I love making lists.
I currently have a list of all of the Disney posts I have yet to post. I have a list of all of the movies I still want to do parties for (even though we already went to Disney). I have a list of all of the things I need to grade. I have a list of all of the books I want to read. I have a list of the groceries I need from the store. I have a list of all of the things I want to buy that aren't immediate needs (I really want a shadow box for an art project).
I love lists of things I love: movies, music, food, a combination of all things I love, whatever. I love "to do" lists. I love shopping lists. I love handwritten lists. I love lists in the form of a paragraph or in a standard list form. I love poetry or creative writing in the form a list. I love lists.
I'm also somewhat picky about my lists. Unless the list is a creative list, it must be parallel. There must be a logical order to the list. If the list is handwritten (which it should be), it must also be perfect. That doesn't mean the handwriting must be perfect, just that it must be perfect for the list. A hurried list can have hurried handwriting.
I think it may actually be a little bit of a problem.
Surprisingly, I don't like crossing things off of lists. That makes them too messy. Instead, I have a tendency to rewrite the list. There are usually new things to add at that point anyway.
Many of my lists have a rough draft. I quickly jot down all of the things to go on the list and then neatly put them in the correct order making everything perfectly parallel. If one item is a complete sentence, they all must be complete sentences! I probably spend as much time making lists for Thanksgiving dinner as I do cooking Thanksgiving dinner. I start with a list of possible foods that must be narrowed down to something that's still way too much food. Then I make a list of all of the ingredients in all of the recipes. Then I go through my kitchen and pantry and cross off all of the things I already have. Then I rewrite the ingredient list with only the things I still need. If I have time, I put that list in order based on where the items are in the store. Then I make a timeline list. Sometimes, if I have a lot of time or a lot of grading I'm trying to avoid, I will put every single step of every single recipe into one giant timeline for the day. Most of the time I do a more generalized list: Start the turkey at this time. Peel the potatoes at this time. You have to have the ham in the oven by this time at the latest. And so forth.
I also have a tendency not to look at lists after I make them. Well, until I'm making a newer, revised version of the list or if the list contains recipes I need. They just help me organize my mind. I think. Sometimes I make a list just so I can go, "Yeah, that amount of stuff is doable. I got this." Sometimes (rarely) I actually use the list to make sure I don't forget anything. It used to be that once I wrote it down, I wouldn't forget it (hence my fondness for handwritten lists), but as I am getting older, I do actually have to glance at lists every once in a while.
Well, I'm off to make a list of all of the things I need to do instead of actually doing them!
Godspeed!
