It even comes with an official Nintendo Seal of Quality.
So far I nearly always went with the A6 avec version (2 x 6 months) [1]Two years ago, I tried the A5 version for a change). This year, for the first time, I went with the English year-long version. I was surprised to see that time-wise only 12 noon is marked. Compared to the Japanese version this might be an opportunity to use two lines per hour of the day, i.e. allow more space for day-time and less for night-time. I’m looking forward to trying the new layout next year, but I will start using the new leather cover this year. I wonder whether it will age as nicely as Gunther’s [2]His cover in its 2014 state can be seen here. The 2019 state can be seen here.
It’s been extremely quiet on my blog recently as my day job has been keeping me overwhelmingly busy.
To prove that I’m still alive I thought I show you what the postman brought yesterday.
It has (again) been an expensive luxury: after import fees, import handling and shipping has been added the final bill was eye-watering. In the end the cost of the actual diary was nearly exactly 30% of the total cost of getting it from Japan to the UK.
After listening to last week’s Pen Addict podcast I thought I should really spend some time finding out more about bullet journalling. I have of course heard about it in the past, but never spend the time to learn about it.
The podcast made me think about how I use notebooks now and how I used to use them.
The Kompagnon image from my 2011 blog post
The index in a Field Notes Lunacy memo book
I used to think that I use them like everyone else, but I remember that the post about my Brunnen Kompagnon once had a pingback from a Russian website and when I used Google Translate back then, to see what it is about I saw that they commented that I use a specific system [1]which I wasn’t aware of. I just checked the pingback again, it’s mentioning a system called ‘superfocus’ – well, something else to read up on another day.
Well, here is how I used notebooks today
I usually leave the first page blank so that I can then create an index – I don’t always create the index,though. The picture on the right shows an example. I write what’s on the page and draw a line to the right. I will then mark the corresponding page at that spot to make it easy to access.
In terms of Hobonichi use: I will tick off tasks I have done. If I haven’t done a task I won’t tick it off or I will put a cross in the box. I only cross the date out (in the image below the 10 for 10th January) once all tasks are dealt with, but I do sometimes move tasks to a future date, indicated by putting an arrow to the right in the box.
By the way, I never got an English Hobonichi explanation with my orders, probably because I ordered the ‘avec’ version, which is only available in Japanese. When I ordered the Hobonichi cover on discount, mentioned in my last blog post, I got an English language explanation. Turns out their system is so well designed and intuitive that I used it the right way, i.e. using the space left of the vertical line on a page for appointments and the space on the right for notes (unless the appointments need too much space).
Well, I couldn’t resist and do now own my first official Hobonichi cover. It’s not as good looking as my Harris Tweed one from Esplanade London, but inside it is much more practical – and the outside pocket is even big enough for big mobile phones (5.5 inches, e.g. Nexus 6, iPhone 7plus).
