On the road again....

Update I received today from Whistler's Mutha (the fourth recipient of the notebook, who does not blog and does not want to learn):

i received the notebook over the weekend........i have it at work and put in my contribution while listening to the cd.

 

 

 

 

i remembered the "molest me" quote on the back.....turned the book over but see that the T and M are missing.   i had thrown the mail box away so i don't know when the letters fell off.

also...i didn't pay attention to where in the book the red corded marker was (placed by the person before me?).....kind of would have liked to have keyed in on that.......

i hope you like my addition....i thought of you especially and it is quite different than what i had originally thought I would do.   i will mail it to HP tonight.

The Red Notebook Catspiracy

Like most ideas, the thought for what I wanted to add to our Red Notebook just popped into my head. Rather than over-analyze whether my idea was adventurous enough, I allowed the reaction from 3 of our 4 cats to the presence of the Red Notebook in my house to mean: just go with it, just K.I.S.S. Keep it simple, silly.

Keeping it simple (sometimes really trying) is something I remind myself of often so that I truly enjoy living.

Xxoo

Icey

Dyeing in Solidarity!

On my 30th birthday, Tara/Graceless helped me achieve this lovely hair alteration:

I have the notebook!

The minute I brought it home and set it on my desk, my cat sat on it.

The Red Notebook Conspiracy: Aurora Approved.

It's not a red notebook, but...

...the idea is surprisingly similar:

http://thequeso.com/the-red-dress-project/

phase #1 complete

when i learned i was the first conspirator to get my hands on the notebook, it actually felt like some kind of honor. out of >20 people, i was #1. i had a relatively brand spanking new notebook, and i got to be the first one to eff with it. it was downright neato.

graceless (tara, to you normal people) delivered it to me at the maine roller derby practice at happy wheels. it looked like this:

i was genuinely thrilled and excited over a fun project. i took hopped in the car that night after practice and pondered what to do with it on my ride home. i racked my brain trying to think of something to do that would stand out as unique. it took me an alarming amount of time to realize that, being the first to go, there was nothing to be unique from. also, i had never read the book that was the inspiration for this project. by the time i hit my garage, i came to the sour realization that i had no friggin clue what to do with this notebook.

so the next morning, i ate breakfast with it:

then i took it to work:

then i ate my lunch with it:

then i took it to my mom's house, where i found a label maker:

*snort*

then i took it home. where it just... kind of... sat there.

anybody who knows me personally will not be surprised that i procrastinated with a project that weighed heavily on my mind. that tendency summarizes my entire life.

today being a thoroughly wasted sunday, i knew i had to do something with the notebook. i added a neat parlor trick, and tried to make it flow with a meaningful message. then i found some funny cartoons and pasted them in random spots. but i didn't feel... finished.

i found the cd in the back of the book. and as i was ripping the music to my computer, i had a pencil on a blank page. and i just started writing what i was feeling.

what came out wasn't anything awesome or unique. it wasn't even a lot of writing. but it is probably the most honest thing i've written that i knew other eyes would see. and when i was done, i was done.

i'll bring it back to practice tomorrow for the lovely ice (alyssa, to you normal people) to take next.

Here we go.... [updated]

Average Joe (conspirator #7) has some shiny new red skates, and now he has the shiny red notebook to keep them company! But, hopefully, not for long. Joe will be handing the book off to Spry Icicle (conspirator #19), who I think is genetically incapable of being in a bad mood. Seriously. Just being around her will make you happy, even if YOU are in a bad mood.

Next up is Ruth of All Evil (conspirator #1), my head of officiating. It would be super awesome if Evil had the red notebook on January 10, when we head down to Boston for the first stop of the Tour de Nerdfighting. (Joe and Icey: This is me hinting at you not very subtly.)

