Speaking of Susie Dent’s Guilty by Definition (we were speaking about this many days ago), the book introduced me to a new term: a commonplace book. This was a notebook where people collected thoughts, bits of poetry, recipes, ideas they liked, lists, etc.

Essentially a bullet journal. Or, at least, how I keep a bullet journal. I collect up tasks I don’t want to forget to do, dump out feelings, write down quotes from books or television shows, copy recipes, and record everything I am scared I will one day forget.

I also do the bullet journally thing of writing down a single sentence for every day of the year. I’ve been keeping a bullet journal since May 2014, so I have over 10 years of these one-sentence entries, and it makes me happy to flip through them and see what I thought on this day in a random year.

Oh! The point with Susie Dent’s book. There is a commonplace book in the book, and it made me think about how I shouldn’t destroy these journals at some point in the future. I mean, most of the scribbling will be meaningless to anyone but me, but then there are the pages that give a snapshot of the time vs. not just my mind.

The writings we leave behind keep popping up in books I’m reading. Maybe the universe is trying to send me a message.

A long time ago, especially when the kids were little, I loved switching the clock back in the fall. Spring was awful, but we got an extra hour of sleep in the fall. Not on Sunday — on Sunday, they would wake up at their normal time. But on Monday, they would sleep in. And by Tuesday, we would all be adjusted to the new time.

That is not what happens to my body anymore. Sunday morning is fine. By Sunday evening, I’m exhausted at a ridiculously early hour according to the clock. So it says 10 pm, but my body thinks it is 11 pm, so I am falling apart. This continues on longer and longer into the week. This year, I was still struggling with the time change on Wednesday. Wednesday! Or maybe I notice it more than I do when I travel because we do not have the distraction of seeing and doing new things.

In any case, not a fan of time changes anymore. At all.

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Stop procrastinating. Go make your backups. Don’t have regrets.

Seriously. Stop what you’re doing for a moment. It will take you fifteen minutes, tops. But you will have peace of mind for days and days. It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

And now the blogs…

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But first, second, helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. To read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “Where Do I Belong?” (No Kidding in NZ)

Okay, now my choices this week.

The Road Less Travelled’s blog is now an adult. She writes, “18 years ago tonight, after the last trick-or-treater departed and we turned out the porch light, I hit ‘post’ on my very first entry here.” Go over and congratulate her on hitting the milestone.

Scientist on the Roof asks about splurge dreams, what task you would hire out if you had disposable income. I’ve solved the personal stylist thing by buying 20 of the same shirt. You never have to think of what you wear when you only have one look 🙂 It made me think about my splurge dream, and it would probably be a personal assistant to make the phone calls I don’t want to make or take care of tasks that always seem to linger on my to do list. It’s fun to think about.

Lastly, Jewish IVF had bad news both before and during her beta. She writes about this end of an era: “Unlike all the other failed transfers, I can’t comfort myself with a resolve to try again soon. This was our last embryo and there are no more chances.” Sending a huge hug.

The roundup to the Roundup: Not great at falling back. Your weekly backup nudge. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between October 31 – November 7) and not the blog’s main URL. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week. Read the original open thread post here.

I liked this list of 25 things the writer still doesn’t know at 50. There are many many many more things we don’t know, but we’re also not expected to know them.

So this list would be all of the things you should know by 50, but maybe you don’t. I felt pretty solid on 14 of her 25 things (#s 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18).

I also didn’t know 11 of her 25 things (#s 3, 4, 5 — though I would argue that these three things are not things most adults know how to do — 13, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25).

I would add to the list tying my shoes. Justine asked me recently if I had ever admitted this on my blog because she didn’t know this about me, and I found it in a post from 2016.

Checking the air pressure in my tires and adding air.

Doing any type of maintenance or checking on my car. I cannot do simple car tasks.

Buy or sell stocks.

Fly without drugs.

Kill a cricket. (As in, I need someone to do the dirty deed for me.)

Turn off the water or electricity in the house.

That takes us up to 18 things I don’t know at 50. Again, many many many things I don’t know, but these seem like common ones I should know.

What is on your list?

When I saw my name on the hurricane list this year, I feared that if it made the news, it would be a terrible one because it would be later in the season. It was a strange premonition because the name had been used in other storms, though none like this.

My heart hurts seeing the destruction and reading the death counts.

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I read two books set in Oxford at the same time. The first was The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman, the 9th book in Lyra’s world, an alternative, steampunk-ish Oxford. The second was Susie Dent’s Guilty by Definition, a modern mystery in actual Oxford.

As I switched from book to book, I kept landing in the same Oxford places. Lyra was staying at The Trout. The characters in the other book go to The Trout. Lyra visits Godstow Abbey, and so do the other characters. They both walk up Cornmarket and cross Port Meadow. It made me confused every time I ended up reading about the same place in two different books on the same day.

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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I learned recently about naikan, which is a self-reflection activity meant to reveal that you are “someone who has received endless, unearned kindness.” I think the unearned part is key.

You think of a person or entity (e.g., your workplace or a community) and ask yourself three questions:

1. What have I received from them?
2. What have I given to them?
3. What troubles or difficulties have I caused them?

The Wikipedia page points out why you skip the potential fourth question, which is an inverse of the third question.

It’s a very specific way of feeling gratitude in a chaotic world. It’s harder than it looks on the screen, especially when you’re trying to quiet your mind. Try it.

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts connected to businesses or sponsored posts.