SKIRMISHER

If he were still alive, Robert Shields would have shamed bloggers everywhere.

Every day, for twenty years, the man would be found hunched on his typewriter and writing–not silly novels or poems or what-not–but every single thing that happens to him every darned minute.

From the Athanasius Kircher blog:

For no less than four hours each day, Shields holes himself up in the small office in his home, turns on his stereo, and types. His diary, at 35 million words, is believed to be the world’s longest… Robert Shields has also scotch-taped a variety of his life’s keepsakes into this diary. For instance: samples of his nasal hair.

To give you an idea of a typical diary page, here’s an entry dated April 18, 1994:

6:30-6:35 I put in the oven two Stouffer’s macaroni and cheese at 350.

6:35-6:50 I was at the keyboard at the keyboard of the IBM wheelwriter making entries for the diary.

6:50-7:30 I ate the Stouffer’s macaroni and cheese and Cornelia ate the other one. Grace decided she didn’t want one…

I was laughing so hard because not only was Shields writing a diary, but he was also writing about himself writing the diary. It’s the literary version of the Droste effect!

He maybe never realized it, but his diary is rich fodder for MADTV. I’m also deeply curious about his place in the blogosphere if he were still alive.

THE WORLD’S LONGEST DIARY [Kircher Society]

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