Last month I got frustrated with my bulletin journal habits, or lack of them, and decided to abandon this year’s plan of designing each month’s layout by hand as I went along. Actually, I fell off that particular wagon months ago, with the consequence that now I’m not really keeping tracking of anything with much success. I would check to see exactly when that happened, but right now I’m not exactly sure where my 2022 bulletin journal actually is.
At work my Outlook calendar is up to date, and personal deadlines are scribbled on 3×3 Post-It notes and stuck someplace I’m likely to see them before heading home. And the family dry-erase calendar is current.
But I replaced the personal bullet journal with a pre-printed planner from Rhodia, which has pages suitable for fountain pens. And while I was at the Goulet Pens website to buy the planner, I bought a new fountain pen to go with it. There was a matter of a sale, and free ink in Black Cherry, and there we were. You know how it goes.
I must say that I do enjoy the Goulet Pens buying experience. Their website is nice, they have a range of lovely items, and you can buy a nice pen if you have $30 to spend or $1000. They pack everything carefully (they call it “a slightly ridiculous amount of care”), usually include a company-designed sticker and a Dum Dum pop, ship it quickly, and invite your feedback just on the shipping. They also produce a blog and YouTube product review videos, including the Goulet “Pencast.” They’re fun, knowledgeable, and Good People.
After the purchases come the emails. How do you like your new pen? they ask. What did you think of the ink you recently purchased? That all makes sense. But the email I received on November 28 had me puzzled.
It’s a weekly planner for next year. As I write this, it’s December 4. I have opened the planner, and shown off its gorgeous cover color to everyone in the office, but it’s not as if I have any need to write in it yet.
Do people just jump into next year’s planners when they receive them in mid-November? Find the month that starts on the same day of the week, rename all the months, and get going? (June is December, but June has 30 days and December has 31, so that leaves a 24-hour gap until January is January so then WHAT DO WE DO?) Or maybe they write all of next year’s known events in the planner to help pass the days until next year becomes this year? I suppose that I could write in all of the birthdays I plan to observe, but does anyone do that?
Perhaps I could review it as I know it right now. Well, the cover is a lovely shade of peacock blue, which is why I purchased it, and the calendar pages are printed in orange, which wasn’t really a factor because I had no choice. The elastic band, also in peacock blue, does an acceptable job of keeping the planner closed when it isn’t open. The pages are made of nice paper that ought to work well with my fountain pen when it’s time for me to write in it, but I don’t know since it isn’t time yet. Only 27 days to go!
Or I could write the Terse Factual Review that you see so often at Amazon. Item arrived on schedule, in good condition, was exactly as shown on website.
Or I could write a Useless Review: How would I know its not 2023 you morons, ask me after I had a chanse to use it.
On the other hand, I could get creative. I have a degree in being creative, so why not use it?
6/2/25 — finally time to take a breath and thank you for all the features of the Rhodia 2023 planner. It included just enough space to record all the vague references to the Daleks and put the pieces together in time to thwart what would have been a catastrophic invasion of Earth. Thanks, and you’re welcome! —Love, The Doctor. P.S. my love to Clara; whatever you do, don’t look in mirrors until after 2032. I’ll tell you why later.
1964, 1966, 1967, 1969 — this journal goes well with my 42 pound fountain pen. — Mason Williams
24/8/2004. Good book, bad pen. I got red on me! — Edgar Wright
The English version is rather dull. Have you one in Catalan? — Colm Toibin
Whose dates these are I think I know.
Can’t fill them in ’til next year though.
— Robert Frost
In other writing-related news, WordPress (always eager to innovate) has taken a page from Facebook in the mid-aughts and decided to supply me with a writing prompt of sorts. Is it only me who finds this rather creepy?
WordPress. Dude. Just give me the tools to write and publish. I’m not asking for “inspiration” or questions about my sleep cycle or my biorhythms. Back off.
Knitwise, I added precisely one set of color repeats to the Vintage Packers scarf. Two more ridges of green, or more ridge of gold. One inch longer and not photo-worthy. Moving along, moving along.
I did find and download a pattern for a pillow cover I could make with the lovely Blue Sky Fibers yarns I rescued last week. I don’t want to knit a snowflake pattern, but at least I know there are patterns out there for pillow covers using Fair Isle patterns. We’re getting there, step by step.
This weekend I had hoped to stash-dive and find some brown yarn suitable for knitting potatoes. Alas, I have not yet found the time. Maybe it’s behind the planner.
Chocolate Sheep 