Listings (mainly pen and paper)

Listing: (lĭs'tĭng)

the gerund of the verb "to list" as used in nautical matters.

With the new year upon us (well, the New Year according to the Gregorian calendar), the requisite lists of resolutions tend to be compiled. In my experience, these lists are aspirational and they tend towards servings high in moral fibre seasoned with righteousness. These lists usually involve starting one set of things while stopping another. Often, the things to cease are replaced by the things to start: stop smoking, start exercising; stop spending money on lattes, start taking own coffee in mornings; stop funding regimes with human rights violations, start funding inefficient NGOs in the (re)developing world.

Rather than list my lists of things I am ready to do (the Estoy Listo Lists), I will provide a list of things that I already do, like, deride, wish for, etc. It's like Schott's Miscellany (http://www.miscellanies.info/) but far less useful, and increasingly more personal. This is solipsism at best and another example of the uses of the Internet at worst (well, perhaps not the worst as I am not posting (a) porn (or pron), (b) terrorist propaganda (wait, is there such thing as antipaganda? And if so, is it a variation on antipasto?), (c) terrorist porn (or pron), or cheat codes for contemporary video games.

Listing:

n. - The act of making an ordered array of items; (A database containing) an ordered array of items (names or topics).

Lists, it seems, make good copy (for example, the January 2009 copy of Real Simple Magazine is called the 'List Issue') so in speaking of magazines, are some of my favorites as I think about them on 12-29-2008. In terms of personally rated snob-factor (SF), 0 is the lack of snobbery while 10 is true snobbishness (resulting usually from magazines that cost more than books, meals, or small cars).

1. The Paris Review (SF: 5.7)


2. Real Simple (SF: 0)


3. Ready Made (SF: 1)


4. The Times Literary Supplement (SF: 8 (but not based on price))


5. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis (SF: 9.5; includes price)


6. Esquire (SF: 4.5)

Keeping up with the paper-theme, here are my favorite notebooks, blank books, and agendas in preferred order. There is probably Band-Wagon Factor involved here if one is persuaded, or dissuaded by the apparent cool, or passe, factor of things. Not being a hipster, or other such disaffected youth with practiced cool disdain and see-through, baseless snobbery, I don't care about the Band-Wagon Factor (BWF) on my choice of notebook. Moreover, I don't know how to rate Band-Wagon factor (is it 0-10, 0-100). So, I don't care.

1. Moleskine 3x5 pocket diaries (plain, lined, squared, reporter)


2. Moleskine Large Cahiers (plain pages, black cover)


3. Rhodia 8x11 bloc notebook (lined paper)


4. Field Notes 3x5 staple-bound squared notebook

Diaries, blank books, and agendas I'd love to try but either $$ or malaise keeps me away:

1. Allan's Journal (http://www.bibles-direct.com/category.phtml?Category=64) which at 15 pounds is $21 which is quite affordable + shipping from Scotland.


2. Smythson diaries from London which I hear are quite nice but with prices ranging from $155 to $300 seems a bit excessive (http://www.smythson.com/SmythsonSite/product/Diaries_Portable%20Diaries/WP-1004041.htm). $265 for a freakin' journal? That strikes me as so preposterous that I can't even come up with anything ironic or sarcastic to write.


3. Letts of London 5x8 leather desk journal ($65 USD) seems a little more reasonable.

But with what to write? I've come to discover that I am fairly inconsistent with my choices of writing implements. For a while, earlier in the fall 2008, I was taken with pencils (in particular, the pencils sold by the Field Notes brand (http://fieldnotesbrand.com/about/) and then by their Bic pens). But my stalwarts remain:

1. Parker Duo-Fold Ball-Point (good weight, rests nicely in the hand, works best with the fine tip refill; the medium point is too thick and reminds me of a Bic, which if I wanted that thick of a line, I'd save $200 and use the Bic, or wait until I stayed at a hotel and took it from the front-desk. Nevertheless, I've been using the Parker Duo-fold ball-point pen since 1996 and I'm still pleased with how it writes.)


2. MontBlanc Mozart Ball-Point (little, fits nicely in a coat pocket, and if I had the little leather pocket jotter-holder-thingy, forms a spiffy little pocket jotter-paper holder thingy. Downside: refills are not readily available. Downside #2: sells for $230. OK, I bought myself one. I use it regularly. I am not ashamed).


3. Parker Sonnet Fine-Nib Fountain Pen (Affordable as fountain pens go at around $90. Of all the fountain pens I've used, or own, with the exception of the Diplomat Ambassador, see below, the Parker Sonnet, fine-tip 14k gold nib, black lacquered fountain pen is my all-time favorite when I feel like using a fountain pen. Given that I only go through phases in using a fountain pen, and then only at home, the Sonnet gets the most use which relegates the Diplomat, see below, to the fountain pen hall-of-fame).


4. Diplomat Ambassador Medium-Nib Fountain Pen (around $120, medium nib. Heavy and somewhat stiff. It's relegated to the drawer I now call the fountain pen hall-of-fame which also serves as the storage bin for my other fountain pens including the Cross, the Waterman, and the one whose name I don't know.)

Favorite place to create lists, in preferred order:

1. Places that serve coffee
2. Enroute on Airplanes
3. During meetings
4. Waiting Rooms
5. In my office at work
6. In my office at home
7. In bed, right before bedtime

Coming soon: actual lists