- Reading.
- Sketching.
- Scale models, but I had to quit for health reasons.
Libb
joined 2 years ago
Make lists and use them to think twice before purchasing anything.
I started making lists of stuff I wanted to buy instead of, well, buying it whenever I thought about it and and it worked great to teach me to differentiate between what I need and what I waaaaant ;)
The certainty of being right.
Why? Because when (any)one is sure to be right it means the other must be wrong and since they're wrong they probably should not even be allowed to say what they have to say.
I'm not one of those monsters, and I live in Paris. I belong to the pain au chocolat camp, even though I would much prefer the humble croissant. The baker down our street makes some incredibly great ones, people are queuing to get some ;)
Fuck jesus, and fuck you for following that fictional loser.
That’s not a thing. You’re just full of shit. You can’t even tell reality from this bullshit religious fiction.
That’s why you’re a voluntary celibate. Your religion talked you into devoting your life to them. Which makes you a giant fucking loser. Because everything you dedicated your life to is just stupid religious hate fiction.
I don't know who is full of what or who hates who around here, but reading your comment I realize I would not like to be filled by what you seem to be so full of yourself it's pouring out of your mouth every other word.
(Saying that as a non-religious person myself and as someone that has been happily living with his wife for the last 25+ years and counting, I mention it in case this helps you spare some insults but I doubt it will change a thing)
Here in France I don't think we have a deposit for plastic containers as that's what I'm talking about: I don't throw away glass bottles or metal ones (and BTW by metal I meant those reusable water bottles thermos-like, not those one use aluminum cans that I refuse to use, I may have made that clearer ;). As much as I can tell, we're asked to throw those plastic (and even the metal cans) in the dedicated 'recycling' booths/bins that are collected and recycled... at least that's the theory.
France. I love cheese and baguettes but I don't drink wine (I prefer tea) and I do not wear a béret.
No need to be. It's OK to disagree... It may even be an unexpected opportunity to start an interesting conversation ;)
BTW, I had to check the definition of 'contrived' as I was not sure of its meaning (my English can be lacking, which may explain a lot).
Edit: sorry for the lengthy reply. I did not realize until after I posted it :p
For the longest I would only allow myself to use pens, as I liked the flow of ink (ballpoint sans gel so I guess I would hate monte blanc stuff cause I heard it’s buttery smooth)
Montblanc does both ballpoint pens and fountain pens. If you're refering to fountain pens yeah, they can be buttery smooth but there are smoother fountain pens and also less buttery smooth ones out there... Despite being a ballpoint and a pencil user, I'm kinda into fountain pens too ;)
I wanted to fight my perfectionist tendencies by taking away the ability to erase things.
Something I can relate too. And a method I can definitely relate to ;)
but revisitng pencils felt like meeting up with an old friend. I like that with a single pencil and some mindful technique you can do quite a variety of work.
Pencils are true overlooked wonders. One could do anything with just one pencil.
The pencils came with the sharpener (believe it or not) and I figured might as well have a meet b. Before I was hacking at stuff with an xacto like an animal.
Beside my portable sharpener that I never use despite it having a neat container to keep the pencil shavings, I use a single side razor blade to sharpen my pencils. It takes a little practice but it’s great (not to be put in kids hands, though as it’s a real razor sharp blade)
Your design is much cleaner and minimalist as compared to mine (although we have parts that meet for sure).
Thx. Would be curious to see yours but if understood you correctly it's a bit too late?
I swear, I started with my design sort of open face sandwich and when I added that flap to enclose the whole thing it all came together and I loved it even more. I like your design, and it probably isn’t that thick, (…) All space counts in that situation.
Indeed. This one is not thick unless you want it to be. Here it is, holding 10 or so cards in its central section (more than I need in one typical session). Next, it’s wide open, and below you can see the folding thingy and holding a bunch of cardboards. I wanted something that would weight nothing and could be used one-handed (book+holder in one hand, the other holding the pen)
I actually secretly love a mean blunt pencil, it glides really well
Nodding approvingly.
I don’t remember how I got a hold of these things when I was younger, but I had a couple of carpenter pencils (I haven’t used them in years, I should give them a go again)
They’re great. And you get two colors in one pencil ;)
The reason why I need that mean sharp point is because I like to doodle little fine details and they’re hard to get without something you could spear a fish with.
That’s why I like fountain pen for sketching, they can be thin as a needle, while being great for general writing too. Magic ;)
I totally want to join this journaling er…instance? I just literally don’t know how and my brain is too sleepy-dumb to figure it out.
I’m afraid I won’t be able to help much in that regard. I even had to check what that piefed was.
