While the sliding glass doors were being delivered for the house, Clive, Chris (Clive's son), and I talked for a while as they relaxed. I talked a bit about the work I still need to do on the house, and commented on how I was really unsure how to handle some of the water issues. The water is definitely well water. It doesn't seem to have the amount of iron in it that Dad's well has, but it smells of water minerals and the like.

As I commented about this, Clive turned to me and told me about his experiences growing up in Jamaica. They dug a hole about half the size of my garage, lined it with concrete and used it to hold the water that was collected from rain. They drank this water, not boiled, not filtered, just drank it. They bathed with it. The artificial pond had green algae at the top, and tiny, 2cm long fish in it. They avoided drinking the fish, but drank the water.

When the pond ran dry, they went to the parish pond, which was about half an acre in size, filled their 5 gallon jug full of water, put the jug on their head and walked back home.

The water coming out of my faucet is fine. There's nothing wrong with it.

I'm debating about the water from the snowball.

I have an item in my TODO list that reads, "create N belt (direction indication)."

I have no idea, at this point, what it means or why I wrote it down.

Usually with my notebooks, I have the correct one on hand and will write down notes in it, instead of in my TODO list. I suspect if I had my work notebook, I could piece together from the surrounding context, what the heck I'm supposed to create with the N belt.

...

...

...

And I think I just figured out what this item was in reference to.

The Comcast installation guy was here last night, rewiring up the house for cable. I have a bunch of notes around in reference to his calls to his mothership. This must be one that I both overheard and misheard. Other than the directional indication, I have no idea what the rest of it meant.

Regardless, at this point, crossed off.

I have too many notebooks.

Rather, I use too many notebooks on a regular basis, such that I don't feel I can discard or remove any from the rotation. I also feel this is a problem, given how much paper I carry around with me pretty much everywhere.

Of those nine journals in the picture above, I use a minimum of six daily, usually all of them.

They are, left to right, top row:

• My day summary journal, where I keep a daily record of the day, limited to a sentence or two.
• My memorization journal, where I keep the current work I am memorizing written down, and copy it frequently to memorize it.
• My long term journal, where I track my progress on long term goals. This one is a day planner, and is new, a gift from Carol.
• My Scalzi Story brainstorming journal, where I write down 5 plot ideas for each of the Band Names
• My health journal, where I write everything I consume, spend, make, and exert, along with other health related notes.

Bottom row:

• My daily TODO list, where I write down my morning-triage items to complete for the day. This book makes focussing on the day easier than the 6" of yellow index cards I have.
• My 11:11 / 20:14 journal, where I write down what I'm doing at 11:11 am and 8:14 pm every day. Last year, it was 8:13pm, for the obvious reason.
• My three questions journal, where I answer three of my personal-reflections questions each night, to see how I feel about the day, how I feel about what I've done, and my progress.
• My everything journal, where I write down notes, ideas, lists, sketches, plans, schedules, recipes, and anything else that comes to mind that I might want to keep around. Nothing work related in this journal.

Not show is a green notebook that is my work journal.

I'm unsure how to merge these into fewer books. The longterm, reflections, 11:11 and day summary books aren't used nominally until the end of the day. The TODO and work journals are used constantly during the day. They are used up in different rates. I blow through the work journals and health-tracking journals rapidly.

I like paper, so switching to an Evernote or digital solution isn't in the foreseeable future for me.

I should reconsider this. Each one fulfills a need I have. Maybe I don't really have too many notebooks.

Yeah, that listening thing. You can hear a lot when you listen.

I have to say, I become frustrated a lot when talking with Dad. His viewpoints on a lot of things are remarkably different than mine, and I want him to understand, to hear me, to digest what I'm saying, and, well, let's be honest, to stop being a butthead and change his mind so that he agrees with me. Fundamentally, that's what most people want: to be right and have people agree with them.

And things change when I listen.

I hear his frustration with how things are. I hear his dream for a better world where everyone is rational, and honest, and good. I hear his sadness in a wish that won't come true. I hear his heartbreak in the losses he's had. I hear his tone shift into lecture mode when he knows he's lost his audience. I hear his annoyance at being unable to remember things. I hear his loss in at being unable to do things he used to be able to do, activities and solutions that came easily before. I hear his fear of a future full of being told he's doing everything wrong.

And eventually, I hear his gratitude in a life well lived, a live well blessed. I hear his joy in a job well done. I hear his humour in the jokes he tells. I hear the hopes and dreams he still has. I hear the goodness he has, his unshakeable belief that all people have good in them. I hear the stories he's told me a half dozen times already and I see the joy it brings him as he tells it to me for the 73rd time. I hear the pride in the new lessons he's learned, the new technology he's mastered.

And I hear his desire to try. He hasn't stopped trying to make the world a better place. He hasn't given up yet.

There are so many things Dad and I disagree on. When I listen, I realize there are so many things we agree on, we've just had different experiences up until this point. When I listen, I hear what he's trying to say and not what just what I want to hear.

I think I needed to listen to understand that.

Unrelated: this post so did not end up where I thought it would.