Page 13 on Thursday
1. A notebook is an open invitation.
2. I lost my working notebook while visiting my son in Asheville a couple of weeks ago. Although we checked our motel room before leaving, I can’t get the image of the notebook, trapped in between the sheets and blankets, out of my mind. I still haven’t gotten over a shoe I lost in a motel room in Washington D.C. 10 years ago (and I still have the matching one just in case it turns up). It’s possible that losing my notebook could drive me into therapy.
3. I once left my journal in an Applebee’s restaurant after having lunch there. When I went back an hour or so later to look for it, I discovered that it was being used as a shim to balance a wobbly table.
4. I’ve been in a low energy funk lately. I felt better once I realized that pretty soon this whole period will be relegated to the archives.
5. Having the same blog entry up for more than a day, makes me feel like getting caught out in public wearing the same clothes 2 days in a row.
6. Last Sunday my husband said this to me, “I set an alarm; so don’t be alarmed.” I was walking into the bedroom to join him in a morning meditation when he said it. He had a time limit, as in a T-time at the Golf Course.
7. I learned a lot about myself through a comment left by Jennifer. After telling the story for the second time about a man named Albert who posts big homemade signs along the road to someone named Annie (the last one said, “Annie call Albert. It’s important”), Jennifer suggested it would be fun if I would weave a tale around the mystery. At which point, I answered that I’m more inclined to investigate, plan a stake-out, and report my findings; causing me to realize that I’m more of a journalist than I realized. And then a shocking revelation came to me, which was this: “Oh my God, I totally think fiction is lying!”
8. Last night I dreamt about Albert and Annie. In the dream a friend had found something about them in the newspaper, and she was reading it to my husband and me. I was fascinated, but when I looked at the newspaper, I saw that it was only a page of drawn paper doll-like figures, and our friend was filling in their names and the narrative. My husband loved the story and wanted me to pay for it, but I said, “Why should I pay for it? It isn’t about the real Albert and Annie.
9. My sister has a movie on a taboo subject featured on her blog. Although the collective consciousness of America doesn’t really want to admit that there are still a lot of questions about how 9/11 happened, some people are still asking them, particularly the ones about how the buildings came down the way they did, as if explosives were involved.
10. “Bill Moyers argues that American democracy is threatened by perversions of money, power, and religion. Money has bought our elections right out from under us. Power has turned government "of, by, and for the people" into the patron of privilege. And Christianity and Islam have been hijacked by fundamentalists who have made religion the language of power, the excuse for violence, and the alibi for empire,” so reads the lead-in to a transcript of Bill Moyers recent address to the Wakefield Divinity School.
11. My favorite quote of the week was made by an unknown author: “A pessimist is an optismist who is informed.” Do you think the author was a pessimist or an optimist?
12. Sometimes I feel like a secretary taking dictation all day. When the words start to come into my mind, I feel it’s my responsibility to drop everything and take them down.
13. When I clean my house I feel like an editor, cutting out all the clutter that doesn’t belong.
Leanne, founder of Thirteen Thursday has started a 13 Grand Central Station. Not only can you get the 13 code template, game rules, and list of players there, you can even get a 13 Thursday T-shirt! My other 13’s are here.
Comments
I hope you find out about Albert and Annie, mostly cuz I want to know how it ends!
Posted by: Carmen | April 27, 2006 9:10 AM
I would go into therapy if I lost my journals! ACK!
Hope your funk passes, soon.
I want to know more about Alber and Annie.
Thanks for the links.
I had a dream about your blog last night, which I mention in this weeks 13.
Posted by: Nancy | April 27, 2006 9:29 AM
Lost things are a nightmare for me, particularly something like a notebook! About your nr. 5: I feel like I am having guests and offering leftovers... don't like the feeling! off to visit your sister's blog,I am curious. My TT is posted! Happy Thursday!
Posted by: mar | April 27, 2006 9:51 AM
hes's a pessimist,at least in my mind.
I always say I am going to journal in a notebook and never do.
Posted by: Mrs. Fun | April 27, 2006 9:54 AM
Sorry you are in such a funk! I can imagine what you must feel of loosing that notebook! I love #11 That is how I think all the time! Have a good day:)
Posted by: Shannon | April 27, 2006 9:58 AM
Great list. My husband writes everything down on random pieces of paper and leaves them all over the place. I wish he'd use a journal. I suspect that he doesn't intend on reading his notes, but that writing them down gets them out of his head and into action.
My TT is up.
Posted by: Amy The Black | April 27, 2006 10:21 AM
I've soo sorry to hear you lost your notebook... I couldn't imagine losing one of my sketchbooks (which I do treat as a journal of sorts). Perhaps it'll turn up someday.
My TT is up.
Posted by: Froggie | April 27, 2006 10:40 AM
Quite alarming info there ;-) A lost notebook does sound terrifying....
Thanks for stopping by.
Posted by: Lifecruiser | April 27, 2006 11:31 AM
I think this is the best list yet! :)
I would be lost without my little notebook. Do you keep all of them once you fill them? I do. I guess I'm a packrat.
I've been in a low energy funk too this week! I wonder why? I'm blaming PMS, but...I don't know.
Those signs must be really interesting!
Posted by: Lisa | April 27, 2006 11:39 AM
Here is another quote for your collection.
