I started collecting shopping lists around 1997. One day, I was shopping for my daughter's birthday party in St Louis, Missouri, where we lived. After leaving the store, I1 a yellow note in the parking lot. I picked it up and it was somebody's shopping list. I thought, "That's interesting. Well, whenever I see one, I will 2 it."
People collect all sorts of things you would never 3 . It's as if all these 4 , unimportant things, when put together as a collection, suddenly become meaningful. The first list I found was nothing special. But after you see a lot of them, the odd ones5 . One says at the bottom: "NO MORE CHIPS, JESSICA." Another one I found is a long 6 of stuff and then, in the margin (空白处), someone had written: "If you dare to7 any more rice, I'll hit you."
The shopping list8 started slowly. At first it was just me and people I knew who would9 lists for me. Then at the beginning of the 2000s, I put it online and I started receiving lists from everywhere in the world. It seemed there was a(an)10 supply (供应).
In 2012, I was11 by a publisher who wanted to turn my collection into a book. Then I started going through all my lists,12 ways to sort and explain them. The project is continuing, but it grows more 13 now. Technology has made shopping lists more14 , because most people use apps, like I do. I guess there might not be another15 .
