Is there anything in the world that holds as much promise as a brand-new, unspoiled writing journal? Conversely, is there anything sadder than a stack of journals with a few pages written in them, unable to be reused as much for their lack of virginity as for their obvious lack of positive energy, the evidence of their quality displayed (or rather not displayed) in the massive number of empty pages within.
I had a $5 free money coupon from Staples that I needed to spend (I never turn down free money), and initially I was going to buy some boxes so I could continue selling some of my excess CDs. The Staples near my work didn’t have any boxes in the size I wanted, so I had some extra time to think. During that thinking time, I had a idea for a log book and was unable to find any suitable journals in my house to accommodate the info. Putting my idea and free money together, I purchased a new book today. With coupon, it was essentially half-off.
And it’s a really nice journal. I am really a sucker for clever journal designs. I was initially considering a simple lined journal, where I would make dated entries in a linear format, nothing fancy. But this journal had a neat calendar type design in the top margin to indicate the date, and well, that’s really all it took. It also came with a plastic bookmark with stencils in it for drawing shapes, stored in its own pocket in the back cover. Not only that, but the book also has ribbon bookmarks in the spine. And not just one ribbon, but three – in two colors. Talk about overachieving!
So I have this awesome new journal, full of potential. What will be its duty? Old-world scrobbling. Scrobbling is a modern term for software that logs/records your music playing activity. When you are listening to music in a non-networked fashion, as I do now, you use a log book. I had once read online about people who keep a listening log book in their music room and faithfully record what they have listened to each day. I found it interesting, but interesting for them, not for me. Now at the time I had read these stories, I didn’t have a dedicated listening environment, not even really a stereo to speak of. That might have been part of the missed connection.
What brought me around to thinking I needed to do this? There are a few reasons actually.
The first reason is that I have a lot of CDs, closing in on 2,000. I don’t want to end up being one of those guys that listens to the same 10 albums all the time. I need a reference log to see if I’ve listened to a particular album recently.
When I listen to an album, or when I want to relisten to an album, or when I want to choose an album, it would be helpful to have some listeners notes. Descriptions of the sound quality, of things I noticed for the first time in the songs. If I get a new version of a CD, does it sound better or different than my existing version? That’s useful to me and to others that may want to hear something in particular. I will have a reference of good or great sounding albums.
Another reason for having a log is the permanence of the log itself. Sometimes I find that listening to music is almost a pointless activity. It shouldn’t be. Pointless is a bad choice of words. It’s passive. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy listening to music, but it’s like meditation, maybe? You’re either in the zone or not and those two worlds don’t really intersect. By keeping a log, it’s sort of reaffirming, "yes, this happened" or "this night was not wasted". I don’t think I’m explaining this part well enough, but the point is, there is a record of an activity so that the enjoyment of the activity is not lost or forgotten.
I had planned on beginning the log at the beginning of 2021. Like a new year’s resolution or something like it. But resolutions are really a dumb idea. The best time to begin a new task is today. Right now. If this log ends up on the top of my unfilled journals in two months, it won’t matter which month that final entry is made.
Comments are closed.