Awhile back, I bought a three-pack of the miniature Moleskine journal. I bought it because I thought separating different categories of writing (poetry, journal, lyric, etc) would help me be more organized, and because they wrote on the label that Picasso and Hemingway used them. Plus they were in a "sophistocated" (Barnes & Noble) bookstore.

Hook, line & sinker.

I think they were almost $10. Ten dollars for three journals with less than fifty lined pages in each. I think I've lost two of them, actually.
Last night I remembered them as a brilliantly formed, thought-provoking phrase (in my head, at least) came to mind. You know what I'm talking about if writing is your thing. You would still know what I'm talking about even if it was not your "thing", but you were genetically predisposed to the ball-and-chain that is writing, while you watch your cool friends paint and write music (though you let others know that photography would be your "thing" if you could afford the equipment).

But as the phrase came to mind, I wished that I had my little Moleskine within reach. It was 2:30am, and I had no clue where to begin to look that wouldn't mean waking my mom up with lots of noise. It was a lost cause, but with the big deal I made of it came the power to remember without writing it down. I don't think that would work every time, and I am still virtually Moleskineless.

It reminds me of a science teacher I had in 8th grade. I'm not gonna lie,; she was a ditz. She didn't realize that although breastfeeding her newborn baby in public is protected by law, it did not do well with most of the junior high class I was part of. Her husband, later on, also decided that he was gay. I have to emphasize how sorry I felt for all of that. But looking at her objectively, she was in general a major ADD case.
She did make one good point that stuck with me. She noticed (after awhile) lots of students cheating on her tests by bringing in notes complete with the answers from tests that their friends took in earlier class periods. Right before the next test, she made everyone copy the test review a few times after sharing her experience in school where she tried to cheat by writing the answers on her shoe, and found that she didn't need to look at it because writing it helped her remember.

I think it's kind of the same principle with what I said above. I made such a big deal wishing I had my Moleskinelet, that the spike in mental activity seared the original phrase in my brain. After all that, let me put it in a sentence in context for you.

"I had no sugar for my tea, so I used the soft peppermints my mom had in a jar but would never eat. I looked in the cup after I sat down. The thin, red stripe had yielded to dissolving, the edges wore away in jagged, pointy patterns, and they began to look like teeth."

Yeah, a classic letdown.