Mark This

There are a lot of things that I mean to do but don't. As I mature (which is a rather late breaking development, I'll admit), I actually start doing them more and more. I get up at a decent hour and go to bed at a decent hour more often than not, to begin with. I keep my room tolerably neat, and the amount of time since it was last an irredeemable mess might be a new record for me. Still, there are other things that I don't quite manage to do.

There are certain things that I always have on me. I always have my wristwatch (which I was not in the habit of using for years). I always have of course my keys, my wallet and my phone. For a while I made a point of carrying a proper Zippo lighter, but gave it up since I never have smoked. I mostly have my sunglasses now, as I got tired of being half-blinded and squinting all the time. They're a nice fashion accessory, despite costing a dollar.

Something I wish I always had on me (and something which it is easy enough to make sure I have) is a good marker. It's maybe something you wouldn't think of if not for spending time on film sets, but it's a tremendously handy thing to have a Sharpie marker on you. It's more often than you think that an ordinary pen won't do all that you need, and you can get a ballpoint pen virtually anywhere you go, so why carry one of those?

I don't make a point of defacing things, as I think that's generally an eyesore. One area where I think it's called for is that eminent place for public opinion to be hashed out in unvarnished language, the bar bathroom stall. Too many times have I had a lovely idea to commit in ink to the metal walls of a toilet stall but been without a marker. Well, I now have that marker, and so you may look for the intelligence and wit of such written discourse to markedly improve soon.