Feeling rough today for some reason. Good nights sleep and no sugar last night. I woke up a little groggy as always, but felt fine. But now? Pretty rough. Oh well.#
I'm writing this with that little fancy German pen with BulletJournal branding. I still don't get the hype. £28 and the ink is cutting out as I write! Let's switch to my £3-5 Uni-ball Jetstream 101. See, this is so much nicer. Sure, the ink isn't as thick or as black and sharp. But the ink doesn't cut out. And it's so much more comfortable to write with.#
I've put a cheap £25 fountain pen on my birthday list (and some cheap ink). I'm very curious what it's going to be like. I'm sure it will take some getting used to. But hopefully it will improve the look of my writing in my notebooks. I'm slightly concerned about comfort and ink smudging (with me being left handed). But hopeful it will [be] better than my beloved Uni-ball Jetstream 101, which is proving harder than you might think.#
Sometimes I count myself a very lucky beneficiary of the factory age.#
Log – 09:26: The cycle into work was especially bracing today — mainly due to wind I think. Glad I brought my Barbour waterproof. I used a feature of it for the first time: where the collar pops up and wraps/tightens around your neck. I felt a bit like Ryan Gosling in "Blade Runner 2049" in it.#
I'm suitably feeling rough this morning after not getting much sleep last night and also eating sugar — I really need to stop that.#
And talking of things I need to stop, I need to stop having double caffeine during the day (he says, with a bottle of cherry Coke Zero to his right). It's for sure the reason why I've struggled to sleep these past few days. I just can't resist. When I'm tired, and my Ritalin isn't kicking in, it's tough to resist. But I must.#
In fact I think I should start gradually lowering my caffeine in general. Just to see if it makes a difference. Maybe I won't get an afternoon energy crash and maybe I'll sleep better. I don't have anxiety, but once in a blue moon I'll have a little panic attack or feel the start of one. In fact, maybe I'm more anxious than I think. I do after feel like I might have a heart attack. I chalk it up to my hypochondria, but maybe it is anxiety. Either way, it's a worthwhile experiment cutting out caffeine.#
Log – 17:58: Had my fairly common weekend naps. And I continue to be worried by it. As if it's indicative of a more serious underlying health problem.#
I've only lived in this house for a year, so maybe this happens every year, but Canadian geese fly overhead most evenings as the sun starts to set. It's a pleasant addition to the day. They wail a little loudly, but they fly low and it's a somewhat magical sight. They remind me of that film "Fly Away Home" each time I see them. Hopefully I get to see them every start of autumn.#
I don't know why, but I just had a sudden jolt of excitement about the work week starting and taking Ritalin again. I haven't taken it many days this week. Firstly because I never take it on the weekends. And secondly because I skipped it on the day I saw Van Morrison and then didn't take it on the day after due to being fairly hungover.#
I've been fretting about how I'm going to include this notebook (an A5 Bullet Journal one) into my "productivity system," worried it might replace my beloved Field Notes. As BuJo is largely for getting tasks done I of course tried to use this notebook for my to-do's, whilst demoting the Field Notes to my log entries. But it was tough to do. An important part of any to-do system is easy capturing into the "inbox." That's tough with a notebook this big and thick. So I've suddenly realised that despite the grid system and handy stickers that this notebook provides I don't have to use it for to-do's at all. At the end of the day it's just a notebook. And it makes sense to use this for just my logs — with its high quality paper and comfortable writing space and hard back — and the Field Notes more for to-dos — with its carryability, general smallness, and ability to bend. I mean hell, I could probably cut down a lot of the BuJo stickers to fit inside it (BuJo also offers its own "pocket" version I could look into). So who knows, maybe I'll try it. The big issue I have with logs + to-dos combined is as someone with ADHD I need my to-do's not only visible, but front and centre — that list needs to almost be sacred. So when I intermix it between my long log entries the to-do's get lost, and forgotten.#
I would love to not have to deal with two notebooks and have just the one. But if I want to go the paper route (and not just use the all digital Todoist) then I think two makes the most sense.#
Log — 13.17: I got a lovely little twenty twenty-seven weekly planner from Hatchards the booksellers the other [day]. A delicate, vintage looking thing, it has gilded edges, rip-away corners, and plenty of different sections. Made of vegan leather, it's a delightful little thing. Aside from one issue: the "dates of note" are all US dates of note! Hatchards is an English institution and its stores and brand reek of Englishness. So for its branded planner to have US dates of note is an outrage. Offer it as an option, sure, but to make it the default is tantamount to treason. Boo!#
Log – 12:56: Just back from the Turkish barber after my haircut. Well, I say cut, it's more of a shave — I haven't had scissors near my head for many a year.#
It was done by a kid of no more than fourteen. Because of his youth I got to bump the queue as the guy in front didn't want his hair cut by the young man. But he did an okay job. He required quite a bit of reassuring and me confirming that I was liking his work, but that's fine. He was a very affable kid and cracked a few jokes. It felt almost charitable letting him do my hair (and beard, I must add). It was good seeing a kid working, oddly, I think because you see it so rarely these days. It's largely a good thing as it means they're in school or playing and doing hobbies. But this fella obviously wanted to make a few quid on the weekend. I gave him a six pound tip, handing over forty quid for the cut, which is a crazy amount of money. Makes me glad to be bald as I can usually shave my own head at home.#
Now I'm going to have some alone time and read in bed.#
Tonight we're due to watch the first Lord of the Rings film, which means it's going to be a good day.#