Back in 2002, when I was a senior in college, I got really into book making. It was a rather short lived experimental art phase, but one of the things that came out of it was this little sketchbook I covered and turned into a dumping place of sorts. Unlike my sketchbooks where I actually drew sketches, painted and collaged, this one was just to put loose things; thoughts, quotes I liked, quotes other people gave me, ticket stubs, cards that held meaning, poems, song lyrics, images I liked, old ID cards, art ideas, movie quotes, clippings from The Onion I thought were funny, match books from restaurants and bars I wanted to remember, business cards, magazine clippings and pictures and ideas that had no other home. There's no rhyme or reason to what goes in or where they go in the book. I just wanted a place to store these things.
Whenever I read a book, if there's a passage that I like, I dog ear the bottom of the page and then when I'm done I go back to that page and reread it. If the passage still stands out to me as something I want to save, I write it in the book.
So I've had it for seven years now and I only have about three blank pages left to fill. I know the day that I can't fit one more thing in will be a sad, sad day. I've had it for so long that it holds a lot of sentimental value. I like looking through it, rereading parts and remembering where I was in my life when I added something. But there's also something exciting about the idea of the new book I'll get. A fresh start.
Here is my favorite passage of all of them, by my favorite author, Anne Lamott from her novel Joe Jones. This woman is the reason I learned to love reading.
"You're not afraid of dying, are you Lou?"
"Not very often." She gets up and begins to pace. "I gave up one day. Around the time the news about toxic shock syndrome came out. I thought, fuck me, man, I give up. Come and get me."
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