"BEAT - $50." I've no idea what this cryptic note means, though it's clearly my own handwriting and I recognise the green ink of my bullet-head pen.

The sticky note hangs on the bottom edge of my computer monitor, along with a few of its cousins, taunting me with its unanswerable riddle.

The irony is never missed by me: sticky notes, there to jog my poor memory, never have enough detail to fully explain themselves, and so instead only serve to give an obscure title to the thing I've completely forgotten. Next to the "Beat - $50" is "Malcolm's training gear".

I don't know a Malcolm, and I'm equally unsure if I'm training him or he's training me. Another sticky note lies flat on the desk under the monitor, its stickiness covered with bits of fluff where it must have once landed on carpet, and hence doesn't stick so well any more. It says: "MJ 9.30".

For a moment I wonder if Malcolm's surname starts with a J, and if the 9.30 refers to any training date coming soon (or recently past). I try to stick "MJ 9.30" up next to its two recalcitrant cousins, but it falls back to the desk, mortally unsticky.

Trying for more more clues, I check other notes stuck to the bottom edge of my pin board.

My board doesn't hold many notes, as this would take up valuable real estate currently allocated to the arty postcard collection (those ones you get free from the cafe).

There are two notes so important they warrant a pin as well as the sticky part.

"Pick up '09 diary" speaks for itself, but "Mez + Cass Acc: 99304" is a mystery.

I'm hoping Mez (who could be my mate Merrick, or possibly Megan, my ex-girlfriend) doesn't need access to that account any time soon. I quickly scribble a note to myself: "Look up training sched, call merrick + megan". Knowing full well this will soon cause another round of confused chin scratching, up it goes to the edge of the computer monitor. On second thoughts - this might be important - it's removed and instead thumbed to the pin board.

A Leunig postcard now has its thought-bubble punchline partly obscured. At least you can still see it's a Leunig. This allows passers-by to think: "He's got a good sense of humour but is also deep and insightful".

Order bigger pin board. No confusing that one.

Andrew Rolls