I'm An Old Fogey-I Prefer Writing-Anyone Else?

[+ Gar1eth]

I have so many medical goings on going on in my life right now (as proof I have at least 4-possibly 5 medical procedures on the horizon that I'm trying to get done before I start Medicare at the 1st of the year) plus other 'chores' I need to get done that I'm behind on  (because Yes, I'm The Great Procrastinator-with a song made famous by The Platters) that I have an interminable To-Do List. 
 

I mostly use the NOTES APP on my iPhone  using it with the open bullet points so I can mark what I've done. I've  got an ongoing shopping list, usually a note for each upcoming doctor visit with questions to ask, a regular To-Do List, and at various times other miscellaneous lists-for example I'm not sure I can still get to it-might be lost or been erased-but I had a list of songs for karaoke that I thought might possibly be within my limited vocal range. But I haven't done karaoke in years, so I haven't added anything for a while. 
 

Considering all of that I end up using the Notes App pretty much everyday for its convenience. But occasionally I'll take my Padfolio into the doctor's office with me and make my notes there instead of the Notes App. Even with my horrendous penmanship (and it's gotten worse over time due to both lack of use and arthritis), it still feels 100 times more satisfying writing and checking things off on a 'regular' or legal-sized pad.  But I mainly use the phone for its convenience. 

[wsc]

I do many of the same things. I use my phone calendar app to schedule doctor appointments, medical tests, haircuts, and anything else with a set date and time. I also set reminders ranging from several hours to a week ahead of time, then adjust the reminder as the event draws closer. I even use the calendar to schedule daily and weekly medicine doses, then advance the events as needed.

I also use the calendar app to notate questions I have for the doctor or to remind me to get more shampoo from the salon I go to for a haircut, and so on.

For grocery shopping or prescription pick-ups, I keep blank note paper on the refrigerator door (held by magnets), adding items as they occur to me, then take them with me when I go shopping to ensure I get everything I need in one trip.

So, I am left to my own devices (handheld) to remember for me that which I would otherwise likely forget - until I eventually remember and usually at an inopportune time.

It's not that I'm pressed for time; I have all the time in the world to get things done. Or at least all the time left to me as I - in Peter O'Toole's phrase - amble toward antiquity. But I do like to be efficient and to exercise my God-given gifts of laziness and lethargy, saving myself for the more pleasurable pursuits of friends and fermented spirits.

And I fully understand and appreciate the sense of accomplishment engendered by crossed-off line items on a to-do list, even if I have to add notepads to my shopping list.

[mike carey]

4 minutes ago, wsc said:

even if I have to add notepads to my shopping list.

I have a small clipboard, A6 size, and I put 10cm lengths of supermarket receipts on it, along with sheets of paper that only have printing on one side, cut into quarters, and use those for my shopping lists. And yes, if I forget to take the list to the shops, I forget things.. Still, if I do forget, I don't mind the short drive back to the shop, as every time I spend $30 or more at one time, I get one free espresso coffee added to my loyalty account. (And it's a national chain, so I can redeem the free coffees when I'm travelling too.)

[CuriousByNature]

I normally take a few sheets of velum with me to appointments, along with several sizes of quill pen.  For the sake of time in the appointment, I don't begin illuminating the text until I get home.

[mike carey]

4 minutes ago, CuriousByNature said:

I don't begin illuminating the text until I get home.

You should go to the Blackpool Illuminations!

[MscleLovr]

26 minutes ago, CuriousByNature said:

I normally take a few sheets of velum with me

But where can you get good vellum today? It’s so difficult to find quality calves.

[mike carey]

Just now, MscleLovr said:

But where can you get good vellum today? It’s so difficult to find quality calves.

Thighs too?

[TonyDown]

This may or may not matter to you, but when you enter information on a pad,  type information on a keyboard, or write by hand, you are using different parts of the brain.  I learned this during a creative writing workshop.  Does it matter with your challenges? Don't know.  But it's interesting you brought it up.

A neighborhood realtor leaves 3.5 X 9 notepads on my porch now and then.  They are great for jotting down information.  I also use them for to-do lists, and sometimes at the end of the day I make a separate list of all things accomplished. 

