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In the wake of the reMarkable2's fall from utility, I’ve switched over (switched back, technically) to Baron Fig's Confidant Plus notebooks. I’ve used the flagship size for years, but found them too small to replicate the systems I'd developed in the rm2 (namely, scribbling rough drafts and word salads to find some rhythmic combination that speaks to me in addition to my journals and etc). Plus size (blank, as that’s the only thing available) seems like this is the best fit for my writing needs. Bonus: the CP is the same size as the rm2 so it fits in the leather folio I had been using for the digital chickenscratching. So far so good.

pocket bunny overlord pre-ordered

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Though a(nother) "pocket companion" is the last thing I need (NuHerbie will get jealous) – and I'm getting some late 90's PDA-meets-Tamagachi vibes (probably only since the thing's such an early entrant in the marketplace) – I pre-ordered a rabbit R1; IDK, I'm intrigued. Sixth batch, should arrive early summer and then I can decide whether to bow to my AI bunny overlords (and their unholy alliance with NuHerbie?) or resist.

journalboxing

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Boxed up 15 years worth of paper journals and notebooks yesterday and replaced them in (the tall drawers of) the card catalog with power tools. While much of this shift comes from me having switched over fully to the reMarkable2 as my journal / thought-scratching tool (synced manually at the start of each day to import the previous day's sheet into my Obsidian daily notes), the remaining part is from the realization that I never once consulted those copious notes and, as I have no generation following me to whom they would be interesting (or blackmail material), have little need to take up valuable space with them in the day-to-day in The Paintshop.

(Better that the totality of my thoughts be placed on a thumb drive while saving drawer space for impact drivers and socket sets which are more proving far more useful in the day to day.)

My journals are – and always have been, romanticized notions of youth aside – little more than vessels in which to empty my brain, the only use for them being in the moment, in the act of taking pen to paper (physical or digital) and offloading generally useless notions and thoughts (invasive or otherwise) and reflections. As such, the import of enjoying the act of taking pen to paper is all that matters and right now, I enjoy the feel of the Lamy AL-Star EMR to the rM2: it's like writing with a felt tip pen housed in my favorite fountain pen body on an infinite sheet of paper.

So there's that then. Feels like this half-cocked notion needs a better conclusion but this is going to have to suffice.

reMarkable 2: six weeks later

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Despite the occasional nostalgic yearning for and effort to return, haven't rushed back to paper journals as I found that, as soon as I used the reMarkable 2 for work, I missed using it for everything and went back to its digitally papery embrace, a combo of writing with a thick fountain pen and a Papermate Flair.

(Rite in the Rain index card wallet more than fills the handwriting capture void – though I've shifted from pencil to a Rite in the Rain pen; prefer the clicky on the go).

Present function is as combo daily note, journal, and scrap workings, all scrawled across a single infinite scroll page and moved into Obsidian as a PDF at the start of the next day, rinse/wash/repeat. Tried the Typefolio again, but, as my wife said of hers (she bought an rM2 a few days after mine arrived, and has been loving it for teaching), the instinct is to write by hand and so I do. Pen remains the Lamy EMR nib / top half with my Lamy Studio bottom half (prefer the weight) and posted cap. Don't feel a need for erasing since I did everything in pen before anyhow. Only complaint is that I wish there were more highlighter color options.

Still in love and don't see that changing anytime soon: easily the best work purchase in ages. Essential.

rite in the rain index card wallet

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Since switching over from paper journals (and legal pads and whiteboards) to the reMarkable 2, I've shifted away from my still-beloved fountain pens (that the EMR I'm using is Lamy's EMR variation on their AL-Star fountain pen is a big help) to pencils for my non-digital notetakings and processings.

As such, I've been seeking a pocket notebook that both a.) could be used both during running and general leavings of the house, and, b.) didn't overstuff my already-stuffed pockets (read: Herbie the insulin pump). Happily, the Rite In The Rain Index Card Wallet, packed with their waterproof index cards and scribbled upon with my Kaweco Special S 0.7mm mechanical pencil, more than satisfies those requirements.

rite in the rain index wallet, open. index card and velcro.

