On my list of things to do in life — learn to draw. Also speak Italian and German.

Oh but everyone can sketch, believe me. It’s just a matter of doing the first step. Putting your pen on paper and drawing lines instead of letters. The first sketches may be awful, or not and surprise yourself. It doesn’t matter, actually, because it’s just a way to force yourself looking at things; If you challenge yourself in sketching visual notes, the sketch itself isn’t important at all. What’s important is that you’ll soon discover that you can remember details, moods, perfumes and sounds that you couldn’t imagine to be able to and then you’ll be hooked.
Rhodia pads are harder and harder to be found here in Italy as well, that’s why I started binding mine; I can choose size, paper, finish, everything. That makes me happy ^_^

I take a lot more notes on my phone or laptop using Evernote than I used to. Certainly for work. But hand writing in journal still has a special place for the “deeper” stuff I need to explore. And like you say, it’s a medicine for me as well.

I’ve used a few Rhodia pads but the Moleskines have been easier to get. I do wish I could draw and sketch but that continues to elude me…

Sort of amazing the common experiences left-handers have when it comes to writing. We’re all part of the same family.

A Super Sherpa — sounds great. They sort of look like a more compact and lovely KLR. Good luck taming the dirt and gravel!

I have similar concerns David and I never know if they’re real or just old age making me afraid of change. We aren’t writing on cave walls anymore. Why write on paper maybe.

Like you, I can type far faster than I can write. And I tell myself it helps because I can keep up with my thoughts. But more often I think I’m deluding myself. Writing by hand, albeit slower, tames my chaotic mental state and the ideas unfold more clearly. But the keyboard is nice. For some years back in the 1970s and 80s I typed my journal pages with an old Woodstock manual typewriter. That was a trip. Loved the clacking of keys and sound of them hitting the paper — rap rap rap.

I like to think of Scooter in the Sticks as a journal of sorts and perhaps someday when I’m gone my granddaughter can learn a few things about her grandfather if she’s interested…

Thanks for the kind words about the post.

I bought a Kawasaki 250 dual sport 2009 called a Super Sherpa. Not a fast bike but set up mostly for off road. I wanted it for gravel and dirt where the Burgman is too heavy and squirrely. Now I just need to learn to handle it. Think I’ll call it Ibex.

Agreed. Process does account for something to me, but getting it down trumps all. Thankfully, I wasn’t down the rabbit-hole too long before finding what worked.

I had custody of the minute books for one of Canada’s very largest public companies, founded in the 1880’s. The minutes were handwritten until 1947. The amazing thing was the cursive writing. From 1880 through about 1910, even though the books were written by a succession of individuals, the calligraphy was beautiful, flawless, and almost indistinguishable from one writer to the next. From 1910 on, the handwriting began to degrade. By about 1930, while still easily legible, there were marked differences from writer to writer. By 1947 it was a wise decision to switch to typrewriters.

For myself, I was taught to write by nuns in the late 50’s. They tried very hard to teach us calligraphy. There was a time, under the watchful eyes of the nuns, when, in spite of my left-handedness, I could write really quite well. That was in grade 3.

Back in the mid nineties, I taught myself to type. I can type way, way faster than I can write. I can almost type as fast as I can think. Writing became painfully slow.

Lately, I had to write a bunch of thank you cards. I had to make a conscious effort to slow down and force myself to write legibly. The notes were basically all the same, so it was more an exercise in artful cursive writing, and less a process of getting thougths on paper.

My keyboards and bits and bytes are my go to weapons in my arsenal. My left-handedness is a handicap in cursive, but an asset when I type, because I understand that in the English language, there are more letters for the left hand with a Qwerty keyboard than for the right hand.

One last thought, my blog is my journal. I am conscious that I am leaving a legacy for friends family. Bob Leong’s daughter only read her dad’s blog after his passing.

Great post Steve. Thank you. On so many levels.