The Web Haunt of Ryan K Lindsay

I absolutely cannot get enough of notebooks. Honestly, right now, I have about four of them on the go. They are all for different things, and they all look completely different from one another. Why do I do this? Because I love writing things down, and I love having a little collection of words from a certain period of my life that says something about who I was at that time and what I was doing. Now, I’m not necessarily talking about journals or diaries here, just notebooks where I can jot down anything of interest, or I can make notes on a story idea, or I can simply doodle and waste time. My notebooks are usually pretty random but that’s what I like about them. They’ve got character.

I went shopping the other day and saw all sorts of notebooks in different stores. Who knew there was such a market for blank books for people to write their own things down. There were pretty ones, and ones that felt really nice, and mostly, ones that were really expensive. Most of my notebooks aren’t that expensive. I have never owned a Moleskine, though I do have a Tuscan leather notebook cover we got in Florence, which is pretty sweet. Most of the time I just have cheap notebooks, and the one getting a burn right now is just from the supermarket. A simple spiral-bound ditty with a dodgy cover and cardboard back.

But, it is the one I carry with me everywhere my bag goes (so basically to work and home again to sit on my desk next to me). In it I have nutted out about six different story ideas, I have written down my trip to Europe, and my preparation and execution of a successful proposal to the lady. I have started writing stories in it, then transcribed when I return to the trusty laptop, worked out notes for blog posts (not this one), and have even written my wedding speech and vows in it. This book will be awesome to go through later in life because it captures such a crazy time in my life. I like that idea that some of me right now is trapped inside it and I can always go back and check me out, see how I was.

I don’t even mind the cheap appearance because it’s easy to circumvent. On the front of my notebook I’ve whacked a little sticker on there, something that cost me two bucks off a website and it looks like this.

I mean, c’mon, how could you not want that picture looking back at you. Gets a few laughs from the teachers at work, and the kids have no idea what it’s about. I asked what they thought this guy was and nearly half of them said he looked happy but misunderstood. Hilarious.

Then on the back I have a completely different set of art. I would explain it but it’s simply easier for me to show you.

If you look closely you’ll find all sorts of classical allusions to great things, such as: Daredevil, Dali, Stonehenge, Cthulhu, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Iron Fist, Tesla, a Frank Miller cityscape, The Shining, Roald Dahl’s Royal Jelly, Abarat, Eaters of the Dead, human DNA, The Moon and Sixpence, and my very-soon-to-be wife, not to mention the top of a French coffee. It’s taken a few months to get it to completion, but it was damn fun getting there. Makes me wonder if you can buy notebooks that look like this. I wonder if there is a market for me individually doodling on the back of notebooks and selling them online. Each one would be different, and I could custom make ones with awesome literary allusions just like mine. Then again, I can’t draw for peanuts, so doubt that market is massive. Oh, well. I’ll just confine it to my spare time for now.

Posted on December 3rd, 2009 by ryan
Filed under: life