Ever since my exam was moved back by 2 weeks, I haven’t had the urge to study; and since I’m working four days a week while only taking one subject at uni, I’m not around stressed out students all the time, so there hasn’t been the sense of urgency that would normally provoke me to at least open an ebook. I’m not even seeing my usual symptoms of pre-exam procrastination: spending excessive amounts of time preparing to study by cleaning my room, travelling far away to a quite place like a library, or writing a blog post about procrast…wait, there it is.

All ‘Wah’s aside, I’ve taken a new initiative to stay organized and hopefully avoid procrastination. I now have a todo list, and not my usual digital todo lists ranging from a simple notepad file, to emailing myself tasks, and perhaps most successfully, to using rememberthemilk.com. All of them had a common flaw, they were not accessible enough. I carry my laptop around me all the time, and can’t live without internet access for more than a day, so this realization came as a surprise to me. Getting email alerts, updating and editing things on a computer just doesn’t quite feel as satisfying as crossing out that final task on a physical notebook with a thick black pen–especially a pen that stutters. You know, one where you have to hold in your fist and scrape it against the paper at a 53.245 degree angle before it produces three millemeters of a smooth line followed by a 23mm long dent in the paper because the angle was a bit off.

$2.29 and a trip to Woolworth later, I now have a todo list I can hold in my hand (and no, you can’t get a PDA for that price). First item on the agenda: buy a todo list notebook. Done. Second item: write about it. Done. This feels great! Third item: throw out that fucking stuttering pen and get a new one. Done. Next item, study for half an hour…brb.