I just finished a yearly project. Each day of the month I posted on a pre-determined theme. During the month of November, I'll post a collage of all my photos on the daily theme from the past year. The theme for the sixth day of the month was "Reflection."
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Ch-ch-ch-changes - Imagine how I thought my job situation would be fixed quickly. Fool, I was.
On My Mind - Wow. If I think my skincare stash was low back then, I had no idea what was coming.
Errands by Foot - It's nice to not have to get in the car to do things.
Thoughts on a Walk - One of the most cheerful posts I've written for this project.
Unexpected Boogie-Woogie - I will dance in the grocery store and you can't stop me.
Daily Prompts in Month Six - In which I reflect on how this very blog project was going in the middle of it.
Of the Way Life Used to Be - I did buy new running shoes.
Time Travel - I visited my friends in Michigan. It was lovely.
Fourth of July - I am anti-fireworks.
A Saturday in August - A got a nap with the kitty.
Labor Day Weekend Recap - Our family reunion is a ton of fun.
One Moment - Our futures are not guaranteed.
On My Mind - Wow. If I think my skincare stash was low back then, I had no idea what was coming.
Errands by Foot - It's nice to not have to get in the car to do things.
Thoughts on a Walk - One of the most cheerful posts I've written for this project.
Unexpected Boogie-Woogie - I will dance in the grocery store and you can't stop me.
Daily Prompts in Month Six - In which I reflect on how this very blog project was going in the middle of it.
Of the Way Life Used to Be - I did buy new running shoes.
Time Travel - I visited my friends in Michigan. It was lovely.
Fourth of July - I am anti-fireworks.
A Saturday in August - A got a nap with the kitty.
Labor Day Weekend Recap - Our family reunion is a ton of fun.
One Moment - Our futures are not guaranteed.
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Hannah count: 6
Park by our house count: 5
Hat count: 1
Shadows: 2
Sign count: 2
Community center count: 2
Snow count: 1
Blaze orange count: 1
Water count: 6
I've mentioned before that I thought there would be more themes within these themes. Despite the fact that I wrote all these posts with "reflection" on my mind, what I chose to reflect on was so wide and varied. Very strange. But lots of water, eh?
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I just finished reading a library book and I found this little slip of paper with what I can only imagine is a password on it. However, there were no capital letters or special characters in it and I found myself reflecting that it is not a very strong password, if it was someone's password.
I love the communal nature of library books - the little slips of paper used as bookmarks, the checkout slips that show what other books someone checked out at the same time, the words underlined, the corners dogeared, the question marks in the margins. I rarely write in my books, since I mostly write my own notes on a sheet of paper and because I mostly read library books, but I wonder what will be missing when I am no longer here on this earth. How will people know that I found That Line so perfect? How will they know that I yet again had to look up the word oubliette? Surely my marginalia is important? But surely it is not.
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What do you use as a bookmark? Do you write marginalia in your books?
I would never ever ever write in a book. While I have several actual bookmarks, I am constantly misplacing them and usually end up using a combination of book flap/random items I find lying around/memory. I am 100% certain that people who read books after I return them to the library find all manner of "bookmarks" I have forgotten.
ReplyDeleteIt seems really neat to me that "Reflection" didn't really bring up any other themes. It was truly a time for you to ponder and reflect on whatever seemed important or silly or noteworthy at the time.
I would write in my own book. I really got into the habit of writing in books when I was in graduate school. But I rarely write in fiction books. I'm not opposed at all. I just never got into the habit of doing it. I would never write in a library book, that's for sure!
DeleteFuzzy Planet would make a good name for a blog. Add the seemingly random numbers and you'd be mysterious. You could make them mean anything you want.
ReplyDeleteWhen I rebrand my blog, Fuzzy Planet it is. LOL.
DeleteI remember leaving a note right on a page and not on a slip of paper. A previous reader had critiqued a grammar point, but I felt obliged to tell them that it had been written correctly. 😎
ReplyDeleteHa! This made me laugh :)
DeleteI love the idea of someone else adding on to the exchange and it being a whole big thing, but the original writers having no idea!
DeleteI love marginalia--but rarely write in books anymore. The young me would write reams of stuff and whole poems--perhaps I've just switched the medium though, since I write daily still.
ReplyDeleteIs it bad that I immediately looked up fuzzyplanet836 on the internet? I need ALL the answers ASAP, apparently.
I've been meaning to tell you that I'm reading the Blau book _Mary Jane_ based on your recommendation... You are now a trusted book valet!
Oh, Mary Jane is SUCH a good book. Two of my sisters-in-law read it on my recommendation and loved it. I think it's a book that resonates with lots of people.
DeleteI use old postcards (including one from YOU!) as bookmarks. I don't generally write in the margins, but I do highlight a few non-fiction books. When I'm reading library books I will mark sections I want to return to/quotes I want to write down with those removable sticky flags. I just asked my husband to get me more for Christmas! I used to reuse them, but they never worked well the second time around and a treat to my 2024 self is NOT using old sticky flags to mark passages in my book.
ReplyDeleteI always get a fresh sheet of paper for every new book to use as my bookmark. It is part of my treat to myself for a brand new world. I heartily approve of never having to reuse sticky flags!
DeleteI have to laugh--like maya, I immediately googled fuzzyplanet836! There actually IS a website fuzzyplanet.com (which I could not access), but its mission statement is "Fuzzy Planet gives youth the power to make an impact on the world around them by pursuing their passions and building their ideas into action." They are an organization located in Chicago.
