I've always had a habit of hoarding bits of paper I liberally label as "sentimental." This leaves me with way too many binders of homework I've saved since elementary school and my purse flooding with receipts and ticket stubs. It's hard to tell whether or not weird habits will eventually pay off, but sometimes it's funny to have tangible evidence that I saw The Big Sick on July 15, July 23, July 24, Aug. 3 and Aug. 20.

 

I also carry around a big black Sharpie wherever I go just in case inspiration hits and I need to write down something on my mind or do some impromptu blackout poetry. A trick I learned to keep myself occupied on plane rides. 

 

I spent a good part of my time in Japan finding moments of solitude where I could cry listening to Lorde's album "Melodrama." It reminded me that I'm not a teenager anymore, but I can still talk about experiences that I had when I was first starting to drive and submitting college applications. In Japan, the scraps of paper I was saving from travel magazines and the temples we were visiting around Tokyo felt -- literally, tangibly felt -- like the life I would be talking about years down the road.