of the cover are burnished white and the corners are bent and curled back. The pages are turning darker at the edges and there’s an accidental pen mark on the outside. The pages from vernier to vision are folded at the bottom corner; from amity to ante are folded down at the top. 7. The book is warm on the outside where I’ve been handling it, but the pages inside are cooler. 8. Its height is exactly the same as the length of my left hand from wrist-bone to the tip of my middle finger. 9. It stands to the left of the Japanese dictionaries and to the right of the Final Cut Pro manuals. Before I had the manuals on my desk, it was next to my wooden card file. 10. If I sit it spine down, it opens itself to page 564-564, pitch to plane. If I pitch the book across the room is decidedly un-plane lake. Not a bit aerodynamic. 11. I hesitate to actually eat my book, but I can imagine it would be slightly sweet and salty with a strong taste of acid from the cheap pulp paper it’s printed on. 12. I only have on English dictionary, so this is just “the dictionary.” But it calls itself “The OXFORD Paperback DICTIONARY & THESAURUS” which is entirely too long for daily use.
