i've noticed recently that ian doodles pretty often. he's not really what you would call an artist, so his doodles aren't drawings, but lines and squiggles mostly. it's all over his homework book and random papers. this morning, i stepped out of the living room to get dressed, leaving my half-finished sudoku open on the table. when i came back, he'd doodled all over it. random lines and lots of colored-in circles.
now, i don't mind that, unlike me, he's a doodler. i'm a pretty slobby person in general, but for certain things i'm totally ocd. i can't stomach errant lines and half-erased markings on paper; my hand automatically reaches for an eraser. i couldn't try to doodle haphazardly if i wanted to; all of my drawings would have to be lined up perfectly and i would have to use an eraser. that's not doodling. because of this "disorder," i'm not able to create collages or shabby-chic scrapbook layouts, even if i deliberately try to copy someone else's design. it's physically impossible.
and i am totally appalled when people (adults or kids) write or draw in books (ahem, ahem JR). my one rule has always been that ian not mark up books. but i guess i better add to that -- no more doodling on mama's sudoku!
2 comments:
Ooooo. I feel you on this one. Did it used to drive you crrrrrazy if a teacher erased the blackboard and left, like, a tiny bit of the loop of a "y" in one spot? Oh. My. GOD! I couldn't concentrate on anything for the rest of class!
Just a few days ago Charlotte doodled in this same fashion on one of Ethan's Saiyuki manga. Bad bad girl. We cannot leave pens anywhere but, like, on the fireplace mantel, because everywhere else she can get to them. Sigh.
Your particular ocd is a wonderful thing! When you sent me my birthday card, my brothers spent forever examining your script, and arguing about whether it was computer generated or not. I was sure you had written it your own self, with a pen, and one of them agreed with me, and one was adamant that something so perfect could only be machine-made.
Wanna settle the dispute?
ack! ack! ack! i couldn't stand tiny chalk marks that weren't totally erased on the chalkboard. i have this totally embarrassing episode when i was in school in japan for the summer (i think it was 6th grade). my teacher had chalk smudges all over his butt and i just couldn't stand it. i had to, had to, had to get it off somehow or else i was going to go crazy. long story short, i made a fool of myself but i did get them off!
thank you for your compliment on my handwriting. yes, that's my regular writing. i'm a printer; my cursive is rather atrocious, actually. i've always had anally ocd neat handwriting, but ever since i started working with elementary school kids, i've gotten stuck with this style of writing.
i actually made my school writing into a font, but it was kind of a cheapy version so it's not great. one of these days i'm going to have it made professionally so i can stop writing in my slow, hand-cramping way and just type everything out. one of my friends has offered to pay for it to be made into a font so he can use it too!
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