Friday – Drawing People Crazy

[ninanevermore]

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Today on my drive into work, I was thinking about how one of my quirky habits (and take my word for it when I tell you I have more than my fair share of them) drives certain people to distraction: I doodle during meetings. Not just a little, either. I will fill a page with doodles, and if the meeting is long enough, I'll start a second page. Certain people take this as a sign that I'm not paying attention. The truth is, it's the only way I can pay attention.

My Left Brain does not mind sitting and listening to other people talk, but my Right Brain gets bored very fast and demands a distraction. Whenever I've taken those "which side of your brain is dominant" tests, I usually score close to dead even. With no one side of my brain clearly in charge, the two sides constantly compete with each other to be the one running the show.

"Pssssssst!" my Right Brain, in charge of imagination, whimsy and feelings, says to my Left Brain, "Let's get out of here. I want to pretend we're on a pirate ship with Johnny Depp dressed up as Jack Sparrow from Pirates of The Caribbean."

"Shhhh!" my Left Brain, in charge of logic and all things practical, replies, "I can't. We have year-end projection to discuss. Someone might ask us for our opinion at any minute, and it won't look good if all we can say is, 'But why is there no rum?!'"

"That wasn't the kind of daydream I had in mind," Right Brain says. "I wanted to be tied up in the captain's quarters wearing nothing but a corset and offering to do whatever I needed to do to survive."

"Oh, good lord," Left Brain says. "You don't even need me for that."

"But I do," says Right Brain, "You're better at coming up with a reasonable plotline than I am. On my own, the story tends to meander. Come on, no one will miss us. They're talking about stuff us don't even work on right now."

"But the boss likes our insight," Left Brain says, "He always asks for it at the end...probably to make sure we're listening."

"But I wanna play, I wanna play, I wanna play..." Right brain starts chanting, until Left Brain gets fed up and says, "Here's a pen. Draw me a picture. Just be quiet so I can pay attention to what's going on."

So Right Brain does just that. I draw a flower, a simple daisy, and then I give it a woman's face. Then I draw swirls all around it, and star bursts, and geometric shapes. Occasionally, Left Brain will grab the pen and write down a key point, or make a note of something we are supposed to do after the meeting, but then Right Brain draws a sunshine around it and makes all the letters look like calligraphy. Left Brain tries to make an outline of what's being discussed, but right brain notices some empty space on the page and draws caricatures of my boss and all my co-workers in it. Still, as long as my Right Brain is drawing, is it quiet, which allows my Left Brain to not only pay attention to what is being said, but to quote back the dialog of it verbatim to anyone who asks.

Sometimes people comment on what I'm doing, and it's almost always a woman. Men notice but usually don't say anything. Certain women, however, are driven up the wall by my doodles. The first one to comment on it was a former boss who after a meeting pulled me aside and asked, "Were you bored by what I was saying?"

"No, of course not," I told her, surprised at the question.

"Then why were you drawing the whole time?" she asked, genuinely miffed.

I didn't have an answer, because I'd never thought about it before. I only knew that if I had not been drawing, I would not have been able to follow what she was saying at all. The doodling keeps me focused. Without a pen in my hand to ground me to the room, I'll crawl off into my head and all but disappear from the reality taking place outside of my own skull.

Not taking a pad to write on is not an option. I've tried it. I have been known to draw on my hands or arms, if that's all that's available. If I have jeans on, I'll draw on my clothes. I can't help it. At least the paper is dignified. If I don't have a pen at all, my fingers start to fidget and grope for a pen that isn't there, and I have to sit on my hands. People notice this about as much as they notice the drawing.

My co-worker, Dixie, told my current boss that my drawing bothers her.

"I've noticed it, too," he told me, "But I also noticed that whenever I ask you a question, you answer right away, so I'm okay about it. But Dixie has mentioned it to me."

I guess if I liked Dixie, I would try to explain to her why I do what I do. But since I don't like her at all, I think the next time we have a meeting I'll write in big letters that look like pillows and clouds and vines and calligraphy, all surrounded by butterflies and flowers, Why do you care what I'm writing here, anyway? Then I'll draw a caricature of Dixie with her eyes crossed and her finger up her nose, and one of me sticking out my tongue.

I wonder if she'll complain that to our boss, too?



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Comments

[renewedme.livejournal.com]

There was a special on the History channel not too long ago about the presidents and their doodles. I believe most of the presidents were doodlers (it's a sign of intelligence), some drew stick figures while others drew intricate designs.

