WASTE BOOK retrospection

The thing about using paper-and-pencil WASTE BOOKS is that eventually you use them up and have to start a new one.

(Thanks to my subscription to Field Notes Brand’s quarterly Limited Editions, I never have to worry about getting a new one; I have 48 unused WASTE BOOKS stored in their tidy wooden box, with three more on the way in the mail as we speak.)

(No, I do not have a problem; why do you say that?)

As I prepare to wind up my current WASTE BOOK and start a new one, it’s time to review this one and see if there’s anything I have forgotten to a) do; and b) transfer to more effective storage for future action. I’m not going to bore you with a page-by-page review, but it’s worth looking at the process.

First, meet my WASTE BOOK cover. I made it at Backstreet Arts because yes we do leather crafts there.

It was a simple enough project, and since I carry my WASTE BOOK in my back pocket it provides some protection against wear and tear.

You will also notice that I go ahead and apply book repair tape to the inside and outside spine for further protection:

You may recall that I was a librarian for almost my entire career, so I know stuff about book repair. For example, I like this Kapco tape because it has a peelable strip down the middle which allows you to position it before affixing it permanently.

Still, you can see that over the months of use, the WASTE BOOK still takes a beating.

One of the many reasons I like the Field Notes Brand fieldbooks is that I can record stuff in the front. For specific project notebooks I can give an overview for — I don’t know — the archivists of my estate?

So what have I been doing since last July?

It is always fascinating to me to review these things and have no clue what I was working on.

Literally no clue. GALAXY has seven segments, but in centimeters? No clue.

The main lesson of WASTE BOOKS is that you slam everything into them. Here we see me working out why the spreadsheet for the Alchemy Art Fundraiser wasn’t calculating the percentage of support accurately.

And here we have the design and measurements…

… for this stunning mini-effigy from last fall’s Equinox soirée.

Ha! These are ABORTIVE ATTEMPTS, notes for the prank I pulled in the Alchemy burn Facebook group leading up to the board elections last fall, wherein I posted fake candidates with views appallingly antithetical to our ethos. Many was the hippie taken in by obvious tomfoolery. (The point was to get people aware of the elections and to run for those posts themselves.)

Getting close to the end…

Measurements of windows for potential new wooden blinds. Suggestions from friends for television to watch. Calculations as to how few stakes I could get away with buying to provide a daytime rope-off for GALAXY at Emergence burn. A note from Pandora for my newest idea for GALAXY, a silent disco. The model number for a new refrigerator.

Everything, folks. Put everything in your WASTE BOOK.

Last one, I promise: A chart of potential cocktails for an evening of Cocktails in the Labyrinth, an event I put up for silent auction at a recent charity event. Another ABORTIVE ATTEMPT, to be refined once the guests have completed a survey about their tastes.

So what happens next? I record those items that need to go into other project WASTE BOOKS, check off those things that no longer need my attention, and I keep the old WASTE BOOK on my desk for immediate reference (e.g., the cocktail table) until all of it has been handled. Then into the second tidy wooden storage box it goes. (It is worth noting that I generally do not fill up a WASTE BOOK to the last page before starting a new one; I never want to run out of pages out in the wild.)

The front section is old WASTE BOOKS.

Anybody have a different approach? Favorite WASTE BOOK brand? Feel free to comment!