One hiccup, though: the RIR cards are (more than) a bit expensive - $16-$20 per pack of 100 - so I'm going to do a test with one of the regular, $2/pack of 100 cards that I've got lying all over the place to see if the waterproof part really makes a difference: while I know full well that it does with paper, I'm not certain it matters with cards, especially since I'm using pencil.

Either way, very happy to have solved this particular long-standing quandary.

reMarkable 2, ctd

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A few more impressions as I cross the halfway point of my first week:

  • 99.8% certain that it will fully replace my paper journal: briefly returned to paper and went back to the reMarkable. Love writing in / on it: feels like a Papermate Flair / fountain pen mix without the waste of blowing through a box of Flairs a month. Lamy stylus supposed to arrive today. Have a feeling that that will clinch its victory.

  • Very nice to have gotten a handle on the touch gestures. Less friction = more brain.

  • A workflow is emergent.

  • Still haven't read anything on it. Or signed anything. Should have caught me a year ago, then it'd've been a different story.

  • The focus that writing on it instills transfers well to working on the Mac.

  • K was so fascinated by it that she bought her own for teaching. Have a feeling that it will be even more useful for her than for me (though it has already cemented its position as an essential brain extension in (what passes for) my creative practice).

  • My handwriting is and will remain shit but I learned to live with that long ago. In other words, text-type conversion isn’t in the cards and won’t be and I’m fine with that: I’ve been deciphering my scribbles since time immemorial and it’s not like I’m a doctor or anything important.

remarkable 2: first work session

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Majority of first impressions have been altered: while I initially thought the remarkable would be a replacement for the Drafts app and not a journal, it's already proven to be the opposite; I'm giving it this week to replace my paper and pen journal (which, unless things drastically change and/or it decides to erase my jottings, it's already done); figured out the left-hand thing and am now a leftie writing on a leftie-oriented device with a digital Papermate Flair (I've found a setting – marker, medium, black which makes it so) and have ordered the Lamy stylus that's basically an AL-Star with a stylus nib so I can fully merge both worlds; a leather cover, not dissimilar to my journal one, is on its way. Hopefully will find a way to keep index cards, post its, and perhaps my CW&T Pen Type-C in there alongside for quick notes and jottings. Once the Lamy arrives, it'll be quite something, I think.

File system so far:

  • Journal: one notebook per week – pretty similar to what I do here – with one page per day (scrolling journal is fantastic!) and written in the same scrawl as with my 14+ years of paper journals. When the week is done, I'll transfer a PDF over to Obsidian and save it there and start a new one. Given that I've never gone back and consulted one of those journals in the 14 years of their existence, I see no reason that I'll start now: their purpose is to get the shit out of my brain. Hopefully, as I get more acclimated to creating with it, the notebook there and the notebook here will more fully merge. Biggest thing: I didn’t miss the paper journal, not once.

  • Legal Pad: so named, ruled, for when I need to draft things or think things through on the Main Things.

  • Considering adding "Whiteboard" for mindmaps, etc - though I could do that on the Legal Pad, IDK. Doubt I'll save these, as I tend to manually add to Obsidian / main project doc as I go.

  • Quick sheets for quick jottings - sticky notes section, accessible from the main doc, would be great, but that does, I suppose, go against the guiding ethos of deep work / thinking that the remarkable inculcates. A little too much friction between brain and scrap in this case.

I've neither found the typing function / typefolio to be very useful since I'm so used to speed-freak/mistake-laden huntnpeck on a Mac with my split keyboard (if I want to add typed text, I can always add it to the note via the app and move it over) nor have I tried reading or marking up PDFs, though I've a feeling that it will be a fantastic editing and revising tool.

Battery power is down from an unboxing 67% to 28% at the time of posting this - that whole purported "two week" battery life must be in a constant period of sleep – so I'll have to plug it in in a bit but that's nothing I'm not used to: I, do, after all, have to plug in my cyborg pancreas every few days so I can stay alive so I suppose I can live with plugging in my cyborg brain as needed.

Love love love.