My 20th Book and Pen Diary Anniversary

After my jr. high orientation on Saturday, August 26, 1989, I went shopping with my family.  While then, my brother and I saw some cute, pretty diaries with locks, leading us to each buy one.  Realizing how many blank diaries I had, I thought the best way to fill them up would be to write everyday.

Actually I had many failed attempts to keep a diary during elementary school.  At times, I would start writing everyday, every few days, or after a big event, but would soon stop for many months.  That’s why for the first few weeks after the jr. high orientation, I would keep my diary out on my desk to help me remember to write everyday.

Fortunately, life was simple back then, so even if I forgot, I could recall and catch up on several days’ entries.  I eventually worked it into my daily routine, and some time in high school, I realized that my life had become more complicated, so if I were to miss just one day, I would have trouble writing about it.

I had long filled up the blank books I mentioned.  This means that I’ve bought and filled up quite a few new blank books over the past few years.  My brother eventually learned to stop buying new diaries for himself, and also gave his blank ones to me, because he would never write while I would fill them up.  I’ve also received some as gifts, which have also been written from cover to cover.

At times, I considered stopping the diary routine by a certaint time, but found myself unable to do so.  By the time I graduated from college, I had decided that I was going to write into the next year, decade, century, and millenium, which I have done, so my jr. high, high school, college, and grad school life are all recorded.

Today marks my 20th diary anniversary.  In other words, I have been writing daily for two decades.  After writing into the 21st century and 3rd millenium, I don’t plan to stop the habit soon.  I already have two blank books waiting for me, and I plan to write at least into the next decade, which would begin in 2011.  However, I’m not sure whether I will continue for another whole decade or not.

I know some of you might ask, "What do you write in your diary?" Here is my answer: EVERYTHING!

Another question you might have is, "How about transferring to a digital or online diary or blog?" My answer is "no."  My daily diaries have to be portable and compatible everywhere in the world, in case I’m on a trip.  This means, it has to have no electrical or technological requirement, because those things are not available everywhere.  Besides, with hackers, viruses, and Spyware, I do not want my daily personal materials online, where they will be vulnerable.