I finished transcribing Volume 106 of my journal collection last Wednesday. I'm not transcribing them in order. I don't want you to think this is the 106th journal I've typed up. I don't know exactly how many I have transcribed, I've started this project so many times and in so many formats, it's hard to say for certain. This time, however, I'm serious about it, because I have a spreadsheet. I have a list of every month starting in 1992 (when I really started to record things) up through today, broken down by month, and I've got columns for my journals and my photos. I note where these things are stored, both physically and digitally, and if and where they are backed up. I've also got columns describing where the items are "browsable." For instance, I've been scanning all my paper photos and putting them in albums, so I note where the scans are (which CDrom), whether they've been backed up onto our home server, and which photo album I could go to to browse, say, October of 1997. That's a black Mypublisher album, if you're curious. The photos are nearly done. There's a gap between 2002 and 2006 (which is tricky because that is right when I made the transition from paper photos to digital cameras) and then July 2010 to present day. My goal is to finish up the gaps this year, and then be in a place where I could build each album in "real time" more or less as the photos are taken. Spend New Year's Eve ordering up that years Family Album.
Anyway, my spreadsheet is much bleaker in the journals columns. There are a lot of journals to transcribe. Last year, around February, I gave up writing on paper every night. I switched to blog format for my "journaling." I'm not sure if I told you that. I started with a lot of trepidation, it almost didn't feel like writing if I wasn't using a pen, and I still have a few reservations, but for the most part I like it. I like being able to add a photo to a particular day. I like the pretty blog themes I can choose from. And I like knowing that I'm not creating new journals that will require transcription. Only the 115 or so "back issues." One of my New Year's Resolutions this year is to transcribe six volumes.
I have set up several private blogs for journal transcriptions, one for every five year period of time. One ginormous blog felt unwieldy. So, volume 106 goes into the blog for 2006-2010, and my current journalling goes into the blog for 2011-2016. I just enjoyed a brief flip through volume 106 on the iPad. Talk about convenience, when they are all done, I could check back on any instant from 1992 to current day from a mobile device!
I started transcribing last year, with volume 108. I was in the last month or two of being pregnant with Noah, and so I transcribed the journals that covered the period of time when I had a month or two left of being pregnant with Miles. It was good to reconnect with the Jenn from the last weeks of pregnancy and the first weeks of parenthood.
Volume 106 covers November 2008 to January 2009. It starts with a trip we took to Portland and ends right before we all went to Tahoe. One entry talks about the possibility that H will move back out to the West Coast!! One entry describes how I will establish a photo-a-day collection for the first year of Miles' life (that never happened). December 3rd, 2008 is the day we learned we were having a boy, that's in there. Quite a few entries describe how many days I have left of work before maternity leave and how much school work needs to be done before the end of the quarter, and how much cleaning and organizing needs to be done around the house before the baby is born. There's definitely a sense of waiting, of filling time, and an attempt to prepare. There's also a lot of recognition that life is about to change, hugely. Pretty much every weekend day that Nathan and I spent watching TV or movies (even when I was watching for Library School Homework) ends with me describing how we won't be able to do this once the baby comes. It's interesting to note how my fears/predictions/expectations match up with our new realities. Certainly makes me think about what life will be like two years from now, and how that will compare with the thoughts I jot down (or type up) tonight.
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