I journal on the regular, in a half-composition book because I am fancy like that. I have a friend who bu-jos like a boss. I gave it a go and realized I need my journal to be sloppy, because I want it to hold space for me. As in, if I am regulating heavily (which I think bullet journals are) then I am afraid that I will BE afraid to put the things I am honestly thinking and feeling on to the paper and hence will not get the things I need to get out, out. I think if I make it more of a organized reflective process it might just become the flossing of writing and I just don’t think I need that in my life personally. However, it’s damn near impossible for me to find the things that I have sprawled out on the pages like the organized folks do. So you know, it’s more of a splatter piece and that does have its downsides as well.
I hope you’ll be able to join, pretty sure we could discuss a lot of topics and techniques ;) Also, the more experience we share, the better it is to inspire other people to experiment with their own stuff.
One little tip that may interest you: I index my journals. Not every single page, mind you just the pages I think maybe useful. Some context: I’m a Zettelkasten user (hence me using index cards for note-taking) and I store everything I read and write (and want to keep) is stored in those cards save for my journal. So, for whatever idea or passage I want to be able to quickly find in my journals I will add a reference to it in my Zettelkasten index. Doing that, I can always instantly find back whatever I want.
and just in case you wonder what is a Zettelkasten?. Mine is analog (using index cards) but I know most younger people are into digital ones, using an app of some sort.
I love Muttley, he’s such an ass! Hahahaha! I mean, idk if you’re an ass - you don’t seem it, but damned if that guy isn’t a little cheeky bastard.
Not me at all :p
Speaking of cheeky bastards, have you ever seen the movie Harvey? Cause it sounds like you might like Trickster characters, and while it’s got some bits of its age I absolutely love this film.
Nope, I have not but will watch it. Thx.
I showed it to my gal, who hates “old stuff” and she ended up bewitched by it and just knowing that puts a smile on my face.
I love ‘old stuff’ but I’m an old stuff myself so this may explain :p
To be honest, and I feel so damned ashamed saying this - I think if I were translated into a cartoon character I’d end up being like Mr. Peanut Butter from Bojack.
I don’t know it but don’t be surprised: my spouse and I have not owned a TV since the very early 00s and we’ve kinda stayed out of the loop.
Either way, it’s been an incredible pleasure to have “met” you and regardless of if we can figure out the link thing or not I thank you very much for all this fun conversation =)!
Pleasure is all mine :)
I try to use metal/glass bottles as much as I can but when I drink from a plastic one I will squeeze it when it's empty (and put the cap back on) so it will waste less space in the recycling bin so we can (me and other people) can put more stuff in the recycling bin.
Exactly like I will flatten packages I want to throw away.
Connais pas. à l'occasion je jeterai un oeil ou, au moins, une oreille ;)
Je supposoe que c'est sur YT?
It's a question I just read on our Reddit cousin sub Journaling that’s worth sharing, imho.
The op seems to be concerned by the fear of the blank page and also seems to have a hard time expressing their emotions in written form.
Is it something that intimidates you too?
To avoid being intimidated by any new notebook, I have made it a habit to ruin its first page. Either by making some stupid drawing on it, or by staining it with ink. Like, literally staining the page.
Here is the first page of my current journal (left) and previous one (right). One is mere stains and scratchy nibs. The other is written in French and it reads 'Tuesday, 28th May 2024' (I only write the full date on the very first entry of a journal) 'To finish—therefore to start a journal' and next to this very deep thought I did a sketch of the XLR plug of my microphone that was lying on my desk.
Now, why should I care about ‘damaging’ my pretty journal? It's already a mess. And I find that incredibly liberating.
Have you ever done that? Or what else do you do to avoid the 'fear of the blank page/new notebook'? Or you simply don't care and start writing?
As for actually writing stuff in the journal, like I mentioned previously), the simplest thing I can think of is to write down the day and the date, plus some tidbits of info I value keeping. I may or may not write more below those snippets, and I may or may not do it every single day either. It doesn’t matter.
I have no set rule if I shall write in the morning to recap the previous day, or summarize the day right before I go to bed. Or write at any specific time in between.
What about you? Do you have any rules?
Lastly, what about writing down emotions? That’s very personal, obviously.
The key point to keep in mind regarding the way I journal is that I don’t care much about writing well in my journal. It’s not a novel or some paper I want anyone else to read. It's merely a collection of short and random notes about what happens around me, or in my head, I want to remember or reflect upon. So, I try to write them as they pop in my head. Well, it’s a tad more nuanced than that but it would take much longer to explain and maybe it’s worth discussing in its own thread?
