Where's my Slingshot?

[gordonzola]

My LJ friend douglain was discussing Slingshot Organizers over in his journal and it made me realize mine was lost. I love my Slingshot because it fits in my back pocket, and carrying it around 24 hours day is the only way that I can keep track of my schedule and not fuck it up.

Today for example. I have a meeting at 9 AM with a new co-op, a cheese department meeting that I will be going late to at 11. A meeting with a different new co-op at 4. A short conference call with a 3rd new co-op at 5 and a meeting of the BOD of the local worker co-op organization from 7-9PM. Also in there, I’m supposed to work a 7 hour cheese shift (usually 8 but our meeting lops off an hour) which is not mathematically possible. Of course except for the cheese meeting which is partly my fault for not noticing, I didn’t really have options for the other things because they are either long overdue or crisis driven. I woke up at 6 dreading this long day ahead.

I find that’s the best thing about having a datebook actually. Trying to keep all my meetings in my head stresses me out enough to lose me sleep. I tend towards anxiousness anyway, but it’s like getting a pre-dawn wake up call when I haven’t been writing things down. My brain says time to get up in case you scheduled something else and forgot.

Lke I said above, I use the Slingshot because it fits in my back pocket, but that doesn’t mean I don’t find it embarrassing sometimes. This year’s cover is truly shameful, bringing up everything I dislike about my people, the anarchists. I maintain that the characters on the cover are not furries. They are re-feralized humans happy that the cities are burning so they can return to a truly free existence facing starvation and imminent death. Will they be able to give up the discovery of fire after it does it’s cleansing work of ridding the earth of excess people? Only time will tell.

At least this year there seemed to be fewer penises drawn on random dates like a 4th grader’s desk.

I do like the way almost every date has some important moment in radical history attached to it though I find it odd that Michel Foucault doesn’t merit a mention on our shared birthday. Are the furry anarchists anti-intellectual? Say it isn’t so.

I bet a lot of you have Slingshots too, don't you?

Comments

[firebirdgrrl.livejournal.com]

I have the pink spiral bound one; I formerly used Franklin Planners but hated carrying around a giant brick of data.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I always buy the pink ones when I get the chance. It goes with my wallet.

[commandercranky.livejournal.com]

I like the "this date in radical history" feature a lot, but it's not enough to override my other objections, which are mostly stylistic -- ie, Zerzanian malarkey about banishing technology and modern civilization (like the cover you mentioned), the ridiculous fetishization of pirates, etc.

But the small size is perfect for the jeans pocket. So, I got this yuppie/intellectual/snob pocket-sized planner instead. It's great! Perfect size, durable cover, built-in elastic strap to keep it closed, and more space for each date. Plus, while looking like a snob is a little embarrasing, there's no furries on the cover.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

A million years ago I used to make my own. Oh well. that yuppie one is kinda nice, actually.

[gismonda.livejournal.com]

They have 'em at Big Brain Comics in Minneapolis. Mine has a shiny gold cover. My take on the kitty gals is that they are the result of whatever tragic bioengineering experiment / disaster that also put the background city up in flames.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

oh how I wish I could share your optimism.

[existentialista.livejournal.com]

i have one...but i too hated the cover this year...i put stickers on mine...

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

yes, the perfect method.

I will say that talent-wise, the art is better than it has been in years. While trying to find mine, I found the 2005 and 2004 ones. Man, there are some great anarcho-artists out there. Just not drawing the Slingshot covers I guess.

[sabotabby]

I have one too (the smaller one, in pink and black). The art is definitely shittier than last year -- although I never made the cat-girl-furry connect -- but the inside is much cleaner. I miss the random penises.

The femenstrual calendar is one of the most useful bits, but all of this "menstrual health" crap that they insist on putting in drives me batshit. It's all for hippie women who don't need to shave because their body hair is blonde and barely noticeable and who never get cramps that are so severe that they can't stand. Fuck 'em.

I'm still totally lost without my Slingshot, though. I'm generally a disorganized person and for some reason, it's the only agenda book that's ever worked for me.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

well, post your mailing address. I'm sure my FL would be happy to send you their penis drawings if you want.

[-----ericka.livejournal.com]

not this year.

[atypically-me.livejournal.com]

I had never heard of a Slingshot, so I looked it up. From the website:

Due to a binding error, 16 pages at the back of the 2006 spiral organizer are out of order.

Classic!

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

yeah, one year they made big only. There was an uprising bigger than any anarchist protest in recent memory.

[trixie-bee.livejournal.com]

mine's silver and black, because deep down, i wish i was a raver.

[felicks.livejournal.com]

You mean a Raiders Fan!

[tlacuiloliztli.livejournal.com]

i had one a few years ago, but it just made me realize that i never had anything to plan.
kind of a bummer.

:(

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

Oh Bunny Boy, you break my heart.

[anarqueso.livejournal.com]

I put stickers on mine, partly to hide the art and partly to differentiate it from the many other Slingshots around my work and home. I accidentally brought Formaldehyde's to work once, and it made for a really bad, dumb day.

