Sunday, August 06, 2006

An oldie but a goodie

I went shopping today in hot pursuit of a diary, amongst other things. I really have the most dreadful handwriting and, in a diary of the handwritten variety, require two things – ruled pages and decent paper. Ruled for a pretence of neatness and good paper because, well, poor quality paper is so uninspiring to write on. I am not a particularly good diarist, tending to purchase pretty books and barely fill them in before moving on or simply forgetting about them, but I am presently quite inspired. It may be that I’ve watched Bridget Jones a few to many times lately (the proliferation of late night game shows will send me to an early grave or, perhaps, force me to do something other than watch tv) but I feel the need to write and think, or perhaps the reverse. My motivations, however, are not all that relevant to the post I was going to write before I got lost in why-I-need-a-special-diary. Let us take it as a given that having decided to diary I set forth to find the perfect book. Or, at least, a halfway reasonable one. I set forth today with good intentions and with an idea of how difficult it is to find a book that fulfils my criteria. I visited specialty shops whose prices and staff had me running for the exit. As it happens, I do not want to pay one hundred dollars for something that I am going to fill with the written equivalent of effluent. It seems a little wasteful. I also do not want to be treated like a (terribly fat and conspicuous) thief. Treating me like a thief will not encourage me to buy your over-priced and frequently ugly wares. In desperation, I eventually headed to Dymocks stationary shop where I know they don’t carry anything I really want – diarywise of course, otherwise – it’s stationary pant pant. And there I found the book that, if not entirely perfect, will certainly do really very well. A Moleskine, can you imagine? With a packet of black Kilometricos.

11 comments:

TimT said...

What's the reverse of writing and thinking, not thinking and writing? And does the title for this post mean it's a repost?

Ah well. I've taken a quote from this post and put it on my blog.

It's not 'plagiarise'- it's 'otherwise' ...

Shelley said...

It's not a repost but I'm pretty sure I've mentioned the wonder that is Moleskine before. And the pens really are very school.

I had been going to put 'opposite' rather than 'reverse' which led me into the particular quandary you've mentioned. Then again, given what I've just said about my abilities as a diarist maybe it is right to think that all I'll ever see in the damn thing is the words left unwritten, the blank pages if you will. I'm not getting off to a terribly good start - I've had it for hours and it's still untouched.

TimT said...

It's a wonderful quote either way, which implies that your writerly abilities will be well up to the task.

Apart from my blog, I keep on buying writing pads from the newspaper agent, and I go through realms of them, putting down ideas, random jottings, even pictures, bla bla bla. I used to buy really big ones, but they've gradually got smaller - one reason being, if I go through more of them, it makes me feel as if I'm smarter and have more ideas in me. Vanity, thy name is Tim.

Shelley said...

Flattery thy name is also Tim...

I generally forget to write things done or, once written, I forget I've writen them. I prefer typing to writing anyway - at least then I stand a chance of understanding the words if not the meaning.

Anonymous said...

Is this paper diary where you put all the information that your blog readers don't get the benefit of? Sounds kinda secretive. Supicious even.

Oh, and it's a nice new template but Firefox isn't liking it. Bits of the sidebar are leaking into the main section.

Shelley said...

Mark - the leaking template may be the better way to read this blog - can't make any less sense, now can it?

Yes, secretive stuff where I use people's actual real proper names and discuss the people who I [almost] never mention in this blog. And, you know, put thoughts and stuff - the ones I don't want laughed at en masse. I will, however, keep sharing my dreams [and hopes, choke, blah] with you espcially the one I had the other night whose cast was almost entirely blogger..

Anonymous said...

heh heh heh :)

Unknown said...

I haven't written on paper in a while. I've found that my brain processes stuff more quickly than I can get it down and I type much faster than I can write. I tell you, writing is a dying art. Maybe I will take it up again. Maybe.

I hope you keep sharing. :)

TimT said...

Tim thy name is Tim also. "There are some that call me .... Tim." ...

Keyboard writing is different from pen or pencil writing. I tend to write article-style things by typing, but some of my more creative efforts tend to come through pen - although admittedly, they're getting mixed up nowadays.

My thoughts flow faster than my pen does, but that allows me to plan ahead. My main problem, I find, is not writers cramp or lack of ideas, it's falling asleep - quite often, I tend to write in bed!

TimT said...

Now that I have a laptop, I can blog in bed too!

If only we could live all of our lives in bed.

Shelley said...

Go the John and Yoko, thy-name-is-Tim!

My major problem with pen-writing is my fucking awful chicken-scrawl handwriting that has, quite rudely, been referred to as hieroglyphics. No-one can read what I’ve written, not even me. My minor problem with pen-writing is my terrible short[and long]-term memory…what comes after the…? As I’m making it up anyway this doesn’t always matter that much.
Right now, I’m so tired from all the freaky dreams [fucking full moon] that I cannot imagine ever being creative. Pretty poor form to be unable to even imagine.

Marina, never fear! I have plenty of drivel to share.