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Thursday, December 24, 2009

I waste paper and ink on self-gratification frequently

As a perceiver, finishing things is somewhat painful for me. I lack the attention span. So when I do finish things, it's exciting. I have finished my journal!


This one I breezed through especially quickly, that's six months of my meaningless memories and musings. Here's a somewhat random excerpt as an example of the drivel I write: [8 - 12 - 09] Ah, I love singing! I'm sitting at the kitchen island listening to Feist and Yael Naim and Adele (so far) while those rad brownie cookies bake (care cell tonite), waiting for Laurie to come and pick up Mozart -- I love this dog ridiculously. Thanks to him I've been getting up early. I love the morning . . . but I also love staying up late, maybe I should just be nocturnal.

I'm not kidding when I say my life is really exciting. And apparently full of superficial loves.

But I have a new problem now, one that I go through each time I finish a journal. I have to pick one to use next, and it's like choosing a favorite child. And there is so much to consider! How wide are the lines, will it fit in my purse, is it too thick to fill in a year, is it too thin to last three months, will I like writing in it, will the paper make my pen smear, is it durable? I just can't decide on my own.

Help?


This is one of those nice leather lined journals I got on sale at Barnes & Nobel. I've been used to writing in a hardcover journal, so I'm not sure if a softcover journal will irritate me or not, but I suppose I'll adapt. The lines on the pages are just the right size.


When I saw Kate last summer I was inspired by the daybook she kept and wanted to try it, which of course, Moleskine is perfect for. My glitch is, I like journalling the traditional way and am nervous I won't like micro-journalling as much, and I'll never stick to the practice. Also, for all the reputation, Moleskine pages are always falling out on me.


This is the smallest journal, and also leather-bound, a gift from the same person who gave me the red alligator skin journal I just finished. I think the smallness would make it easier to carry everywhere, but I'm worried it'll be uncomfortable to write in because of the size and tight binding.


This is just a regular spiral bound notebook, an impulse purchase that has left me confused with how to use it. The pages tear out and one side of each page is graph paper, and it has all these pockets and things, but it's also really thick.

Help me out, guys. I'm too indecisive for this major decision.

10 comments:

Micah E. said...

I would say four, but the graph-paper thing is begging for it to be used as a physics notebook.

So, two, I guess, I like the understatement.

Word verification: mockl... a journal for writing down insults?

Michael Au-Mullaney said...

I vote number one.

Liz said...

Three. It's cute. And easy to carry around.

Oh, and as far as being uncomfortable by writing in it because of tight bindings. . .

crease it. ;-)

Then your worries will be over. :P

Art said...

:D

You're right, this is an important decision. I think I would choose the first. Microjournalling would bother me since I don't write the same amount every day and there are times when I don't feel like writing. I like three a lot, but tight binding can be very annoying. Four is really, really cool, though I'm not sure what you should use the graph paper for. I'm now wondering what you write in a physics notebook.

So yeah, I think the first is best.

Luke said...

I vote number 1....but it's a close win over number 3.

number 2 is just plain blah, and
number 4 just isn't you.

Kristen said...

Choose number 1. It seems just right.

A&A said...

I polled some people outside of the blogsphere, too, and number three won out by a small margin. Yay democracy?

I should use you guys to make all my decisions.

K-Mac said...

not that it matters anymore, but i like 1.


also? remind me to never buy you a journal.

Anonymous said...

1 or 3. I'm all for practical :P Cute. Can I just say how much I liked this post? Photos are amazing. And I admire how you finished a journal like that in 6 months. I get writer's cramp way too fast.

Peter said...

Pretty sure i left this comment on the wrong post but I think you should use the third one if your still undecided.