Old School

I went to see a play reading with my cousin A and my friend D last night, and I pulled out my new (hot pink metallic!) dayplanner and started transferring birthdays from my 2008 planner to my 2009 planner (there was a bit of time before the play started). And D said, "man, that's old school...I haven't seen anyone use a dayplanner in I don't know how long." And I got to thinking of how lost I would be without my dayplanner.

Since I was in high school, I've always used a paper planner. In 9th grade, we would decorate them with stickers, and the entries are pretty hilarious. I think the leather one my sister got me with my initials embossed in the side perished in the fire in my parents' garage last year, which is a shame. I'd love to look at back at the events and people that were so important in high school, and laugh at what I thought was drama then. I think it would be a good lesson.

I was thumbing through last year's dayplanner, and I was struck by how easily I could fall back into the past just by looking at it. But not in a bad way - I think we select the moments that we remember, and we sometimes put our rose-colored glasses on in order to see them "better." Which is fine. But looking at that past definitely reminds me to avoid past mistakes in 2009. So here is another short list of resolutions, relating to dayplanners.

1. Don't overbook - it's not fair to the people you're with, or to yourself.

2. Take time for yourself, and schedule that time wisely and often.

3. There's nothing wrong with an empty page - sometimes doing nothing is the best thing of all.

4. Keep jotting down song lyrics, phone numbers and titles of movies and books. You will look back at them when you need them, and there they are.

5. Send old-fashioned birthday cards, with a stamp and everything.

6. Keep your lists short.