Note to self...
Write better notes to self. Include things like:
I must stop grabbing whatever random tiny scrap of paper is closest and scratching out random illegible shorthand and bizarre doodles. Also, I need to actually have a dedicated place for these notes. Not in a pocket. Not in my purse. Not in a desk drawer. Not taped to the reference desk. Not in whatever YA book I'm currently reading, doomed to be forgotten and put into public circulation when I check the book back in. I have no doubt that half my notes end up in the hands of various teens across Allen County who only wanted to read the latest "Midnighters" or Sarah Dessen. These poor children! These notes must creep them out. They creep me out and I wrote them! At least once I week I find one of these little bastards lying about somewhere. (The notes, not the teens. Well... Actually, both. But let's stick with the notes for now.) It's clearly my handwriting but so incredibly cryptic that I have no idea what it means. When did I write this? What was I trying to tell myself?
Even if the note is legible and helpful, I'm going to lose it anyway! Case in point, a little over a year ago we were packing to move to our most current apartment. I pulled a winter coat out of the closet to pack and noticed there was a something in the breast pocket. That something turned out to be a list titled "Things to do before you graduate." It was a list of --wait for it-- things I had to do before I graduated. And I don't mean fun things. Things I had to get done IN ORDER TO finish grad school and move to a new town. Forms to fill out. Addresses to forward. People to contact. Contracts to sign. This was an important list and I had only crossed off half the bulleted items on it. Two years later, I'm holding this list in my hand and scanning it, on the verge of a panic attack. Fortunately, I had done everything I needed to do. I mean... Obviously. I received my diploma and was in the town I had been preparing to move to at the time. But still... Sheesh.
Maybe I'm going about this all wrong. Maybe I should just stop writing notes. Obviously I get by without them. Then again, who knows? Maybe they're helpful to all the other people who find them.
- Times
- Dates
- Legibility
- Hell, even WORDS would be nice.
I must stop grabbing whatever random tiny scrap of paper is closest and scratching out random illegible shorthand and bizarre doodles. Also, I need to actually have a dedicated place for these notes. Not in a pocket. Not in my purse. Not in a desk drawer. Not taped to the reference desk. Not in whatever YA book I'm currently reading, doomed to be forgotten and put into public circulation when I check the book back in. I have no doubt that half my notes end up in the hands of various teens across Allen County who only wanted to read the latest "Midnighters" or Sarah Dessen. These poor children! These notes must creep them out. They creep me out and I wrote them! At least once I week I find one of these little bastards lying about somewhere. (The notes, not the teens. Well... Actually, both. But let's stick with the notes for now.) It's clearly my handwriting but so incredibly cryptic that I have no idea what it means. When did I write this? What was I trying to tell myself?
Even if the note is legible and helpful, I'm going to lose it anyway! Case in point, a little over a year ago we were packing to move to our most current apartment. I pulled a winter coat out of the closet to pack and noticed there was a something in the breast pocket. That something turned out to be a list titled "Things to do before you graduate." It was a list of --wait for it-- things I had to do before I graduated. And I don't mean fun things. Things I had to get done IN ORDER TO finish grad school and move to a new town. Forms to fill out. Addresses to forward. People to contact. Contracts to sign. This was an important list and I had only crossed off half the bulleted items on it. Two years later, I'm holding this list in my hand and scanning it, on the verge of a panic attack. Fortunately, I had done everything I needed to do. I mean... Obviously. I received my diploma and was in the town I had been preparing to move to at the time. But still... Sheesh.
Maybe I'm going about this all wrong. Maybe I should just stop writing notes. Obviously I get by without them. Then again, who knows? Maybe they're helpful to all the other people who find them.
posted by Dex at 11:38 AM
0 comments
