08:52:08

I get up.

I have a simple project.

The goal of the project is to submit for reimbursement my out-of-pocket payments to an Ontario doctor, there being no equivalent doctors available in Québec.

This process entails the collection of lots of little bits of paper. I have carefully collected each scrap of necessary paper and placed them within the jaws of a humongous black bulldog clamp so nothing will go missing amongst all the sheets of paper that flood my residence.

Despite the great care with which I handled these documents, I am unable to find one necessary item this morning. I have ransacked each pile of paper, inadvertently creating new piles of disorder in the search for the missing item.

I am smothered in paper, drowning in the stuff. Paper and files are everywhere. These are the visible tabs on the file box closest to me: TO COPY; SAAQ; INFO COMMISH; DR H; DR D; STAPLES; CANADA POST; LAW; LAPOINTE; EBIQ; DR X; CDMQ; TAQ; DR N; DR T; NEC; REGIE DES RENTES; REIMBURSEMENT; Over there, I have two desktop file holders that are used for the organization of TAQ submissions. They are each half full. Then there is a stack of paper stuff yet to be sorted. A second stack of paper stuff yet to be sorted. A third stack of paper stuff created this morning in the search for Dr. H`s receipt; another paper stack which is believed to contain TAQ submissions but is as yet unexamined – they may be dupes; a small stack yet unsorted, a current stack which sits atop the blue file storage box, a red file storage box in the process of being filled, a desktop covered with submitted exhibits in the process of being organized into a binder; a stack of paper which does not fit the binder process; a stack of stuff which has to do with condo management; a stack of stuff which relates to banking and tax information collected from other piles and placed within this newly created pile; a stack of more paper that I do not know what it is. Then there are three trays made out of the tops and bottoms of cardboard cartons; one contains suspect duplicates of exhibits; the other two are unknown; there is a stack of paper yet unsorted about 8 inches high; there is another stack out of sight beyond that one; it contains old submissions to various places, departments, organizations, and infidels, all of it yet unsorted; beyond that, yet again, is another storage box that contains letters to SAAQ, letters to various branches of the Québec government, appeals for help to a large swath of politicians. There is a box filled with receipts and payment submissions from the past four years; there is a stack of brown envelopes containing master copies of submitted material. In the laundry room there are additional stacks of paper. Upstairs by the printer, there sit at least four more stacks of related paper. Beside my bed there is another stack that consists of the Liste des Documents Fournis Par L’intimée; behind me there is a stack of brown envelopes, and another stack of uncertain provenance. Scattered throughout the house are a number of old shoeboxes which also contain stacks of paper. I have recently begun adding taped on notices which inform me of the contents.

A box of 500 sheets of printing paper costs around $7.00 and sits at least two inches high. I just measured a fresh unopened package. It is 2 and one quarter inches high. I also measured the stacks of paper.

I have five file storage boxes each of them one foot deep. 5 boxes x 12 inches = 60 inches divided by 2 inches = 30 packages of paper. Thirty packages x 500 sheets per package = 15,000 sheets of paper contained in the file storage boxes.

A survey of all of the other stacks shows at least 15 that are 2 or more inches high. Fifteen x 500 = 7,500 sheets.

15,000 sheets + 7,500 sheets gives a GRAND TOTAL OF 22,500 UNIQUE SHEETS OF 8.5 X 11 INCH PAPER. And this is a sloppy count, a quick eyeball of what I can observe without having to face going out there and wading through it for the umpteenth time in search of some dang fool piece of paper which may, or may not, be critical to my future welfare.

The computer file into which this text is being entered contains 321,191 words. It was started on 2015-01-04 and contains Accident Log entries from that date up until today, February 21, 2016. There are a series of other files for the years 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014.

321,000 words divided by 11 months = 29,181 words per month, or an estimated 972 words per day

March 6th 2016 less March 6th 2011 = fives years. Five years x 12 months per year equals 60 months. Sixty months times 29,181 words per month = 1,750,860 words in 5 years. I am not counting the words in the 371 blog posts as much of that content is derived from the material scribbled down in the Accident Log.

This word count does not include all of the textual data which resides within docx and ODF files. Nor does it take into account the photoshop files, the various images and diagrams created to support the case submission, the thousands of words in downloaded PDF files.

It is torture to deal with all of this. And why must I face such torture? Because an irresponsible fool drove well above the speed limit and smashed his vehicle into the rear of mine.