fragmented histories

I've mentioned before that I get a bit obsessed with notebooks. most of the blank ones I mentioned way back when are still empty, accompanied now by several new empty notebooks. I'd be happy to acquire more, even at the risk of running out of shelf space. currently, my journaling is nearing the last few pages of a nice little red one with a quote from Marjorie Hinckley embossed on the front: "Everything you are learning now is preparing you for something else."

I guess that must be true. this MA in Technical Communication? it's just a little stepping stone. the PhD in Rhetoric and Composition will be a slightly bigger stepping stone. and then what? we must wait and find out. the other side of that stepping stone is a long way off still.

a while back, colleague Angela, knowing my interest in copyright and the digital world, pointed me in the direction of one Dr. Brendan Riley, who writes this seemingly eclectic blog called Digital Sextant. he does reviews, talks about zombies, throws in occasional amusing photos (some in German?), posts about copyright controversies in the news, and every week or so compiles all the things he's lately posted on twitter.

all my notebooks (the paper kind and the non-paper kind) are just as eclectic, probably. some of them are easier to flip through than others. some of them reveal more of just what was going on in my life at certain times than others. there can be a kind of game in looking back. what sorts of things made it out of my head and onto the page one year ago? or two? is it useful to look for patterns?

so call this a crossover digital notebook flipbook flashback. yes, of course this kind of recycled post is a symptom of my end-of-semester busy-ness. yes, parts of me might feel a bit lame and self-absorbed using this space to puzzle publicly over her very own cryptic past. so what?

courtesy this searchable little javascript trick, built by one Felix Turner (way cool name, that), I've dug around in the past four years and plucked out a medley of past and present Aprils. (I did this lazy sort of thing a few years ago, but in June. maybe medleys-of-past-[blank]s will become a recurring thing. maybe.) I've put the longest-ago bits first, even though that may seem backwards compared to the standard bottom-up chronology of blogland. you may notice some themes. pizza. quotes. pointlessness. questions.

April 2009 - Seattle, Washington
(with a detour through Southern Utah and then California)
shaking the sand out of all my delusions Apr 23
reveling in placelessness Apr 19
i am about to encounter the absence of my grandfather in a house where he has always been Apr 16
"For a divine moment he had poised on the brink of revelation, and now it was gone, as miserably inglorious as a failed sneeze." Apr 16
what are the most important things to bring with you on a trip to california? hmm. answer: notebooks. lots of notebooks. and pens too. Apr 15
who the heck came up with this idea of resumes anyway? Apr 15
nobody told me there was seafood pizza... where can i get some? Apr 14

April 2010 - Salt Lake-ish, Utah
this day feels like three days all wadded together. Apr 19
naptime? Apr 19
to idaho and back in approximately sixteen hours. don't let me forget my toothbrush. Apr 19
lying awake. reliving dreams. Apr 18
i might eat this whole pizza. would that be bad? Apr 17
scanner, why won't you function? Apr 17
still sleepy. dreaming about oceans. Apr 17
i need ice cream. Apr 16
i wonder when this 'woah, the earth is not totally solid' feeling will leave. Apr 16

April 2011 - Salt Lake-ish, Utah
'in such a world... where every connection is so fragile & often so temporary... it makes me wonder how we make promises at all, to anyone.' Apr 18
rainy day retro-blogging. http://plaidsicle.blogspot.com/2006/09/do-or-die.html Apr 18
life. pain. sigh. Apr 18
something just sucked all the optimism out through my nose. what is up with that? Apr 15
eek, as i pace back and forth between precarious what ifs. Apr 13

April 2012 - Lubbock, Texas
what about the costs of inclusion? hmm? Apr 20
i'm going to get pouty and existential from time to time and start saying everything is pointless. just to warn you. Apr 19
so many emails. Apr 17
pajamas. japanese food. yoga. Apr 14, 2012
the anticipation is occasionally just a little bit electrifying. Apr 11, 2012

April 2013 - Lubbock, Texas
hmm. do all essays at this stage feel utterly forced and artificial? or is it just this particular one? Apr 17
i do not really know what this is for in the long run, but: a survey about salsa: https://t.co/BkvQdH7Muc Apr 17
thank you, universe, for this song: "Scandalous" by Hanneke Cassel. Apr 15
this friend-of-a-friend's startup is cool 'Periods can be lame--we're striving to make them a little more enjoyable.' http://t.co/mqecLPczjt Apr 15
so hungry. Apr 15
small car wreck. yay for that. will it turn out to have cured me of this string of awfully pointless-seeming days? we shall see. Apr 15
okay. intercultural values and authorship and plagiarism and copyright. sort yourselves into a brilliant essay-- ready set go. Apr 14
laundry and lunch and procrastinating alltheotherstuff. Apr 12
ich liebe. Apr 12