What’s an Interesting Scribble?
When people see my notebook for the first time, they almost invariably ask about the strange scribbles running across the lines, with a conversation along these lines:
What’s that? Is that Arabic or something?
It’s not Arabic — it’s still English, but it’s in shorthand.
I think my mom/aunt/grandmother studied that in high school. How did you learn to write that?
I found a book on it at the library my senior year of high school. Probably the same book they used for the high school classes your mom took. It used to be a pretty common class in high schools back when secretaries who could take dictation in shorthand and then type the letters and documents were in high demand.
So my notebooks end up full of interesting scribbles, quickly written fragments of interesting ideas, set to paper so they’re not forgotten. That’s what I hope to use this site for also. Not polished essays or authoritative discussions. Just scribbles, and I hope they’re interesting.
In particular, I want to spend some time re-reading the notebook I take with me when I listen to presentations or talks. (Which, incidentally, is one of the few times I write longhand, because it’s easier to read months or years later.) And I want to get in some practice with a modern form of shorthand, the stenotype keyboard. So I’m planning to combine these together and start typing up my notes, and posting them here.