Journal #896
While digging through my archives (boxes, drawers, bags, under the bed, my back pocket, etc.), I found scans of my contributions to Journal #896 of The 1000 Journals Project. Seeing as how the 1000 Journals website is screwed up and images of the journals don’t load (why do people complicate things with Flash?) I’ve put them in the journals section.
I haven’t looked at these pages in awhile, so it was entertaining to read the drivel I wrote. I’m not one to reflect on the past. To me, it seems counterproductive. I loathe seeing old friends or acquaintances and hearing those spine-tingling words “Do you remember when we _____?” I usually answer that question with a question: “Can I have a shot of whiskey?” However, I couldn’t help but think about what was going when I made these pages.
I was living in a small apartment that barely had any windows. The windows it had had no views—unless you consider a wall a view. It was late summer and according to what I wrote, it was “hotter than Satan’s perineum" (I don’t like really hot or cold weather, which is why I love fall and spring and want to move to San Francisco). I was killing time between the summer and fall semesters at SUNY Plattsburgh; unemployed; my heart had just been broken; lived alone; didn’t watch TV; didn’t have any friends or know anyone in town; stayed up really late or all night; spent most of my time making art, working on my website, researching obscure obcessions, or just tinkering around my studio (my whole apartment at the time) and… and… and wow, except for a few things, this is similar to my current situation. This is one of the reasons why I dislike reflecting on the past. I start to realize that I repeat myself.
I checked out the 1000 Journals Project book today. It’s pretty cool, and well-made. There are tons of images from the journals. The coolest part is the two stitching pages that must of been difficult and expensive to produce. Sadly, none of the pages I did are in it. There are a few pages from the one I worked on: a couple from the girl who stunk-up the journal with perfume before she sent it to me a couple from a guy that had it after me.
All this talk of journals has given me an idea: The Vermont or Burlington Journal Project. It isn’t an original idea, but an idea none the less. It’s sort of a localized version of 1000 Journals. First, I’d get a journal, a Moleskine Large Plain Journal to precise. Then, someone would get it, do something in it, send me scans of what they did, and pass it on to another Vermonter or Burlingtonian. That would repeat as necessary until the journal is full and returned to me. I’d make a website where people could track its progress and look at images of it. I don’t know. Is that stupid, lame, and/or pointless? Let me know if you’re interested.