“Pile It” method

Mentioned before, in respect to dealing with the current Mercury in Retrograde energies? Alluded to as a source from my patriarchal line, it still holds true.

It was, at the very least, from my father, and to certain recollection, my maternal grandfather as well, but the way I did this myself? I think it was my own system, perhaps derived from their influences.

Revisiting a book I reviewed some years ago, I fund the same type of method at work, albeit different format, but the style, the sense, the way of doing this remains the same.

What is the “Pile It” method?

“Pile It” method

In my clearest thinking, I used this as an undergraduate. I would start with five classes, five courses each semester, and I could drop one, when it would be apparent that the coursework or teacher wasn’t to my liking. Just made it easier, and the cost was same.

State school, cheaper in bulk.

Each course would start out with some kind of syllabus, bland goals, reading list, dates for terms papers and tests. I was — still am — horrible at any kind of standardized test.

But the single page syllabus, with its reading list? That was the first piece of the pile. The starting point. Then, I was a studious undergraduate, then I would take notes by hand, carefully transcribing the notes into a single long-form word processor document, single space, thin margins, sometimes no dates, just the notes themselves about whatever was discussed in class — that I wrote down. As the pages of handwritten notes turned over, I would tear them off the tablet and add them to pile. It was an accretion of data.

Sometimes I would put the book, textbook, or novels for the class on the same pile, just to keep it all on place.

“Pile It” method

The semesters were 12, maybe 14 weeks, I don’t recall, sounds right. At the end of the semester, exams closely approaching, I would have all those notes in one place, the books, the papers I wrote, all in a single location, a single pile of material, and it made review much easier.

The last three-four years of undergraduate, I was doing some contract work, and it seemed like the deadlines always coincided with school deadlines. My “Pile It” method, all the data in one place, maybe not one convenient form, but all in one place? Made review and preparations that much easier.

“Pile It” method

Much later, I would learn about “Vertically Integrated” businesses, or silo style, something akin to that. Maybe. It’s a similar image, all the material in one place.

Moving forward, what this was about, dealing with the mercurial machination of Mr. Mercury, the idea of the original “Pile It” method came back to me. It’s not totally etched out as just one away to handle material, but going towards goals, and collecting all the data in one spot, that’s as good a place as any to start.

In three or four weeks, just how much crap can accumulate?

“Pile It” method

Another version of this methodology, I pulled together a book for client. While I had a copy of the manuscript itself, about an inch and half of printed text on regular paper, I worked almost exclusively with digital files. Still, in one spot, there was a mock-up, what the client wanted it to look like, then the pages themselves, and a rough sketch and copy of a photo for the cover. Again, all in one pile, and eventually, all in a single file folder on my computer, and from that, in a single file that was shipped off to a publisher.

Pile it all up, then proceed forward.

the Portable Mercury Retrograde