the junk drawer

i cleaned out the obligatory junk drawer in the kitchen last night, but only cleaned it out in the sense that I purged it of excess junk as it is still stocked with a whole list of crap that I may never ever use, but take comfort in keeping in that drawer like...

• the 8-10 odd AA and AAA batteries that may or may not work, but you don't have the heart to chuck because what if they're good, those would be good expensive batteries down the drain and you never know when a battery emergency may arise...

• 5 to 6 pens, markers and pencils that may or may not have ink in them and/or be sharpened for when I need to quickly take down a message and need to stall by saying, "shoot this pen doesn't work call back later." i wouldn't be lying...

• a deck of cards for when a girlfriend drops by for a friendly game of poker or Spades, not that you've ever had a girlfriend drop by for that purpose, but there is a first time for everything...

• an assortment of packets of ketchup, soy, mumbo and hot sauce and sweet and sour marinade for when you have a barbecue and the ketchup runs out, these could save you a trip to the store

• about $1.50 in loose change, but mainly pennies, in case the ice cream truck rolls through the neighborhood and you don't have time to run upstairs to get your purse and risk missing the truck...

• a variety of spanners, screws and tools leftover from your last few furniture assembly jobs so you can run to the rescue when the Ikea side table finally collapses from being poorly constructed and improperly assembled in the 1st place, ...

• and finally a mix of catch all stuff that you never know when you'l ever you need (candles, a box of toothpicks, chopsticks, a door handle, a flashlight, scissors, a tube of glue, binder clips, a calculator, expired delivery coupons,a poultry thermometer, and some beef skewer stcks)