Offline Planner Stream

I have been recording the trivial details of my day to day life since 1991. Every year I buy a day planner that I use to record the little things that I do each day. I don’t use the planner to schedule appointments or as a hip journal, but instead record the mundane events that occur. For example, today’s entry would say:

tired. didn’t get enough sleep. alex to zoes’. home for hour. work – not very motivated. tired and grey, rainy day. spent time with jim. home made yummy dinner. dishes with alex. read. bed. worked on website.

Often I mention what I read, what I watched, or what game I played. If I exercised, I record for how long and what type. I also use codes for special days, the start of my cycle, and sex.

My record is dull and is certainly never going to be published but is something that I feel compelled to do. Time slips away and memory is so elastic that this record creates some permanence. I can read the planner and discover what I did on August 11, 1997 and how I felt on my 31st birthday.

Mary Shelley’s Journal Stream

Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, kept very similar records in her journal. It is unbearable to read because of the abbreviations she used and because overall it is sleep-inducing.

She did, however, record what she was reading, which assists academics in determing what works influenced her novels. But like me she was recording the trivialities of her daily routine. An entry from May 1815 reads:

“Monday 8th – Go out with Shelley to Mrs Knapp-not at home-buy Shelley a pencil case-return at one-read Spencer-Go with Shelley again to Mrs. Knapp-she cannot take Clary-read Spencer after dinner Clary goes out with Shelley-walk with Jefferson–write to Marshall-Read Spencer-(Canto II) they return at eight-very tired-got to bed early-Jefferson-scolds” from The Journals of Mary Shelley. ed by Paula R. Feldman

Recently, as I began researching Lifestreaming, [Read more…]