I guess being your own boss blurs the boundaries of work/freetime :) But indeed! it is amazing and I am also often wondering why is it rare that people do that. I learned this from a uni professor back when I was studying; he said that not only is it for you, but it it is your last backup against accusations that does hold value if you end up arguing with someone who doesn’t have any evidence. That’s a bit hardcore reason to keep notes but I started journaling because of that class.

A precious teacher, if I may say so.

Now I know that all sounds probably basic and uncreative to some,

I also use ink color as an helper and as something I simply like to look at. Like, really. My spouse often is mocking how… fussy I can be about using such or such ink depending the task at hands and, as long as it doesn’t become an hindrance to what I want to do, I must admit that indeed I am ;)

For years, back as a uni student, I also used highlighters in my notes (3 colors, for 3 types of noteworthy stuff), getting older I streamlined all that. Nowadays, I only use blue for note-taking while I read (I do that on index cards or in my pocket notebook), I use black for archiving said note in my note-taking archival system/second brain/Zettelkasten + red ink to add a link to a specific book or ref + green ink for links between two notes (this helps a lot instantly spotting links within my Zettel, it’s a real time saver). And then, I use a brown waterproof ink for fountain pen, I only use it in my journal, because well it’s waterproof and I sometimes use Watercolors in my journal, and because… I like the color :p

I do admit that recently Lemmy has ruined my breaks lol. I’ve been spending my short breaks browsing lemmy… damn you lemmy for becoming so active! /s

Reddit stands no chance ;)

How about you? You got any special thing you do to keep it pretty that comes to mind?

Beside the few inks I use there is not much. I do sketch (badly and I have not done it in a while), and I also like to do (very) simple lettering on the name of each new which I find an efficient way to quickly browse through a journal. Sketching, I find it real fun but I’ve not done it recently because… bad excuses only, I was about to say: there is too much going on , but that’s really a shitty excuse. Let’s say I’m too lazy.

I also tried using those cheap camera-like portable thermal printers and glue them in my journal. It’s fun, dirt cheap (also, people always love received an instant print of themselves or of whatever you just photographed) but you really need to be careful with the quality of the thermal paper you use with it as some will fade and vanish in a mere couple months leaving nothing but a blank paper (don’t ask me how I know that). I still use it from time to time and I would not mind using it more. It’s real fun.