Analog

Analog Version

This post is about the digital anti bad habit notebook. For an analog version implemented as a pocket notebook, see this post.

The Post

Not going to lie : I have a few bad habits and have used my analog anti bad habit notebook to break some in teh past.

Sadly, I can no longer reliably use analog methods for my notes and similar. Due to this I went ahead and re-implemented the anti bad habit analog notebook as an Obsidian vault. So far it’s proven very helpful for tracking a bad habit I want to break and should work well for pretty much any “bad habit” one may want to break.

It would seem I’ve regained the ability to write more frequently and regularly despite my health hassles

My Preference

Normally I write posts for this blog by hand using a pen, Tomoe River paper and a clipboard. Sadly, my health hassles make this approach to writing very difficult and I do not have the capacity to write using analog methods regularly or reliably. Over the last few years I’ve had to patiently wait for windows when my health hassles doesn’t interfere with my writing. With analog I have to slowly write blog posts over the course of weeks and sometimes months. It’s quite frustrating but I enjoy writing and refuse to give it up, even if frustrated by my health hassles.

What’s Within?

Within is a walk through of all things analog and digital that I put together to be effective with notebooks and organizers. Things I’ve cataloged, setup, used, tinkered with and more. It even includes the how and why of my personal needs, preferences and opinions.

In short: it’s a very long breakdown of everything that actually works for me as well as many things that didn’t work for me. Think “Kemo’s Notebook & Organizer Autobiography”.

Editors note: KemoNine wrote this post before realizing they had already written Digital Writing Tablet Mini Review 3 ish months ago. Some information below overlaps with the prior blog post but the core of this particular post is how KemoNine is using a drawing tablet day to day for handwriting.

Prelude

Let’s get this out of the way up front: I am a pen and paper human at heart. Despite being labeled a ’tech nerd’ I use pen and paper as a default medium. I do have some health hassles (read: serious, chronic health issues) that prevent me from using pen and paper with the frequency I desire and, arguably, need in order to stay on top of daily life and more.

For a few years I’ve wanted to replace a synthetic fleece blanket with a natural material. After a bit of research I settled on replacing my blanket with a large linen sheet I could fold over on itself. Why?

Linen is an excellent, durable material that breathes well. It’s similar to cotton but has a bit more of a texture, is more durable, is less absorbent (good for my sweaty skin) and when ‘doubled up’ has a similar warmth to synthetic fleece.

The pacsave Vibe 150 (product page) is a sling bag setup similar to a messenger bag but very small, only 2.5L in usable storage.

I’ve had it for awhile and it has proven to be the best shoulder bag I’ve used to date as an EDC. When I’m headed out for the day I can carry all my essentials in the bag without any real hassles or worries. It’s displaced my Timbuk2 bag as well as a ThinkTank belt pouch I’ve used heavily in the past.

I have a ton of notes about the Henson DE safety razor (Product Page). Enough to make this a very long blog post. As much as I’d probably enjoy writing a longer, word vomit adjacent post about this razor, I’m not going to do that to my time or yours. This will be more mini review.

The website for the Henson DE, linked above, has all the fun information and details. It’s also accurate and not pure marketing or advertising speak. It’s definitely worth reviewing. Strange, I know.

Preface

I’ve written in the past about my Digital Bullet Journal setup (link) and how I’ve come to use it as my primary organizational system. Unfortunately, until very recently, I always had a disconnect between my phone and org-mode.

Historically I’ve kept a ‘churning’ area of my to do list on my phone that sync’s to my desktop. It was a daily list of stuff I wanted to get done as well as things I thought of over the course of a day. Kind of like a slip box that was disconnected from all of my org-mode data, including my daily habit tracking. The setup was great for the daily churn but really hard to tie into org in a low friction way for me.

Forward

The idea that you could have a Digital BuJo still makes my brain hurt a bit.

Especially given organizers still universally stink (link), I still have an analog EDC (link) and I’m still using my bujo riff (link) at the core of my now digital organizer.

Yes: I switched my analog BuJo to digital and I still use an analog notebook daily. I still write in the rain (link), use some odd discoveries (link) and broke a habit or two using the anti-bad habit notebook (link).

Forward

I was recently reminded of the analog life I lead and how that’s evolved over the years since I first wrote about the topic. After some review and reading I can safely say: that’s a different topic. What I did notice is that I’ve never discussed just how I manage inflows of information and manage things I want to retain long term.