Pen and Paper

At some point in college I decided that I needed a pen that lights up. I guess I saw it on-line. I don’t think I really foresaw writing in the dark, but I just thought it was too cool to pass up. To justify the purchase, I assured myself that at some critical moment it would serve me well. I must say that there is some sort of satisfaction in clicking the top that makes the LED turn on and off. I never actually wrote with the pen because 1) I never found myself taking notes in a movie theater, 2) eclipses don’t happen very often, and 3) while it looks like a clicky top, it is actually a twisty top. We all know what happens when we write with twisty tops – the ballpoint slowly retreats back into its cylinder mid-page.

Finally, I have found a use for this marvel of LED technology. I decided that if I am going to be a blogger, I need to be prepared to capture my ideas at any moment. This includes the middle of the night. Having brainstorm ideas just before falling asleep and then forgetting them by morning has always been a problem for me. I have now solved this with the most obvious of all solutions – pen and paper. I placed a small, hard backed notebook and my light-up pen beside my bed. This way, if I have an epiphany, I can bring it back with me from dreamland by immediately writing it down. I have no excuses now.

After the alarm went off for the first time this morning, I had a brain explosion. It was the best idea for a blog entry ever! The sun was already up negating the need for the light on my pen, but I knew that I better roll over and jot this one down. It would be the first of many ideas to be recorded in my little notebook. Then I had a moment of arrogance. I thought, “this is such an amazing idea that there is no way I could forget it. As soon as I get up I’ll just go ahead and write out the whole thing properly on my computer.” Then I dozed back off until the snooze sounded. While eating my yogurt at breakfast, my brain suddenly imploded. I had the best idea for a post just a little while ago! What was it?! What! I didn’t write it down? I thought my plan had been foolproof. The majority of the day was spent racking my brain trying to shake my idea loose again. No success.

Now I need to figure out how to preserve the ideas that I have in the shower. Maybe a dry erase board mounted to the tile.