A day in the life

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

9 AM pick fight in parking lot
10 AM mock someone while they try to figure out if I'm serious or kidding.
Noon Engage in detailed discuss with crazy homeless people
11 pm Stage-dive while wearing straight jacket

[tiredshaw.livejournal.com]

My wife and I have been getting Slingshots for the past 3 years. They're great! I also like the concept of underground types being organized.

[redshrike.livejournal.com]

http://nomediakings.org/events/time_management_for_anarchists.html

[jette.livejournal.com]

No, I am not a Communist. I have a nice leather Coach organizer.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

haha. I know you aren't a Commie Jette. There are a few of you out there who still read me.

And hey, didn't you like my response in the icon meme?

[felicks.livejournal.com]

I actually like this cover better than average. THe last couple years have been such a jumble - at least I can make out what's happening in the picture!

I alternate years with the organizer. I'll think "Jesus, I'm not getting one of those piece of shit organizers this year! I actually want to be able to read what I wrote in own calander instead of sifting through clip art, penis drawings (as you mentioned), and birthdays of questionably revolutionary figures (duchamp shooshamp). Besides, last year my organizer fell to pieces by mid-February!" But invariably, after a year of boring-ass Week-at-a-Glance living I'll revert to my slingshot ways.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

It's true the art is much better even if the meaning I interpret is not to my liking. But then what were the last two years? Some woo-woo Mother Earth goddessy thing and a drunk punk riding a horse through the advent of industrialization (that's my best guess). Yet I buy them every year.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

sharing a datebook = ewwwwwww.


i think I've had them every year since they first came out (which must have been around 1994). Some other anarcho folks did a rival one (Chicago Autonomous Zone?) one year but hey, the Slingshot folks are nothing if not steady.

[jillbertini.livejournal.com]

I was really confused for half the post, because I thought you were talking about a weapon. I use the calendar that hangs on my wall at home, and the calendar in Outlook at work to keep my dates in order :D.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

yeah, it's a cultural thing. ;)

[cindymonkey.livejournal.com]

i hearted my slingshot big time
recently went back to a non-slingshot though because i didn't have enough room to write
and the bigger ones just made the type bigger too and didn't give a lot more scrawling space
but i miss it so much
i am thinking about going back anyway

whenever i have friends moving to new places they don't know i buy them a slingshot so they can find all of the places our people go right away instead of having to wait for word of mouth to lead them there

viva la slingshot

I gave my daughter one with a gold cover for Christmas

[(Anonymous)]

I thought the gold cover was very glam. I wrote her a little note that said I hope her social/artistic goals/and work Calender was full this year! I thought it would be a neat thing for a 17 year old to have and she loves it. Its very inspiring and artistic


I usually give her art supplies for christmas. It was the first time I gave her a day planner. I keep the pressents kinda minimal and the cool thing about my daughter is she is happy with that. I'm always on the look out for a new kind of sharpie or art media that just came ou in the market

Oops! That was me.

[unemployia.livejournal.com]

Who posted about the gold sparkly cover, replied to the last person instead of to the right place either. you know - its morning - and the coffee hasn't kicked in

(12:44 pm = baltimore morning)

[kneidlach.livejournal.com]

I have a Slingshot, which I just need to clarify I bought only because I got an employee discount where I was working and thus was able to buy it for $3. I find it really annoying to have so little room to write in for each day, and all the pictures just get in the way.

The cover people are TOTALLY furries. I stand by this assertion. Anthropomorphized animals and animalized humans disturb me.

PS

[kneidlach.livejournal.com]

the "Femstrual calendar" really bothers me. I mean, what about a "butch-strual calendar"? I feel so invalidated, ignored and invisibilized

[easilyirritable.livejournal.com]

Off topic - last night I went to my first ever anarchist collective meeting. I was very confused when everyone would stick their hands up in the air and twinkle their fingers, but then I remembered a post you made on the subject of 'twinkling' a while ago and suddenly I had trouble not laughing to myself. Very amusing.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

omg, you totally should have stood up and demanded they stop twinkling BECAUSE IT'S SO INCREDIBLY CREEPY.

[dcart.livejournal.com]

I have carried one in the past, but eventually my techno geek got the better of me. I've been back and forth between no organizer and palm os based organizer since 2002, currently using a Treo 650 palm phone.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

well, you are a tech guy. ;)

[elementa.livejournal.com]

I have absolutely NO problem with feral cat-humans who are clearly not furries. *ahem*

And now I will have to go purchase one of the organizers later on today or tomorrow, because I am still without a houseboy who would take care of these things for me.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

oops.

[rockgeisha.livejournal.com]

Nah, I'm just late for everything.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

hee hee

[corvus.livejournal.com]

Bah. This is my first year in a few where I decided not to buy a Slingshot. The cover art was a bit much, the extra sections were boring and made me roll my eyes x10, and I just wasn't feeling it. Anarchists are silly and I'm way too cynical sometimes to not get depressed by things like that. Lifestylism! Boo! ;-)

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

They should just print the Missing Foundation logo as the cover every year. That would be a huge improvement.

[reveritas.livejournal.com]

i never heard of it in my life, but now i want one (i just use a plain notebook because i make so many lists) and it will be the most revolutionary thing i own except for the boots in this usericon.

[gordonzola.livejournal.com]

alright! I'm moving the merch. I should be on comission.