Evil will pass the book along to Whistler’s Mutha (conspirator #15), who is a lovely person and ref. She will send the book to HP Smashcraft (conspirator #24), who didn’t totally volunteer for this project but I’m sure will make an awesome contribution nonetheless. HP will pass on to Ian Fluenza (conspirator #5), quite possibly my favorite official in all of roller derby. Ian will hand off to Anne Persand (conspirator #3), who is the genius behind my incredible dinosaur helmet cover and currently dead-locked with Ian for my favorite official. (Mayhaps the book will decide once and for all.)

And thus, we conclude the roller derby ref portion of the red notebook conspiracy….

Next is Rehab (conspirator #9), my derby wife of three and a half years, who will send the book to Kate (conspirator #6), who always signs up to participate in my wacky ideas, no matter what they are. Kate will give the book to Penny (conspirator #11), who inadvertently inspired this whole idea.

Penny will pass the notebook along to Emer (conspirator #16), my co-worker and partner in awesome. She will send the book all the way to Arizona to our former co-worker Kara (conspirator #13), who makes the best vegan cupcakes on earth. She will send it back to Maine to Amy (conspirator #10), who still needs to schedule Smash-a-thon III (more unsubtle hinting!).

Amy, who used to share a cubicle with me, will send to Sara (conspirator #20), who used to share an office with me.

Sara will then give it back to me so I can bring it to my writing partner, Ben (conspirator #23), at his wedding (but not before several derby-related conspirators and I pose, pre-bout, with the notebook).
When Ben returns from his honeymoon, he will give the book to our former writing group member, Shawna (conspirator #22), who will mail it to Colorado to our writer friend Em (conspirator #12).

Because the book is already out west, Em will send it to Sam (conspirator #2), who is an amazing painter and has known me longer than anyone else on this list. (Like, I think it's a good bet that she changed some of my diapers.) Sam will send it off to the Empire State to Kim (conspirator #22), who has been my friend since 6th grade. Kim will pass it on to a different Amy (conspirator #8), who I know from my newspaper days. Amy will pass on to Daniel (conspirator #17) to wrap up the fun in New York.

Daniel gets to give the book to Shelley (conspirator #21), who has often been his partner in shenanigans. Shelley will send the book back to Maine to Iron Matron (conspirator #27) and she will pass on to the last derby conspirator, Mia (conspirator #14), in North Carolina.

The notebook will then head down the east coast to Georgia, to Dani (conspirator #25). Then Dani will send it back to Maine to Danielle (conspirator #26). Since Danielle shares a cubicle with me, I trust that she can get it back to me pretty easily and (I hope) by the end of the summer. 

In honor of the red notebook....

I stalked my cat.

Oh, and I also dyed a red stripe in my hair, which I will maintain until the book comes back to me....

Notes on the notebook

1. Don't forget to check out the pocket in the back. (I was very excited to discover it there and put fun things in it.)
2. I made the collage on the pages following the "ground rules." It's not one of my best. Feel free to add to it and make it better.

And so it begins....

I have a tendency to come up with wacky ideas that I never think anyone else will find interesting. And then my friends always stun me by not only being interested but by making my idea SO. MUCH. BETTER. (I have really awesome friends. No, really. I'm not just saying that.)

I read Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, and I was moved to purchase a red Moleskine notebook. I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do with it, just that I needed to make some magic. So, I emailed some of my most fun and fabulous friends and asked them if they'd like to help me fill the notebook with things that are fun and inspiring and make the world suck less. I didn't expect for more than 20 people to reply back, "I'm in."

Mia (conspirator #14) told me I needed to write about this. We had a lengthy email exchange about how to do that, and agreed that perhaps the best way to chronicle the red notebook's journey would be to set up a blog where all of the conspirators had access and could post as they saw fit. The project is interactive; the blog will be, too.

To clarify: We're going with the lesser-used definition of "conspiracy" and "conspirator" here - meaning people working together toward a common goal. Not an evil one. There will be no evil here (except for Ruth of All Evil, conspirator #1).