What do you do with a blank piece of paper that is lying around?

Do you ever get those email with questions you're supposed to answer for your friends? You know, things like, "What is your middle name?" or "What do you eat for breakfast?" The questions on those lists always seem a bit bland. I don't really care what my friends eat for breakfast. I'm more interested in knowing what they think about when they eat breakfast. (Hmm, maybe I should write my own list...)

Anyway, I think Beat Gloor's list of questions is much more interesting. He's a Swiss writer, by the way, translated from German, and his modus operandi is lists. So when, on that rare occasion, I am at a loss for words, I'm going to pull a question from his list and give it a whirl. And hey, feel free to respond with your own answer. I'm listening.

So, question of the hour: What do you do with a piece of paper that is lying around?

I doodle. I can't help myself. I have to doodle. I draw Saturns and crescent moons and stars. I draw diamonds and pyramids and little squiggly things. I draw daisies and suns. I draw cats and lions and horses. I draw eyes. I draw geometric shapes: spheres and cubes. I draw snails and swans. I draw scrolls. I draw sailboats on water. I draw waves. I draw rockets (I have always been envious of the boys who could draw such realistic airplanes, rockets, and spaceships. They seem to have a natural instinct for how mechanical things look and the pieces fit together or something. My rockets look like a 1940s fantasy). I draw musical notes. I draw the ABCs. I draw mermaids. I draw lyres. I draw tornadoes. I draw shells. I draw feathers. I draw roses.

I have one of those huge paper monthly planning calendars on my desk at work. One of my greatest pleasures is doodling on it. By the end of the month, I have covered nearly every open space of the margins and other spaces in between with doodles. Then I get to turn the page over and start again.