Move To Trash

So over the weekend I finally got around to tackling my email inbox. I know I have an assload of storage but really ... five thousand two hundred and forty five? I'm kind of ashamed admitting that that is what was still needing to be banged away at after I had already half-heartedly given it a go here and there over the previous few days.

Mostly not spam, either. Gmail is really pretty good about catching that stuff and what few do slip through I usually delete straight away. I'm just an e-hoarder and things clearly had gotten out of hand.

Did I really need to be hanging on to TUT's Adventurers Club (where philosophy meets adventure) Subject - Welcome Supercoolhappylovething!? Why the hell did I ever go there anyhow to sign up getting periodic "notes from the Universe"? Apparently I must have been in a different place back then in 2006.

And I swear to God I do not recall ever signing up to receive special offers and new release bulletins from Naughty Flixxx but I'm pretty sure I must have. They really don't have that spam factor, sleaze maybe but the more respectable sort, and I have perused the adult section of the Interweb from time to time so ... most likely one of those sneaky opt-out versus opt-in sign up things and it has gone on for a few years running now.

Keeping too, messages from friends with the best of intentions gone awry, just because I found them amusing. But I'll never page back through to read them again, why am I still hanging on? This is a gem I discovered over the weekend, but I would never have remembered it had I not gone purging.

We Are Praying For You!
"Dear ____________ [insert friend's name],

____________________ [insert name of person sending prayer request] has asked us to pray for you and to share the following message (if space appears empty, a personal message was not included):

[space for personal message from friend]"

I think that's funny. Anyway, most all of the clutter is gone now though, ticked and deleted, and I really do feel freed up. On the other hand, all those pages of now disappeared correspondence sent straight to ME I guess were a sort of stroking my ego, and I do feel maybe a little bit less important now. Of course I needed to do it, and what's done is done. If only I can keep tidy now I'll be in good shape.

Riddle me this, though. Why come when you "sign up now!" to receive your daily/weekly/monthly e-newsletters from this or the other site, you can't open your email fast enough to beat the welcome-to and first issue already waiting there, but unsubscribe and you are advised that it will take 5-7 days before they can get you off the list? Someone really should come up with an app for that.