For this week, I had to come up with an alternate dotting exercise. Since I planned on going home for the Thanksgiving break, carrying a 18x24 piece of paper on a drawing board for the entirety of an 11 hour bus ride presented too much of a risk. I decided, instead, to dot on a single slice of sticky notes. I leave tally marks every hundred right on the note itself. After the 20 minute practice, I throw away the note.
Monday -- 11/23
3,403 dots
The posted note is much harder to dot on, believe it or not. Only one side of it sticks down, and that barely works in itself. I have to use one hand to spread it out and one to dot. Being limited to a confined space also changes my mentality towards the process. I sometimes only worked in spaces this big on the larger project, but even then, I knew I had more space if I wanted it. It almost feels claustrophobic.
Tuesday -- 11/24
3,854 dots
I tried this in the middle of my bus ride to Pittsburgh. It's about 6:30am, and I've slept somewhere between 1 and 4 hours?... Doing this on the bus is actually very relaxing. It took my mind off of how uncomfortable this sort of traveling is. I find that odd, since this dotting practice is uncomfortable in itself. The mechanical hum of the bus diverts any other sound distraction, and i find it a lot easier to count.
Wednesday -- 11/25
3,600 dots
I find it hard to concentrate. I've come up with a method to make the practice easier: taping the corners of the note down so that its easier to work with. However, the distraction of being home is too much to concentrate. Tomorrow I run a 3.2 mile turkey trot at 9am, after doing no preparation at school because that was literally impossible. I know I will be up until 3 or 4am, because I have not seen my friends in a good while and they will be offended if I don't hang out with them. It will be fun, but I'll be worried about tomorrow. I also have work in an hour for the next 5 hours.
Thursday -- 11/ 26
4,023 dots
Everybody was distracted in my house getting ready for company, so I got a lot of dots down. However, my mind again was everywhere. I forgot how straining it is to come home for this short period of a time. Everybody I see is upset we only get to see each other for a few moments--and the whole time I'm with them I feel as if I'm disappointing someone else. Oh, that's right. The food. That's why I come home. we have 34 pounds of turkey upstairs for 11 people. Oh yeah, and two pumpkin pies and 1 pecan pie--do the math--that's 1/4 pie per person.
Friday -- 11/ 27
3,540 dots
It's my second to last night here, so I feel very rushed doing this practice. I check my timer multiple times. As if 20 minutes is really making any difference. I try to tell myself this as I do the practice. If I wasn't doing this, I'd probably be doing something else why worrying about getting everything done in time for next week. It's hard to put homework out of my mind. I figured I would just do it during the week, but that just never happened.
Sunday -- 11/29
3,737 dots
Yeah, I've done no homework. It's kind of all hit me at once. I'm back at school, but I decide to stay consistent with this week and still use the notes. Like every other time, I feel rushed and worried throughout the practice. However, when I throw away this note, I realize that I actually rip it up. I have for the whole week. For some reason, this kind of makes me feel better about the whole process. Should I destroy the real piece? Maybe when it's done.
Total dots: 22, 157 dots
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