organisational chaos and downsizing

Flipping hell! I thought I had a grip on my file organisation as I was creating them during my fieldwork in SA, but hell it's all a mess. Not a good idea to be using three different data saving locations and now that I'm at the OU + 1. Yes I backed-up my work, but not in a very sophisticated manner - so I had endless versions and duplicates on 3 different machines - resulting in masses of chaos and confusion. I wanted to use dropbox as the main receptical but of course in SA with bandwidth issues this wasnt always possible - also my files are just way to large anyway...massive sigh! Yesterday I spend a good part of the day securing one master copy, deleting everything else I had and then coping the master to the respective machines.

Need to get my brain to think, think, think of a solution to my current organisational misery. I need to get my 'raw' data organised though before I can start creating the thesis files. For the thesis I will use dropbox exclusively, but until then I have my hands full.

I'm also in the process of settling into my new accommodation. Most of my stored boxes have been safely returned to me, but instead of surprise and wonder at all the treasures hidden in them, I've been overwhelmed by the amount of 'stuff' I've amassed. This by itself isnt necessarily a bad thing - but if you dont have any place to put the stuff - well, therein lies the problem. I need to downsize. I'm amazed at all the stuff I bought and accumulated and now wonder how(or if) I will ever use it again. My new room is fairly spacious but I havent been able to 'fit' any of my books into the room yet. So currently the one room I have can only be my living area with no space for my academic activities. Which raises yet another question. Where will my main work activities be located? Here at the OU? In Sweden? In South Africa? In my bedroom in Simpson MK? Some yet to be found location after November when my lease runs out? Where the hell will I work? I'm such a structured person and any disruption to this need and reliance on structure simply fucks with my brain - I really do unravel. I'm trying really hard to hold it all together, but my back, neck, shoulders are all singing a different song. I know it will settle and everything will land where it needs to, but until such time...well, you're guess is probably as good as mine.