Notebook #66 was sent to Kelsey in Montville, New Jersey and Notebooks #67 and #68 were sent to Amber in Bend, Oregon. She will be giving these notebooks to two of her friends, Sarah & Michelle. Remember Amber? We sent her a notebook a little while back and now she is going to throw a notebook party with  the Oregon crew that received notebooks! We are definitely looking forward to see how this group of notebooks turns out. Keep your eyes peeled in you live in Oregon.

Amy here.  I wrote a true story in the notebook passed notebook #59 onto my friend Scott in Washington, DC.

Air by Tobias Sellier

“I’ve never been on a plane before.”

Ames Aldon was not being honest. He had—in fact—been on a plane before. In fact, he had been on many. For years his line of work had been sending him all over the country. He took the 7 a.m. flight from DCA to O’Hare—the very flight that he was sitting on—at least once a month. But as the plane pushed back from the gate, he felt a strange compulsion to say something untrue and slightly inflammatory to the unassuming woman sitting next to him.

“Oh, my. This must be exciting for you.” The woman had fair skin and grayish blonde hair. The reading glasses perched on her head and the sweater draped around her neck gave her a grade school librarian look. Her inflection was unmistakably Midwestern.

“It is exciting. But, I have to say that I’m a bit nervous too.” Ames gripped his armrest tightly with one hand and—with the other—pulled the safety card out of his seatback pocket, examined both sides of it, and put it back in its place. “Do you fly often?” he asked.

“A few times a year. I was actually just visiting my son for the weekend. He lives in Virginia. We headed out to the…”

“I don’t have a son. I don’t have children at all. I don’t even have a wife—at least not anymore.”

The woman nodded politely and pulled the bookmark out of the thick pastel-colored book that rested in her lap.

“She actually died in a fire crash.”

The woman perked up and looked at Ames, “Oh, no. That’s terrible. A fire crash?”

“Yes. A car crash and a fire. The car caught on fire and she was in there so… You know… Burned up.”

“That’s just terrible. I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah. Thanks. It’s tough, you know?”

“I can only imagine.” The woman returned to her book.

The pilot’s voice came over the intercom. “Ladies and gentlemen, looks like we’re next up for departure. Cabin crew, please prepare for takeoff.”

“Oh, my god,” Ames shifted in his seat and then stiffened up and pushed his back flush up against his seat, “Here we go, huh?”

“Yup. Here we go.”

“Do the engines always get this loud?” Ames almost shouted as the plane picked up speed.

“Yup. Totally normal.” The woman rested her hand briefly on Ames’s wrist.

As the plane lifted off the ground, Ames let out a giant sigh and swallowed hard. He was surprising himself with his dedication to this routine, and he felt both an odd sense of satisfaction and an urge to push things a bit further.

He peered out the window for a bit, whispering audibly about the tiny houses and cars.

“You know. I’ve never tried V-8 before, but since I seem to be in the business of doing things for the first time today, I think I might.”

The woman smiled politely as she continued reading.

Ames shifted toward the woman. “So you said your son died in a fire crash?”

The woman quickly looked up from her book, “I did not. I said I was visiting him for the weekend in Virginia. You said your wife died in a fire crash. I’m not even familiar with that expression.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I thought you said your son…”

“My son is just fine.”

Ames again pulled the safety card back out of the seatback pocket and examined it for a few seconds before putting it back. “What does your son do?”

She quickly closed her book into her lap and sighed a little, “He works on Capitol Hill for Congressman Mark Kirk.”

“Mark Kirk?”

“Yes.”

“You sure he’s a congressman?”

“Yes, I am. He’s my congressman.”

“Interesting. I’ve never heard of him.”

“Well, there are a lot of congressmen. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get back to my book.”

“Absolutely. Do you know how long this flight is? I think they said six hours.”

The woman didn’t even look up. “That sounds right.”

After sending Notebook #61 to Amber, we received three more notebook requests from Bend, Oregon. Hot Damn! Now we get to see 4 different notebooks all originate from one city. Who knows where thy all might end up? 4 different states? 4 different continents? Only time will tell!

Notebook #62 was sent to Chandy, Notebook #63 was sent to Katherine, and Notebook #64 was sent to Julie.

Our friend Amber is getting Notebook #61. Amber lives in Bend, Oregon and has a nifty WordPress blog of her own. You can read all about it at ambersafa.wordpress.com

We love WordPress! That is what we use to run 99notebooks.com. Do yourself a favor and make your own blog. Tell the world something!

Notebook #60 was mailed to the people behind the website sendmesomething.org

We aren’t sure who they are, but we Stumbled across their website and loved the idea, so we sent them a notebook! We included a self-addressed stamped envelope with the notebook and we are super excited to see what they send us back! According to their website FAQ, “it will probably not be something of great monetary value (like a set of buffalo nickels), or something overtly grotesque (like cat vomit).”

This should be an interesting one. We will update this one if they send us anything. Cheers!

The next notebook just got tossed in the outgoing mail pile and it is on its way to the east coast! Tobias from Washington D.C. said that he would be proud to start a new notebook for us, so we hooked him up proper!

He is the creator of a great blog, check it out at www.tobyornottobyblog.com

Our favorite entry is by far his Michael Jackson Limerick Contest. You can read up on all the madness here. Have fun with the notebook Tobais! Show it some East Coast love.

The first raindrop in this notebook storm just got mailed off to our amigo Liz in Edmonton, Alberta. A few notebooks have made it up to Canada so far and we are glad that another one is on the way. Treat this one good Liz, it has a checkerboard pattern on it!!

That’s all for now. Check back later this week to see where Notebook #60 is headed.