I don't normally give advice, but my general rule is that you should do everything exactly as I do. O.K., that's not true. I don't even know why I said that. But here's one thing I do that you should do. I carry a list with me and I mark things in my calendar. Dinner with friends, taxes, writers group, improv shows, Stickerbook, lunch, and so on. (I do not have dinner with taxes, by the way; that was a momentary misreading. But I have had dinner with my writers group and I have had dinner with Stickerbook--sort of, I had a bowl of matzo ball soup and a stiff martini during their show at Mo Pitkins once. And having dinner with lunch doesn't even make sense.)
I still forget all kinds of things, possibly because I know that if it was important, I would have written it down. Haircuts for example. Sometimes I forget to look at my list. I have missed business meetings because I only remembered to look at my list after the meeting was over. Sadly, the lack of my presence at the meeting made no difference whatsoever. Cheer up! It wasn't that sad. God, you're sensitive. I look on the bright side: I missed a boring meeting and got to use my time editing a book on governmental auditing and the Compliance Supplement to OMB Circular A-133. O.K. technically that's blasphemous because I used God's name in vain--but in my defense, that's a judgment call: I used it expletively as an intensifier to describe the sensitivity of a human being. You know what I mean. Lighten up.
So, I'll write "vegetable" on my shopping list because I want to buy a vegetable, although I won't make up my mind until I get to the store and see what vegetables they have. Sometimes I write "artichoke" because I'm *dying for artichokes!* except if I don't write it down, I'll forget.
Now here's my advice: Once I've had dinner with a friend on my list or gone to my writers group meeting, I always *circle* it when I'm done. I would never draw a line through a friend's name! Not even on a list. And not anything I care about, such as my writers group--which, come to think of it, is made of people. Always a circle. Taxes, yes, a line through it. Sorry, taxes, we're going dutch, and after dinner I'm crossing a line through you. And you can pay for you own cab. God, you can afford it.
That is all for now.
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1 comment:
I am notorious for buying calendars, PalmPilots, leatherbound appointment books and whatnot. Do I use them? Only when I remember I have them and maybe at the heat of the moment, after purchase. Typically, I write everything on a Post-it. I love Post-its. There's three square packs by me and each one is for something different. Why? I suppose it's one of my RGisms.
In any event, this past week, I bought a new battery for my Palm (actually, it's a Dell Axim X5) and I've been using it. Tho' I really like my Post-Its. They're faster to write than that block writing you have to do with the Palm, I mean Axim, and afterwards I can stick them anywhere I want (even up my ...).
I tend to check things off lists (but not on calendars), sometimes I cross them out too; a check and a strike through, talk about redundancies.
About 20 years ago, when I actually had the good habit of keeping a an appointment book, I used to write in my dates with my French boyfriend--who coincidentally was of Slavic heritage and shared a remarkable resemblance to my Polish boyfriend--afterwards, I didn't circle, but I would write in a star, if it was an extremely good date it would get a series of stars. I only did that with him. The others never even got penciled in my appointment books, Palms or even a bloody Post-It, let alone get a star or two.
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