Day Forty-Two

The only things written on this piece of paper: a 917 phone number followed by the name Alex.

Day Forty

I clearly intended to pitch a piece on the author of Sex, A Mystery, Fiona Quirina, to another outlet. I found a draft of the pitch on a tablet. The amateur sleuth character was a Harvard MBA who became a sex surrogate to pay the bills after she lost her job and the author, who wasn't using her real name, had both a Harvard and a sex-surrogate background.

Day Thirty-Nine

More names of people to see and places to write for: D.L., Michael, NYTimes, Ahmanson, Brounstein.

Day Thirty-Eight

I was once really obsessed with weekend outings, whereas now I'm content to stay home and watch TV on my days off. I was always compiling lists of places to go and people to do things with. On the page I'm throwing out today I wrote: Game Day Red Hook Shore Upstate Mohegan Sun Sag Harbor Atlantic City and the names of some companions (mostly male) I was interested in inviting along.

Day Thirty-Seven

More notes about Ed an Jack Myers...

Day Thirty-Six

Another piece of paper filled with lists of names/contacts/sources for my Metro column: Stacey Lynn Koerner Initiative (ad-buying firm), Ed Martin, Pew Internet & American Life Project, RIAA Cary Sherman.

Day Thirty-Five

A list of books to read (most of which I still haven't gotten to): Wicked: The Life and Time of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire Valley of the Dolls Adam Rapp titles

Day Thirty-Four

More stationery: Back in the day, before I started trying to go to London twice a year, I was always trying to come up with new things to do on weekends. Here's a list I compiled of "Places to Go": Shenandoah Valley, Va. Governors Island Finger Lakes Shore Pkwy -- bike riding Coney Island Staten Island Yanks NY Transit Museum + tours Mohonk Mountain House (Catskills) Socrates Sculpture Park Roosevelt Island, Trellis Restaurant

Day Thirty-Three

Ah, this note is from a pivotal time in my life a couple of years ago: Someone in Northern California that I sold something to on eBay said they never got it and made a stink. Ebay was little help because I didn't include a tracking number and the shipping address they sent me was incorrect. I have a note to contact them, and the phone number for Avalon on the Almeda, which I think was the wrong address, to see if they had it there. The good news is that my dissatisfaction led to me to open an Etsy store. I've been happily doing business with them ever since. Also on the slip of papers: Walgreens (I wanted to express my dissatisfaction with their points-reward system after they bought Duane Reade) and the name of a woman out west who used to assign me stories.

Day Thirty-Two

Just five words written on this piece of paper: "Unusual ways to see NY." Probably a Time Out pitch I was considering.

Day Thirty-One

I'm finding pages of my tablets filled with story ideas to pitch to Time Out. Back in the day I complained that stories could only be 800 words; now, I long to have those days back! On one piece of paper I wrote: Musical of Musicals, Dodger Stages (Feb. 2); Rebecca Gayheart, Steel Magnolias (March 15); Denzel Washington, Julius Caesar (March 8); Douglas Sills, Moonlight & Magnolias (March 3).

Day Thirty

Back to the Back Stage stationery...notes I scribbled from when I had my Metro column...a piece I did on cable providers and possible deregulation.

Day Twenty-Nine

I get all kinds of tablets (the paper kind, not the electronic kind) from nonprofit organizations that I either give money to, or that would like me to give money to them. Regardless of which category the organizations fall into, I make good use of their paper. This sheet for today is from Memorial Sloan-Kettering. It has a nice beach background with sand, water and seashells that I wrote a random list of to-dos on: Jim, haircut, car from NYC, recycle AC, storage facility, Telegraph Avenue, Michael Chabon, Alison Bechdel.

Day Twenty-Eight

More notes of names and story ideas for article. On this one sheet I wrote: Patricia Clarkson, Viola Davis, Celia Weston (Far From Heaven) Todd Haynes. Then: James Rebhorn, Bob Gunton (busiest character actors); Hope Davis, Kathy Bates, Allison Anders; late bloomers: piano stuff, Polanski, novel (Turner), film (teacher); Latina Ent. — Freddy Rodriguez, Kirk Acevedo

Day Twenty-Seven

When I first moved into my apartment, I was a bit concerned that the front door didn't always close on its own when people came and went, and the other tenants weren't making sure it was locked. I scribbled a note a piece of white paper and I considered putting it by the door: "Please be sure this door is closed and locked after you enter and leave the building." Never did anything with it, though. I guess as I got accustomed to the building, I started to relax.

Day Twenty-Six

The papers from the tablet keep flying away. This one has just two notes: "pitch 2 or 3 shows to David C" and "657 credit." If the latter is my credit score, it's definitely improved in the succeeding years.

Day Twenty-Five

More sheets of paper from my Back Stage notepad that are going away. This one just has some names on it: Electronic Frontier Foundation, nonprofit group dedicated to protecting Internet expression; and James Gross, media and entertainment analyst, Barrington Research Associates. Probably sources I was considering for one of my Metro New York columns back in the day.

Day Twenty-Four

Another little slip of paper, this one already partly torn, with the word "covers we love" and "Morgan Spurlock Spring 2010" on it. Maybe from when I worked at the book magazine.

Day Twenty-Three

As much as I want to keep everything I acquire in London as a souvenir, I think I have to throw away at least some of my receipts, like this one from the Globe for a 4-pound program and a 2-pound pen for a friend.

Day Twenty-Two

More on the stationery: I started writing up an interview I did with a woman who worked as a sex surrogate to put herself through college and turned her experiences into a mystery novel.

Day Twenty-One

Continuing the theme from yesterday, I think I used my Back Stage notepad a lot when I was writing my Metro column because I'm finding scribblings on another page about Jack Myers Report, a media industry newsletter I used as a source.

Day Twenty

Here's more great stuff written on the pages of my old Back Stage stationery (it was printed on good, quality paper, by the way). It's a to-do list that includes: Help Me Howard, followed by the phone number musical synopsis OMMA stuff bio stuff

Day Nineteen

I still have the paper that Verizon sent me to accompany the $50 rebate card that I received when I last upgraded my cell phone — five years ago! This prompts two questions: When will I finally get a smartphone, and whatever happened to the "Can you hear me now?" guy?

Day Eighteen

A slip of paper detailing people I wanted to interview. This one lists Thomas Bradshaw, Michael Shannon, Adam Bock and David Joh(?)...I'm not sure I ever finished the thought on the last one.

Day Seventeen

I seem to like to write down dimensions of things. On an old piece of stationery from Back Stage with my name on it, I wrote: 21/21.5 inches 9 inches 2.5 inches I googled those dimensions and got a lot of listings for intercoolers!

Day Sixteen

A receipt from the Exxon on Main Street in Elmsford from 6/19/04...gas was $2.49 a gallon then. And more than 10 years later it's finally gone back to that price.