There are a lot of miscellaneous things in my notebook. For example, "Today is for…" stuff. Itinerary details. Notes from a scouting trip. Prayers people try to teach me at religiously-oriented tea houses (this photo shows one of them, in the handwriting of the guy who was trying to teach me).
The other day I learned an idiom when I mentioned in conversation, "We should always be thankful for the women in our group." That idiom went into the notebook.
However, some things do not go into the notebook. I recently learned a bit of slang so crude we were embarrassed just to speak it out loud. That bit of slang did not go into the notebook.
The reason? Sometimes cops ask to see my notebook. They rifle through its pages, even though they can’t read most of what’s in there. I don’t mind them stumbling across a prayer or a family-friendly idiom. But I don’t want them stumbling across vulgar words. Those I just have to commit to memory.