For appointments, and other key dates I use the calendar on my phone.  I trained myself to open and check my calendar app every day. 

Finally, I keep a running grocery list on my DOC app that I continually update, real-time.

Perhaps any method will succeed as long as you remain faithful to it, by following through with the "do" part of to-do.  I heard an advice columnist say that this morning.  Sounds too simple to mention but made sense how she framed the idea.

Edited July 2 by TonyDown

[+ Charlie]

I do not use my phone to make notes or schedule appointments--what if they get erased accidentally, or my phone is hacked, or I lose it? At the end of every year I go to the store and buy anew At-a-Glance appointment date book for the coming year, in which I write down every appointment when I make it. I also use it to make brief  notes of everything that happened during that day to use for the narrative journal that I write up every few days (I have kept it for 52 years). I am not technically proficient, so I use the same 9"x12" bound paper notebooks in which students took written notes in class when I was a college student, back in the days before computers and smart phones were invented. My notebooks now fill an entire office  file cabinet, and my appointment books for the last ten years fill a large drawer in my desk. It is not efficient space-wise, but it works for me.

Edited July 2 by Charlie

[+ Gar1eth]

50 minutes ago, TonyDown said:

This may or may not matter to you, but when you enter information on a pad,  type information on a keyboard, or write by hand, you are using different parts of the brain.  I learned this during a creative writing workshop.  Does it matter with your challenges? Don't know.  But it's interesting you brought it up.

A neighborhood realtor leaves 3.5 X 9 notepads on my porch now and then.  They are great for jotting down information.  I also use them for to-do lists, and sometimes at the end of the day I make a separate list of all things accomplished. 

For appointments, and other key dates I use the calendar on my phone.  I trained myself to open and check my calendar app every day. 

Finally, I keep a running grocery list on my DOC app that I continually update, real-time.

Perhaps any method will succeed as long as you remain faithful to it, by following through with the "do" part of to-do.  I heard an advice columnist say that this morning.  Sounds too simple to mention but made sense how she framed the idea.

I was aware. They've done studies I believe that show students retain things better if they actually write notes as opposed to typing them into a keyboard or  tablet.  

[CuriousByNature]

2 hours ago, MscleLovr said:

But where can you get good vellum today? It’s so difficult to find quality calves.

I have my own herd of velum cattle.  I've developed a breed that allows me to harvest the velum and the veal without harming the animal.... lol

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

I prefer using Steno pads, even though I don't use them for short hand.

[Nightowl]

2 hours ago, Gar1eth said:

I was aware. They've done studies I believe that show students retain things better if they actually write notes as opposed to typing them into a keyboard or  tablet.  

I think there’s some validity to that.  Though my education years preceded the advent of electronic devices, I always studied by making detailed notes of what I was trying to learn.  When tests and finals came around, I was able to draw on the memory of what I had written on the page and even where on the page it was written, to get the information I needed.  

[Luv2play]

7 hours ago, Charlie said:

I do not use my phone to make notes or schedule appointments--what if they get erased accidentally, or my phone is hacked, or I lose it? At the end of every year I go to the store and buy anew At-a-Glance appointment date book for the coming year, in which I write down every appointment when I make it. I also use it to make brief  notes of everything that happened during that day to use for the narrative journal that I write up every few days (I have kept it for 52 years). I am not technically proficient, so I use the same 9"x12" bound paper notebooks in which students took written notes in class when I was a college student, back in the days before computers and smart phones were invented. My notebooks now fill an entire office  file cabinet, and my appointment books for the last ten years fill a large drawer in my desk. It is not efficient space-wise, but it works for me.

I do more or less the same. I buy annual agendas each fall for the following year. . I keep it on my table close to my phone and computer. Everything gets noted in there. I update the back pages each year with regular contacts, websites and passwords etc. 

I file them away at the end of each year and they become a diary. 

[+ sniper]

I've been considering getting a Kindle scribe for this reason. Get the tactile memory of writing without slips of paper to keep track of.

Edited July 3 by sniper

[Rod Hagen]

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