Subj : Fountain Pens & Notebooks
To   : Atroxi
From : Ogg
Date : Fri Mar 26 2021 09:32:00

Hello Atroxi!

** On Thursday 25.03.21 - 20:43, you wrote to me:

 A> It's mostly daily stuff. I used to have this org-mode system
 A> in my laptop that I synchronize with my phone before where I
 A> put my TO-DOs, insights, ``at-the-moment thoughts'' and
 A> longform diary-esque entries.

When I am home and I need to remind myself of something to to do  
at the shop when I get there, I email my self a note to a  
special account with TODO in the subject.  And then the  
reverse.. it I need to finish some biz work at home in the  
evening, I email myself to my home account with TODO in the  
suject. For private things, I would use PGP.  I could not manage  
that shit with a phone; I'd often to forget to take the phone  
with me some days!

 A> That seems to be quite fun. I grew up at a time where
 A> letters are starting to be obsolete so I didn't really have
 A> the chance to experience writing to someone. Unless you
 A> count those small notes that you pass to your friends during
 A> class.

Most of my journaling was during grade-school. I discovered that  
my dad had a radio that supported the SW bands. He only used it  
for AM.  But when I discovered SW it was like the world opened  
up for me. Some ham operators offered "confirmation postcards"  
for anyone who would write to them with date/time of broadcast.

Grade school also had us participate in a pen pal program to  
exchange letters with students in another school.  That seemed  
fun when the letters arrived. But I never maintained any lasting  
connections there. I was too young and getting distracted with  
the girls at hand.  ;)

 Og>> ..And at least one of them dried up and could not be
 Og>> replaced.

 A> Yeah, that sucks. I haven't had a pen dry up on me yet but I
 A> have been aware of that and I'm thinking of just cleaning
 A> the pen up if I know that I'm not going to use it for a long
 A> time.

Perhaps mine was designed to be used every day, or emptied if  
not to be used for an extended time. I just got lazy, I guess -  
or forgot to keep up with the routine.

 A> Though the most common one is to use a ``single-use'' cartridge.

Yes.. the modern ones have the cartidges. A nice solution. And  
they don't dry up as fast? I really haven't tried those. My mom  
took up calligraphy in her 60's and onward. That's when I  
learned about the cartridge versions.  I still have a bunch of  
those supplies.  But she still appreciated the convenience of  
composing a letter using a word-processor.  She'd decorate the  
printed product with some flourishes of calligraphy.

 A> ..While I'm speaking from a sample size of one, I do think
 A> that journals and the act of writing offer something more
 A> that offsets the convenience of just typing on a phone or
 A> computer.

I tried keeping a grocery list using a phone app. But that did  
not work for me. I just use a piece of paper with a grid that I   
duplicate 4x on an 8.5x11" sheet of paper, rip that sheet into  
its respective quarters and have a little stash that I use like  
this:

 https://photos.kolico.ca/tmp/groc-list.jpg

 ..and work my way column by column from right to left until it  
is full.  It's pinned onto the fridge where I can always find it  
and grab it.

This might be a digression of the actual subject of journaling  
and notebooks at the start, but except for signing cheques and  
amassing other notes on pieces of paper, this is the extent of  
handwriting right now.

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