The Eternal List of the Mundane

I have a confession to make. I am one of those people who has a list for everything. It's a compulsion. Crossing off things from the lists makes me feel like I am getting somewhere and that I am being productive. I know, that's not necessarily true but there it is. I make grocery lists, errands lists, to-do lists for work and to-buy lists for my closet. And except for the to-buy list for my closet, most of the items on these lists are recurring. I mean, if I make an errands list this week which includes laundry, I will still have to list down laundry in my errands lists for next week whether or not I have crossed off laundry this week.

Last week, during that spur-of-the-moment Saturday that I've been ranting about, within that same fateful hour when I bought the beach outfit that was not on my to-buy list, I also bought this book:

It was on sale and I was in a rut with my current reading material again. So I figured I needed a diversion and bought it. From the title itself, it is a compilation of lists from different people from different parts of the world. It made me feel good to know that there are other people out there who make some sort of semblance in this chaotic universe by making lists. The lists exhibited in the book were from the mundane, like daily task lists and grocery lists, to the monumental, like I-can-die-if-I-have-done-all-these lists. And some of the lists were from 20 years ago. It's amazing. People hold on to their lists and find that they are still crossing off things from it after 20 years. I also read somewhere that Jose Rizal kept all of his lists. But it was because Rizal knew that he was destined for greatness and was keeping even his most mundane documents to make sure that future generations will have stuff by which they could analyze how he lived. This got me to thinking: Hey, I should save my lists. I have no grand delusions for greatness but it would be nice to go over them many years from now and look at how much progress I've made. So, starting today, I'm going to renew my lists and revise them if necessary. I would even post some of them here.

I just love this book for giving me ideas. More importantly, a cute guy from the ATM line started a conversation with me because of the book. I was rummaging through my bag, the book fell and the guy next in line to me picked it up and started to ask me questions about the book. But then my turn on the machine came up so I had to go. If I didn't have a boyfriend, I might have asked for his number. Then again, maybe he was just really interested on the book because he is one of us compulsive list-makers. Hmmm...

"I am disorganized and yet I aspire toward order... Tasks that seem overwhelming look easier when reduced to mere lines on paper." ~from To-Do List by Sasha Cagen