The Other Drummer

I’m a bit…anal retentive when it comes to my journals. People who know me, know this. I only use on kind of journal (Moleskine) and for the longest time would only write in them with a particular type of pen (Pilot G2 .05, although Pilot now makes a G2. 038 which is the unbelievably perfect stroke which caused me to do a little happy dance when I found them).

The reason for my retentiveness? A number of things, I’m sure, but I’ll only mention two here: I can’t help but think that someone, someday, will value what I put in them and, secondly, that I’m a writer, not an artist.

And by that, I mean some people express themselves in bold, beautiful, flashy ways which look really, really cool in a journal. Me? I write. Or, more accurately, scribble.

To feel passion and express it (in the form of anger, love, distress, sadness, joy, etc.) through visual means can be very striking and apparent. You can take one look at an artist’s canvas and be struck by the emotion of it. But what about writers like me? If I’m feeling passionate about something I could…write…bigger…?

Short version: to cut loose as a journal writer isn’t an easy thing to do. An artist can do a simple picture. I have to write 1,000 words. Know what I mean?

So I got Wreck This Journal for my birthday as a gift from my beloved sister. Each page is something you are supposed to to slowly destroy the tome.

Thus far I’ve chewed on a page, snapped the spine by standing on it, began covering a page with nothing but office supplies, started my stickers-you-find-on-fruit collection, initiated my Stain Log (cooked carrots was the inaugural entry) and all that is in addition to the abuse I was able to inflict on my father in-law’s work bench using a 12″ metal file, a vice, jumper cables, a staple gun and some rough plywood.

The book didn’t actually tell me to do any of those things to it. I just did. And it was fun. Really fun.

I’m doing some of the same things to my main journal as well. The cover now has quite  a bit more personality (thanks to the aforementioned tools). I always hated finishing journals because by the time you’re done with them they’re just starting to look broken in which is a shame because that’s when you really want to use them. Now I can expedite the process. Excited.

Wreck This Journal was written by Keri Smith (who has a number of other books I’m eager to check out) and is available wherever fine books are sold and Barnes & Noble.

If you haven’t seen it yet, Seriously, So Blessed! is a brilliant parody site, written by an unknown author, from the point of view of a young married woman living in Utah, Tiffany/Amber/Megan/Nicole (take your pick) who is married to JJWT (Jordan/Jason/Wes/Taylor) and life is, like, so good.

JJWT is going to law/dental/business/medical school and TAMN has her degree in hair dressing/teaching 2nd grade. The blog is about their perfect life being so busy doing all sorts of (self) righteous, Utah things.

Their marriage couldn’t be happier. In fact, nothing goes wrong in her life. And if you want a perfect life, start with the perfect man. Here are her tips for you ladies out there who are looking to meet your own JJWT:

• Avoid wearing sweats, BUT, if you’re gonna wear sweats, MAKE SURE there is something sassy written on your bottom. 

• TEXT IN CHURCH. This will make you look even cuter and way less boring…if you can do this with tonz of gum, EVEN CUTER!

• Do NOT get a short haircut and/or make your hair one color (BOAR-RING!). Long and multi-colored is your best bet (but, don’t bet, it’s practically porn).
• WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT GO TO MORE SCHOOL, unless you want people to start calling you Yawnette. Think about it! Serious! How often do guys whistle and yell “Nice degree!” or shake there heads and say “What adorable knowledge”? EXACTLY.

Some other choice quotes:

In reference to being grateful for the Pioneers on the 24th of July: “If it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t even HAVE a Gateway!”

And…”It’s so fun to just go up to my family’s cabin and look at the things that make up our beautiful world and feel so greatful. Love just looking at nature at night while I sit in the hot tub with a 44 ouncer of Diet Coke (bad I know, I’m off it now), and my cute pink ipod blaring, and just BEING with nature, soaking it up til I get pruney.”

Brilliant. Anyway, great site. Check it out, and start from the beginning.

A hilarious description, courtesy of Engadget.

“Steve Jobs, presumably speaking from a hyperbaric chamber where he’s being nourished with an infusion of liquified developers-souls before his next public appearance, had a few interesting tidbits about the AppStore for the Wall Street Journal this morning.”

 

Oh, the drama. First, I freak out because I can’t get the specific notebook I want. Then my friend/distant relative Erin brings one up from Provo for me. Then I get the one I ordered online (and was too impatient to wait for) so I have two. THEN the one Erin brought up began falling apart, the cover ever so sadly separating from the spine, so I wrote Moleskine and ask/beg for a new one.

Being in Italy (Milan, darling) our correspondence was a bit delayed and with the language barrier a little choppy. However, they very kindly said that, since they’re handmade, sometimes these things happen and they’d be happy to send me a replacement if I’d provide my address, which I did.

Long story short, they ended up sending me two replacement notebooks, one with the cover written in Italian and one written in German, in addition to the original one I’d ordered online. While all this was happening, I found some good glue and was able to (mostly) reattach the cover of the original notebook which I’m still using.

I wrote Moleskine, told them they sent me an extra and offered to ship it back to them. They wrote back and told me not to worry about it. 

So now I have four total (three unused) softcover, ruled, pocket-sized Moleskine notebooks when just two months ago there was only one to be found in the entire state of Utah. Crazy how things turn out, huh?

Yeah. Sorry. I’m alive. Just sorta been neglecting my digital duties of late. Despite the fact that my posts here have dwindled and I’m down to about one post per week on LivSimpl, for some inexplicable reason I’ve decided to launch a new project called Write In My Journal.

The idea of Write In My Journal is this: I approach people who look interesting – like they have a story to tell – and ask them if they, knowing they’ll most likely never see me again, will write in my journal.
They’re free to write whatever they want. I may give them a prompt to start but ultimately it’s up to them.

There are so many people out there with such diverse backgrounds and perspectives and it’s absolutely fascinating to me. Have you ever looked at a person and thought, “I wonder what their story is? How did they get to where they are? What are their dreams?” I do. All the time. (Is that weird?) This is my chance to get to know some of them, even if it’s just a glimpse, and share their stories that would otherwise go untold.

So I carry around my trusty Moleskine notebook (which is falling apart – more on that later) and ask people to write in it, right along side all my own scribbles, lists and thoughts.

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