Rock Bottom

I'm an avid reader, and I take a broad view about how print materials should be stored. Bookshelves are fine, certainly. But almost any flat surface works fine too—the dining room table, the bedroom floor. But today, it was like when you're a drunk and you realize you really do have a problem. I picked up a copy of The New Yorker from the floor, no big deal, and started paging through the "The Talk of the Town." It seemed like the town was talking about events that had come and gone some time ago, so I looked at the cover to see the date. May 14, it was. Of 2007. The magazine had been on the floor, or on other flat non-bookshelf spaces, for an entire year. I guess I'm more avid about reading than I am about picking up after myself.