I’ve written before about my little notebooks. I still keep the little spiral-bound pads on which I write grocery lists and reminders about programs I hear on the radio that prompt me to want to explore ideas or people some time later. Sometime, I come across an old notebook that contains a shopping list. Usually, I mark through items I’ve placed in my cart or basket, so when I find an old list with items that haven’t been marked off, I wonder whether I ever bought the items. “Red bell pepper. 3 or 4 tomatoes. Freezer paper. Freezer tape. ” Have I gone without red bell peppers and tomatoes and freezer gear since I wrote that list, or did I just fail to mark the items off? Clearly, I just failed to mark them off. But why? Okay, with so few items on the list, the necessity of marking them off is not so crucial; I wouldn’t fill my cart with dozens of tomatoes, not realizing I’d already put the 3 or 4 I needed in the cart.
My note pads aren’t always about shopping lists and reminders. Sometimes, they are planning tools. For example, I found a couple of pages of notes this morning that I distinctly recall writing; those pages would be meaningless to anyone but me. They comprise hand-drawn cells, within which I wrote the names of wine. “Pinot Noir, Carol. Les Garigues Côte du Rhône, La Vieille Ferme Rosé, Jacob’s Creek Shiraz Cabernet. Clos du Bois Cabernet. Clos du Bois Merlot.” This list goes on. You might recognize the words as descriptors of wine and you’d be right. The lists were made as schematics of which bottles of wine were stored where in two locations. You see, I found it modestly annoying to have to pull the wine bottles out of their places to know which wines were where.
But back to reminders. One note I came across this morning was simply “Today’s Special. 2009 film.” I did not recall that, so I searched Father Google for answers. It’s a comedy film made in 2009 about a young man who rediscovers his heritage and his passion for life by immersing himself in cooking Indian food. Though I don’t remember writing it, the subject is of instant interest now, so it must have been just as interesting when I wrote it.
Finally, though this is not from a hand-written note but, instead, about an article I found fascinating that I want to remember: https://newrepublic.com/article/138068/last-unknown-man. It’s about anonymity and its demise. It’s absolutely riveting reading.