Oscar Wilde had a most wicked sense of humor.
"Pessimist: One who, when he has the choice of two evils, chooses both." ~ Oscar Wilde
Posted by: srp | April 27, 2006 11:40 AM
every time I lose my car keys I think I should go into therapy. I lose them once a day, average. it's crazy.
I understand about the energy funk. it has been very hard to do anything lately, and it's driving me nuts. possibly even to therapy.
have a great day, Colleen!
Posted by: amy | April 27, 2006 11:50 AM
I love that dream. Maybe it is linked to thinking that fiction is lying. I was just reading an essay by Marylynne Robinson about fiction which said that Latin writers used the word "Olim" to mean "You need not doubt what I say because it is not true." I loved that. I think we should pass a law that Bush's new press secretary has to start all of his press briefings this way from now on.
Posted by: lisa | April 27, 2006 12:10 PM
Very interesting list for Thursday Thirteen!
Thanks for stopping by my blog yesterday.
Posted by: DebR | April 27, 2006 1:32 PM
Loose Leaf can't be topped, just like Loose Change
(the name of the movie mentioned in # 9).
Posted by: Kathy | April 27, 2006 3:40 PM
When I lost my camera two weeks ago at the beach I realized that I was upset, in a deeper way, about loosing the photographs on the camera than I was about loosing the camera itself. I had to force myself to stop thinking about it so that I could enjoy our trip, but it wasn't an easy thing to do. I had one really, really good photo of Jackson on it that still bothers me when I think about it.
Posted by: Mayberry | April 27, 2006 4:13 PM
Of all the things that I lose, its my sense of humor being misplaced that bothers me the most- everything else is usually found where I left it but but who ever purposely sets their sense of humor down???
I enjoyed your list once again. My 13 are up also. Sniff them out.
Posted by: Red Queen | April 27, 2006 4:38 PM
Wonderful list. I feel like a secretary too. I'm not sure about the pessimistic optimist though. Too deep for me. My Thirteen are here.
Posted by: Keb | April 27, 2006 5:25 PM
That's interesting about Albert and Annie. We used to have a couple that would leave each other personal ads in a local independent paper here. I still wonder what happened to "Say Hey Dana" and "Cowboy K."
Posted by: Jen | April 27, 2006 5:34 PM
I wanted to be the 13th commentator!!!
Posted by: Sherry | April 27, 2006 5:37 PM
How dare they use your journal as a table shim!!
Posted by: kenju | April 27, 2006 6:19 PM
I am so enamoured of Albert and Annie, I can't stand myself.
The thought of your notebook, lost between the sheets of some far away motel has my mind churning with stories, too.
I'd say you've become my muse, except that I'm not a writer of stories. I just think in stories. And you've given me fodder for new ones. :-)
Posted by: Jennifer | April 27, 2006 6:33 PM
I always love reading your Thursday Thirteen Coleen...they are so packed full of wonderful tidbits and important information and poetic things not necessary poetry...This one today is no exception.
Gee, I hope you find your book! I would not get over that easily, at all. Always a great pleasure to visit you, dear Coleen.
Posted by: OldOldLady Of The Hills | April 27, 2006 8:49 PM
#5 made me laugh; I feel the same way! My T13 are up.
Posted by: Janet | April 27, 2006 9:51 PM
I would love to hear that someone found your notebook and mailed it to you, that would give me a little hope, a little faith in the goodness of people. Then, you say it's been used as a wedge. That's just not right!
What a cute dream, your friend enjoys entertaining you? It sounds like it.
I can totally relate to feeling like you're wearing the same clothes 2 days in a row. The only perk is that you don't smell so much online. ;)
Did you see that Exxon's earnings was just a measly 8 billion in the first quarter? I wonder exactly who has more control of our country these days - Big greedy corporations, or the people.
I think the author is a pessimist.
Posted by: Leanne | April 27, 2006 10:20 PM
i really like the editor comment and house cleaning...also, that stinks about your journal @ applebees!
my T13 are up if you get a chance to stop by and take a look at them :)
Posted by: ames | April 27, 2006 11:51 PM
this is getting close to a record comment day so i'll make my contribution to the cause.
i bragged about looseleafnotes to several others today. your readership is growing large..
just like you livin' large.
xoxo
Posted by: joe | April 28, 2006 9:50 PM
Joe, look down at last week's 13 Thursday...now that's nearing a record. My blog was down all day while Doug did some tech work. xo
Posted by: colleen | April 28, 2006 10:01 PM
Something comparable to number 3 once happened to Shakespeare.
Loosing a notebook is tough to take. But over time, if you play your cards right, the lost notebook takes on mythical qualities, enhancing your mystique as a writer~,:^0
Seriously. That sucks. But I bet the important stuff will come back to you. Or new stuff will emerge as you think back to find it.
Have a great weekend.
Posted by: Rick | April 29, 2006 12:29 AM
I left my journal on a cross-channel ferry sailing between St Malo and Portsmouth a week ago...
There was a time when such a 'disaster' would have driven me to a fenzy but now I have decided the journal was meant to be lost so that I can start afresh and with new plans and ideas...
I bought a larger journal and have begun to write with an uncharacteristic optimism and excitement...
Posted by: Julia | May 2, 2006 6:09 AM