I have an odd obsession with good pens and nice notebooks. I once spent $65 for a handmade wood pen in Newport, Rhode Island. It's heavy, fits nicely in the cradle between my right thumb and forefinger, and glides across whatever paper it is pressed against.
I generally carry some type of notebook in my car or on my person. My favorite notebooks, as I've alluded to before, are Moleskine. My friend Tom gave me my first one one in 2002, and the first entry is from March of that year, from Complete Sea Kayak Touring (Jonathan Hanson):
With other humans near, you draw a circle around yourself and your companions--a small human universe that you must deal with on many social levels.... Alone, there are no circles. The world around you is your only universe, and you must either embrace it or live in terror of it.I re-read this entry as I was looking through various notebooks to see which would accompany to Europe at the end of this month, and digging through the top drawer of my dresser, I found several old notebooks, out of which I've collected various entries. They are here in no particular order but roughly arranged by notebook and some dates. Some locations are indicated by brackets, as are some notes. Some notebooks have been used in more than one year.
Dates Unknown
- After a few hours on the information highway, I felt like the human equivalent of roadkill
- Illinois Tourist Information Center (312-744-2400?): DISCONNECTED
- Hertz: $40 per day + tax
- Chicago-Northwestern trains stop at Jefferson Park, which is within walking distance of the O'Hare/Congress line to O'Hare.
- U.S. Scientists say that most moon rocks are igneous.
- I had to stop. But it wasn't the five hours of highway, and it wasn't the desert heat that made me exit. For lack of a better word, it was homesickness: a literal gut-felt pull that had me crossing the Salt Flats, the Rockies, and finally the Great Plains until I crossed the Mississippi before finally stopping.
- The hypnotic effects of driving do not manifest themselves immediately. For this trip, I was nearly into Nevada.
- [Reno] Access to the river is actually pretty easy, especially from the park.
- There are now geese in the park, no ducks.
- Java Jungle is on the north side of the river, across from the park.
- [Carson City] Could see the cemetery from the Bucket of Blood Saloon.
- Filson canvas bags.
- Walked up Michigan Ave., prowled around N. Rush St., Visited Northwestern Campus. Overcast and drizzly, but less wind than previous days--staying away from the water helps.
- Lots of black outfits in the city now.
- The music in O'Neil's: Velvet Underground, double live CD; blue w/Banannas?
- Lunch at Gino's on Rush: slow service, great pizza--deep dish cheese and garlic.
- Cold, rainy weather all but the first day. Had to dress like a backpacker: polypro, flannel, Gore-Tex. Hiking shoes were a good choice, both for walking long distances on concrete and for keeping the feet dry. As in Portland, no one stops just because of the weather. They just adjust to it.
- Don't do Thrifty rentals!
- In town with Kominski for a few days. Congress hotel--old, needs work, good enough to sleep in.
- El rides to Henry's house.
- A trip to Harvard [Illinois]--such a dismal place!
- @ the old apartment building: tried to remember the way we watched an ambulance respond to an accident. I seem to remember the ambulance itself taking the corner on 2 wheels though it doesn't look like there is enough room @ the intersection for any visible to turn so quickly and sharply. I remember a woman crying as she was being tended to; she was sitting against a tree, which is still there.
- Wookstock [Illinois]: What was Ward's is now Woodstock Mall.
- There's a line on the court house: 373 feet above sea level.
- From a church marquee: "Should God bless the USA?"
- In Elko, the train stops across from Paradise Lanes bowling alley & arcade.
- [Viewed from Amtrak train window]: 40 telephone poles per mile. Pole 10 has one reflective strip, pole 20 has two strips, pole 30 has three. Pole 1/40: mile marker, four strips.
- A Piggly Wiggly in Helper, Utah.
- Carbon County, radio KOAl.
- Drank wine out of paper cups at the Day's Inn--Palmer House Hilton has wine glasses in the room.
- Streets with presidents' names run east-west.
- On the train to Chicago, riding along expressway: lighted sign over the road reads "congestion continues thru Sacramento."
- Van Gogh's The Poet's Garden; George Seaurat A Sunday on La Grande Jatte.
- Hotel 71 [Chicago] w/Kominski. Much better than Congress.
- Red Line to Division and Milwaukie: Polish food.
- BofA ATM near Hotel 71: near Post Office & Red Lobster.
- Thoreau: Nature/Walking; Heinrich: The Trees in the Forest.
- Accident in parking lot--one woman cries @ the damage to her new truck, the one who hit her cried only after the police report was done and the other woman drove away. Cop leaves w/the comment, "You have a good afternoon."
- "Buckle Bunny" slang for a femail rodeo groupie.
- "Technical animal fat not intended for human food."
- [Boundary Waters, northern Minnesota] Paddled the Moose River to Big Moose Lake. Lots of lily pads along the narrow river. Stayed the night in Ely in the Paddle Inn.
- A couple of short paddles and one very long portage today. Yesterday were helped by some "old" men who carried our canoes; they were dressed in jeans and rubber boots, and probably laughed at our style of dress.
- Much paddling and a few short portages. Slowly learning how to control the canoe. The weather has been very good thus far, which helps make the experience more pleasant.
- I find myself imaging Grandpa up here, sitting on a rock and staring out over the water. I am also gradually forgetting about the "outside" world, since right now this world is good enough.
- [Chicago] Friday night after a week of Illinois--ends with a wonderful rain storm through which I decided to walk. Wet feet, wet blujeans--but not a moment of regret. Got to watch a bit of lightning while up on N. Michigan Ave, and I stood beneath a canvas awning and listened to the thunder roll between the buildings.
- "At least you didn't lose your boyfriend to your dad."
- For "The Somnombalist": I once found myself in the Amtrak station in Helper, Utah, the August sunrise bright and hot, the Wasatch Mountains an immune wall to the east. My luggage, a simple small suitcase, was suspended from my hand, the handle cutting into the soft flesh of my palm."
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1 comment:
I didn't know you enjoy fine pens? Another interest we share :D Whenever I find a store with fancy fountain pens, I wander, dazed and covetous until my family pulls me from the store. One day, I'll actually buy and use some.
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