What do you say?
... and how do you journal about your emotions, if at all?
I don't know about you but I like to sketch in my journal.
I will simply sketch anything that grabs my attention or that I want to remember, no matter how insignificant it can be. To keep a visual record.
I sketched that electronic thermometer the day after I had an infection and my temp reached some worrying level, while I was still recovering at home (the temperature reached 39.7 C, approx 103F, and when I called her the following day to inform her of what happened, my doctor was very unhappy I did not call her immediately 0:p)
I have no particular skills and zero illusion to ever become a professional artist, mind you. And that's fine with me. I have fun sketching (and painting) and, later, while I browse the pages of my journal I will often have fun looking at those silly sketches. Often, not always ;)
Someday I will sketch plenty unrelated stuff. While other days I won't sketch anything. And that's probably the one thing I would love to be more consistant at—sketching at least once a day.
What about you?
Do you sketch in your journal too? Or do you do any other kind of visual stuff, just for the fun/joy of doing them, or for some other reason? Decorate your journal maybe?
Are there stuff you would like to improve?
For example, I would love to get better at doing nice page layout in my journal. We can see so many gorgeous examples online, whereas mine are, well, blocky at best.
As an example of great visual journals, if you don't know him already, you might want to check Danny Gregory's YT channels, and probably read one (any) of his books: https://www.youtube.com/@SketchBookSkool and https://www.youtube.com/@DannyGregory
As for his books, the first one I would suggest must be 'The Creative License', closely followed by 'Everyday Matters'.
This is a question I just read on the reddit journaling sub. If I quit commenting on reddit a few months ago, I still regularly read those subs I consider interesting and enriching, and I think this is an interesting question.
That for me, is the shortest entry possible.
As you can see, even if it’s blurred, I have written some more stuff below that. But it just happens to be the case there. Often, I won’t.
What is it all about? It’s written in French (I journal in French and in English), but that doesn’t change much:
- I put the date and the day of the week. Why bother with the day since I know perfectly well it was written on Monday (lundi) and on Tuesday (mardi)? In a few months, or even a few weeks I will not remember what the day was. I quickly realized I missed not having that information when I was browsing through my journal. So, now, I systematically write it down.
And what about the lettering and coloring? I don’t always do that, but it’s also a lot of fun so I try to do it as often as I can — like adding small sketches using watercolors to illustrate whatever. It only takes a minute or two. - I also write how I slept, which is another info I learned to value as I was getting older.
- The weather when I first went out that day. I will do long walks at least twice a day and this quick note about the weather maybe all what’s needed to trigger a lot of other memories for that day. Be it when I read it later on, or right when writing it down.
- My mood. I spend years trying to control my (bad) temper. So, for me it’s great to jot that down too.
Once again, I think it’s clear from what I said, those are just three things I value enough to write them down. Write your own stuff. It doesn’t matter what it is, well, it will matter to you obviously.
Imho, what should matter to all of us is to be fine with the fact that we won't do it every single day, that will not happen believe me, and that's fine. Like it is fine to try to note some info and then realize they're not that important, and try with others. These attempts can also be a legit part of your journal, like crossing stuff out instead of erasing them or tearing the page out.
So, that’s how I do short entries in my journal.
How do you do yours? And if you have not started yet, how would you like doing it?
I know from personal experience how great and how fun journaling can be. And also how helpful it can be.
I have been keeping a journal for almost 50 years. oh. my. fucking. god. Forget I just wrote that, because I can't be that old. No way. Not me. I can't be...
(Here, you should have heard the soft noise of my now unconscious body collapsing on the floor like some old wet rag, after my poor brain went off realizing I was really starting to get old)
What was I saying? Something about me having been keeping a journal for quite some time and how fn and helpful it had been.
And that is something that makes me sad when I see no activity going on in our little journaling community, here on Lemmy. Even more so, knowing that our cousin from reddit r/Journaling is doing quite well.
But I also know how daunting it can be to start writing in a journal — what am I supposed to write about? Nothing happens in my life! Why? How? And how can I prevent people to read my most intimate thoughts? How can I make it interesting? How can I not screw the page by making mistakes!? — and I know how it can be intimidating to post personal stuff online, and alone, too.
I started wondering if maybe all we needed was someone to start sharing stuff, talking about stuff and maybe start asking questions in order to get others to do the same?
To the best of my (limited) abilities, I want to ry that and maybe encourage people that may still hesitate to start journaling to do it, and also to encourage anyone to discuss about journaling. And to do it here, not on reddit.
