I like to doodle. Who doesn't? Granted, my definition of doodling and a "doodler" may be different than others; this is just my own opinion of what "a person whose paper is so covered in random blotches of ink that you can't read their notes" is.

1. THAT LINED PIECE OF PAPER IS A FUN CANVAS: You don't just see a lined piece of paper: The three holes for binders are dots to decorate, a missing eye of a face, or a mouth connected to an irate person. Corners are fun places to draw mini-cobwebs in and random geometric, kaleidoscopic patterns. And that red line? Ignored, for favor of more drawing space.

2. THERE'S NO THEME, TOPIC FOR THE DRAWINGS: Here's an example of my train of thinking while I'm doodling: "...I like dragons, so I'm going to draw one...Oh, I wonder how this dragon would look in "chibi" (cutesy-baby like) form...I should draw more cute things...LET'S DRAW CATS... bunnies are awfully cute too...that girl's dress is pretty... I'm going to draw a dress... Ooh! Let's put someone in the dress...OH EWW I CAN'T DRAW PEOPLE ABORT ABORT ABORT...let's scribble in some hairstyles..." and on and on.

(Meanwhile, (kinda) taking notes the whole time)

3. YOUR DOODLES ARE PUT IN HIGHER PRIORITY THAN YOUR NOTES: As you take notes intermittently between your little doodle "projects", you tend to leave space for your possible "doodle space" for a drawing you're not finished with yet. You tend to forgo the size of the doodles, making the page more than half of doddles, with your notes and words spiraling, avoiding the doodle "icebergs" that you've littered throughout the page. You also have to draw bubbles and boxes around your notes in order to save them from becoming illegible and taken over by your doodles.

4. YOU'RE ASHAMED (OR DON'T WANT TO SHARE) YOUR DOODLES WITH ANYONE ELSE: Your friends ask you for your notes, which you are reluctant to give due to the inane drawings you have on the paper. You're words are to hard to follow, with them curling around random pictures, running sideways down the page, etc. In other words, that "lined" piece of paper is moot. You end up apologizing and offering to read them your notes instead when they come up to you for the nth time, asking if this word was just a doodle, or was this the beginning of a sentence or the end of one.

(Plus for the fact you think your doodles are embarrassing. hence why I'm not putting them up here also; you're welcome to my class notes though.)

5. YOU LIKE YOUR DOODLES MORE THAN YOU LIKE YOUR DRAWINGS: Of course, with the limited time and space while doodling, you're not thinking about drawing anything with serious intent. However, some doodles flow out of your pen, and you think "I like it!". So, you try to copy it into a separate notebook or piece of paper to properly enjoy and not lose. Yet, you end up becoming frustrated due to your inability to perfectly copy and stare sadly at your doodle in your religion note pages, which you would probably forget and throw away by accident at the end of the semester.

So, in the end, you resolve to never take notes using paper and pen again, that you, from then on, would take them only online and type out, which is faster, more convenient, with automatic spellcheck... (do you hear the desperate tone behind the convincing here?).

Then you discover the Paint app on your computer. (Hallelujah!)