"In his domestic administration my father had this system . . . to keep a journal and insert in it all occurrences of any note . . . A record very pleasant to look at when time begins to efface the memory of events, and very well suited to get us out of perplexity: When was such and such a thing begun? When completed? What retinues came? How long did they stay? Our trips, our absences; marriages; deaths; the receipt of happy or unhappy news . . . An ancient custom, which I think it would be good to revive, each man in each man's home. And I think I am a fool to have neglected it." (Montaigne, Book I, Essay 35 (publ. 1580))

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Like the Old Days . . .

I kept something of a diary starting with 1966 (turned 10 that year) . I was a steady, if uninspired, diarist for the first years, then went into an accelerating decline after about 10 years. I think I started doing this as pure imitation of my dad. Plus he had free diaries for us from insurance agents.

Anyway, within individual years during that period, I typically started strong and tailed off at year end. I think of this because that happened to me in 2006 with this online diary. I have a number of events I want to catch up on here. Once I get past the year-end tailspin.