So, even though I have no clear idea what I will post beside the next couple posts, I will try to regularly post stuff, hopefully encouraging others to do the same, or to comment, or to laugh, or whatever — as long as it’s done with a positive spirit, we should all get something out of it.
At the very least, the more we post here the more likely we are to encourage others to join and to participate.
BTW, if you don't speak French, the picture of my journal used as an illustration to this post is asking a very simple question right next to the tin can phone I sketched, which is: Allo?... With who (will I be discussing)?
Which is a good thing imho. We’re trying our best to do the same.
I think so too. I distrust the smartphone so much that I don’t even have a social app, or email, not even a game installed on that thing. I need to have one for 2FA, banks and stuff like that but I distrust that thing with all my guts ad I use it as little as I can (which is not a lot)
I used to take a lot of pictures but it has been a few years I seldom take any and never of people or stuff I consider personal. For that, I switched to sketching them.
But for practical stuff like I just did in the discussion, I will simply take a snapshot (trying to remove all metadata, though).
Nowadays, I pull out a sketchbook and a small set of watercolors :p
I can 100% understand that, and I say that as a tall and bulky dude myself. Also, no matter what, when I go for a long walk I try to shave as much useless weight as possible.
:)
Thx. Yep, if it’s anything, it’s practical. Could easily be improved upon but I’m not yet persuaded it’s worth the time... I will see.
My skecthes look like nothing. Seriously. And I don’t care the slightest. I just enjoy doing them.
I’m using both methods depending the paper size, the place I have to move my arm, and also of the subject. Any method is the right one as long as it works for you. Don’t worry too much ;)
That’s also why I prefer sketching with a fountain pen (using waterproof fountain pen ink) over pencil. It dries in an instant and won’t smudge ever. My brand of favorite waterproof fountain pen ink (never use non-fountain pen ink in a fountain pen, you would ruin it) is from DeAtramentis, their Document line of bottled inks (many colors available, I love their brown, it’s what I use most), or the Platinum Carbon Black ink.
That’s one of the reasons why I use them: it forces me to let go of any semblance of control and perfection since I can’t erase anything every single line is definitive and should be accepted ;)
I know many people have not, hence the link ;)
It’s a great method provided it fits your mindset but in reality Zettelkasten is just a generic name (it’s German and it means something like ‘box of index cards’) that was given by one scholar who formalized (very efficiently) a technique people have been using for centuries. Unknowingly, I had been using a Zettelkasten of my own for years before I discovered it even had a name ;)
Also, it's method not a religion with one right way one must follow. You’re more than encouraged to tweak it and change it however you see fit.
My only suggestion would be to keep it as simple as possible (don’t try to categorize too much stuff in advance and keep the numbering/ID system as basic as you possibly can) and let it evolves organically with practice as needs arise.
For decades, I burnt mine. I started journaling as a little boy but my inquisitorial mum would not allow me much privacy and definitely disapproved the stuff I wrote in my journal, punishing me for that. I qui ckly realized it would be safer to make it so she could not read it and also that it would even be safer to not keep them… And I kept burning mine up until a few years, sadly everything priori to that is lost.
A Zettelkasten may help. It’s why I keep my journal separated from my index cards save whatever I deem worthy of indexing ;)
I’m well into my 50s but I don’t see myself as old. Or maybe I do and I just don’t care how old I’m. I keep doing whatever I want to do, that’s what matter to me. And I keep being excited by stuff,like a kid can/should be.
We all do slow down. I can’t have sleepless nights over sleepless nights like I used to when I was in my 20s (not for partying mind you, to write stuff and paint and do stuff). Nowadays, I need my 4 or 5 hour sleep.
As for the hairs… mine were getting gray at the same time I was getting bald early in my 30s. I used to have long hair but one day I shaved my head and never looked back :p
Our compromise is that we watch DVDs. We just refuse to be force fed ads and/or shitty content. We like whatever movie or series to be a great one (in any genre, I mean) or to be something that will challenge or even disturb us, we’re not much into the politically correct turds that are currently en vogue and produced en masse. So, we don’t miss much of Netflix or whatever.
Not to me. It not only change the dynamic of a room, it also deeply changes the dynamic of most families and of gathering and how we interact. People aren’t much together anymore, they either are watching the tv screen, or their phone/tablet/computer screen, sitting one next to the other in the same room, barely communicating together. I don’t call that being together I call that being stored one next to the other.
Every time I witness that I feel like we’re losing what’s making us human beings. It’s most probably me getting old but I really can’t help thinking younger people are the losers in that change of habits. And they’re losing big time.
It’s a community (journaling) that is hosted on an instance (sh.itjustworks). Hope to see you there ;)