[renewedme.livejournal.com]

Here is a story from CBS Sunday Morning News.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

I guess once you're president, people let you doodle all you want. Maybe I need to consider a career in politics.

[tribal-woman.livejournal.com]

You are my hero! I do this too! It is the best combination of right and left brain...

:D

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

*high fives you* Have you ever gotten complaints about it?

[poetlady.livejournal.com]

This made me think of something (unrelated) that I haven't remembered in awhile. When my dad worked in clinical medicine, he always came home with his hands covered in notes. He said he'd rather write it there for when he needed it, it was quick, he could transfer it later if necessary and he could always wash his hands, this way, he saved paper.

I like to doodle when I am listening but I don't "HAVE" to. I almost always doodle when I am on the phone though.

I always like what you write and always read it, even though I don't comment much. Keep writing!:) I look forward to your entries.

Maria

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Maria. ^_^

[simplecity2htwn.livejournal.com]

I guess if I liked Dixie, I would try to explain to her why I do what I do. But I don't like her at all. Instead, I think the next time we have a meeting I'll write in big letters that look like pillows and clouds and vines and calligraphy, all surrounded by butterflies and flowers, Why do you care what I'm writing here, anyway? Then I'll draw a caricature of here with an arrow through her head, and one of me sticking out my tongue.

Hmmmmm, that idea certainly beats meeting bingo. Of course, she might say that she considered that threatening, but I think you should do it anyway.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

I wasn't thinking violence here (an arrow with blood gushing from the wound), more a Steve Martin back in day kind of arrow.

I guess I should make the headband holding the arrow on very obvious, so she doesn't feel threatened. I'm also crossing her eyes and drawing her with her finger stuck up her nose.

[noblwish.livejournal.com]

I recall a rather intricate doodle you once drew on one side of your face with an eyeliner pen and a tiny little mirror. I think your bloodsugar was low and you were waiting on me to finish something (like a makeover?). I think we were in Montrose, which would have been a blessing seeing as how no one there would have thought it was strange. I'll never forget that!

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

No, it was in Gunspoint mall, circa 1987. I was 17ish, and hiding under a rack of clothes. You were engaged in a lively conversation about something that bored me with the sales girl, or trying on clothes, or something.

This is why I don't keep eyeliner pencils with me any more.

[simplecity2htwn.livejournal.com]

Now that I think about it, you should post some of your doodle artwork.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

I'd have to same some of them, because I generally throw them away. Over my lifetime, I have used reams and reams of paper doodling, and it would not be practical to save any of them. To my mind, they are mental Kleenex that are used once and discarded.

My best art work is reserved for church; I decorate the collection envelope with flowers and vines during the sermon, changing the vegetation with the season. Spring and summer get flowers, fall gets orange and yellow flowers and gourds, winter gets evergreens and ornaments. I keep colored pens in my purse just for doing this.

[kira-snugz.livejournal.com]

i do that too! i used to constantly get in crap from teachers for it, so i started explaining to any higher ups why i needed to doodle

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

I guess I need to do that, to. Sitting down to write this was the first time I ever put the reasoning behind my doodles into words; it's something I've always known instinctively, but had never thought about. Sometimes, I'm a bit slow on the uptake when it comes to the need to explain myself to other people. I tend to accept other people the way they are, and don't grasp that they are not doing the same thing with me.

I would be happy to enlighten my boss, but not to the backstabbing coworker who it is being driving nuts. The nuttier she is driven, the better. :P

[jenelycam.livejournal.com]

YAY for doodling!! I love to doodle. Sometimes more than actual drawing. I doodled a lot in my Child Care classes. I can't help it.

My left brain died. It can't remember stuff whether I'm doodling, paying attention or spacing off. ;P Or if it does it's off the wall stuff from the past that is somehow relevant in the class. o.O

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Doodlers of the world, unite!!!

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

People who don't doodle assume that those of us who do are aren't paying attention. I guess we focused doodlers need a good PR campaign.

The female animal I associate with Dixie is more canine than bovine. :P

[ex-squashy880.livejournal.com]

This is a great post. You write so effortlessly and well. Or seemingly effortlessly. I doodle, but usually only when i'm on the phone. I draw cubes or i just squiggle. Your doodles sound wonderfully intricate; i wish you'd include a picture!

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid they are more pages full of chaos than works of art. I never save them.