TRULY, MADLY DOODLE

 
Telephone doodles are extremely revealing. 

When I talk on the phone at work, my frenetic hand starts to sketch on whatever piece of paper I have around.  It is quite inadvertent, not something  I consciously plan to do.  It just happens. What comes out depends on the tone or complexity of the conversation.  When the call is over, I am suddenly aware that I have a visual record of what was discussed.

Sitting at a desk feeds the process.  In high school,  I covered the margins of my notebooks with drawings (to the dismay of many of my teachers).

Doodling might of had something do to with what was written on my report cards..."Diane is a dreamer."

They were wrong about that. Drawing helps me think!

When I worked for the phone company, one of my bosses once told me that I had to stop drawing during meetings because I appeared to be bored with what was going on. I wasn't even aware that I was doodling all over my pad. 

I scribble words, numbers, symbolic shapes (such as arrows), and sometimes I repeat them. It's like graffiti on paper. 

I don't consider myself particularly obsessive, but this is definitely an automatic response that is hot wired in the belfry.  Could be worse, could be bats.