ReplyDeleteAnd now that I'm not teaching books, I don't write in them. When I was teaching, I annotated in books and my teacher's editions constantly and copiously. But all of my personal books since I retired are pristine.
Yes, I think School Me is very different from Home Me. School books are made for marginalia, but my reading for pleasure books are kept clean. It's interesting that our habits from one place don't bleed over into the other.
DeleteI remember writing a note about what I loved about a book, placing the note somewhere in the middle of the book, and returned it when I finished. I specifically remember it was Rape of the Fair Country by A. Cordell.
ReplyDeleteOh, it will be like a little secret for whoever gets the book next! I would LOVE to find that in a library book.
DeleteAh yes it can be interesting to see what people though interesting in a book. However i prefere it not being tampered with. I feel like if I read a book that has underlining I need to find the same things interesting. And if I don't it throws me off and I wonder if I didn't get it.
ReplyDeleteI used to stop getting library books at a point because the were so used and had a weird smell so I didnt read them and brought them back. I prefere lirbary ebooks and audiobooks for that reason.
I have only ever been so repulsed by a library book's smell that I returned it. I tried to check it out again, but they sent me the same stinky book, so I ended up just buying it. It smelled like cigarette smoke and every time I turned a page, it was just so rank. I try hard not to notice how my books smell, though, because otherwise I'm pretty sure I'd never borrow one ever again.
DeleteMy bookmarks are boring. I like sticky tabs so that I can leave my marker in the exact paragraph that I left off with.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite mystery novels ever is Dover One by Joyce Porter, and there is a character who keeps track of things that people leave in library books - it's just a random conversation but later on it gives the lead detective the idea to figure out the crime. I also remember a note in a library book being used in a Lisa Jewell novel. So yes, I'm very in to things that people leave in books.
There's an Instagram page (Found In Library Book) that is a librarian who shows what she's found in library books over the years. I love this page. It's so interesting to think about why these things were chosen as bookmarks - just something handy or was it something meaningful? https://www.instagram.com/foundinlibrarybook/
DeleteI have definitely written notes in books - but only in ones I own, obviously! Fuzzy planet is so cute, I wish I could meet the person who thought that was a good password.
ReplyDeleteFuzzy Planet made me laugh. I will not take to using it as my own password (no, no, I will NOT, hackers).
DeleteYou know I think that may be a gamer name. I constantly find pieces of paper like that on my son's desk and I would use them as bookmarks if they would lie around handy when I needed one. He always writes them down to find his friends online when he gets back from school and it is someone new.
ReplyDeleteI do like and have pretty bookmarks but somehow they are almost never close by when I need them.
Ooooohhhh...I never even considered a gamer name. That's a good possibility, especially without the special characters. Super smart!
DeleteI love finding things people use as bookmarks too, but I find it kind of jerky to write in library books. It does amuse me when people correct the grammar, especially when they're wrong.
ReplyDeleteDoes this correction of grammar happen a lot? I had no idea! I've never seen that. I have seen people correct legitimate misspellings and incorrectly placed punctuation marks and that always pleases me.
DeleteIt never occurs to me to write notes in books, except when I was in college. I like finding bookmarks in library books! I generally collect fridge magnets from museums when I visit, but now I want to start getting bookmarks. I have a lovely one from Musee de Cluny in Paris, of a unicorn tapestry. I love it.
ReplyDeleteI love how everyone has a thing that they collect when they go to museums. I'm a postcard girl, naturally, but I love the idea of having a bookmark from every museum I've ever been to.
DeleteI once used a bookmark that my mom sent me when I was in the infirmary in college. I was sick with pneumonia. Then I had a near panic attack a few times because I thought I lost it, so I retired it. Now I use any old piece of paper or receipt. I think the one I use right now is a bookmark from church with a bible passage on it. I do not write in books. I'm too much of a rule follower for that, so even if I own it - I don't think about writing in it.
ReplyDeleteLOL. The rules about not writing in books have been so ingrained in us!
DeleteI never write in books, but I should- I would love to get a book (not a library book) that someone wrote in. And I do use a bookmark- sometimes just a slip of paper but right now I'm using one I got for free last time I bought something at Barnes and Noble.
ReplyDeleteI love marginalia, too. Not a TON of it, obviously, but when someone has underlined a word I also have to look up or has starred a passage, I like it. But I'd NEVER do that in a library book!
DeleteI love coming across writings in books. I think it's just a fun way to add to the reading experience. I rarely see it in library books, but it's so fun to see it in thrifted books! And I am a very strict bookmark user. I have a whole collection of them in a mug and it makes me happy to select a new one every time I start a new print book.
ReplyDeleteOoohhh...putting them in a mug or a bowl is a smart idea. Then they can be out for decoration and ease of use.
DeleteI have several actual bookmarks that I've been using for the last few years. I really love using a pretty, proper bookmark. Nothing against a receipt, but it's just a simple pleasure to use a bookmark. I have taken to buying them as souvenirs when we travel, so it's an extra pleasure boost to use those and reflect on wherever I bought it. If I can't find a bookmark, I buy a postcard and use those. I have a little file in my office where I store them, and I try to rotate them occasionally. Though I like Stephany's mug idea!! (Though, I guess my postcards wouldn't fit in there...) The bowl idea, maybe, is one I should adopt!
ReplyDelete