Knight orientation and move recording

In my youth and through my college years, I was moderately involved in chess (enough to achieve a rating near 1400-1500).  Then I switched my attention to the card game bridge for the last 35 years achieving (near) expert status.  Now I'm getting back into chess again to perhaps become a better player than when I gave up the game back in my mid-20s.

A few general questions I have, somewhat brought on by watching The Queen's Gambit:

1.  What is the normal orientation of knights on the board?  Facing left?  Right?  Forward?  (I suppose bishops and kings aren't symmetrical either and there may be choice on their orientation.)

2.  Do you record your moves in pairs after each of your moves (the opponent's last move and the move you just made) or do you write down the opponent's move just after he makes it?

1.  There is no rule for piece orientation so it is completely up to player preference.

2.  You record a move immediately after it is played.  So after your opponent makes a move, you write it down.

You can write them together in groups. Online, it is automatically shown, but I think the rule OTB is you just have to write them down at some point. So, for example, say your opponent makes a critical move you need to think over, I am sure you could just wait to write their move, think about your move, make your move, and then write both their move and your move on their time. 

In "The Queen's Gambit", it appeared after making a move and stopping their clock, the players were writing a move in the opponent's column followed by their move they just made.  So it appeared to me they were recording in pairs.

When playing bridge, I tend to sort my cards as I'd see them in a bridge column, in order high to low with spades (the highest ranking suit) on the left.

Similarly, with chess books and columns showing diagrams with knights facing to the left, my knights are usually facing to my left.