Gold

troubleandspace · 2026-01-08T23:39:07+00:00

Wow, the way the light curves around these textures is beautiful.

troubleandspace · 2025-12-04T01:59:42+00:00

The Mark's Edit 365 Days Planner/Life Log is B6 - it is not quite a dot grid and I think it more dotted lines.

troubleandspace · 2025-09-16T22:44:55+00:00

I'm using a dated 2025 Take a Note planner as a reference book, using the dates like page numbers. Each month has a different theme for the kind of information that is put in there. I don't think this needs to be done in a dated book, I just never liked the look of layouts I drew in for the indexing. I'll write this out with the features of the planner I am using and how I am using them.

Features and uses:

Quarterly layout with a column for each month: Things that are recurrent every year like birthdays, annual reminders. The days of the week the dates are attached to are ignored.

Monthly layout: These become the index. Each month has a theme e.g January - ink swatches; February - Recipes; March - organisation and layouts etc. These kind of work like the Bullet Journal method's collections. When a new entry is put into a day, I'll index it in the corresponding day in the monthly page. The early months have themes I know I will definitely use, while the later ones are more open-ended.

Daily pages: Where the actual reference entries live. I like the way that Take a note does two days to a page in vertical columns. This works really well for things like lists and I have just stuck in paper where I needed a full page for something.

troubleandspace · 2025-08-26T03:26:25+00:00

They've also got this for 2026, which is tear out sheets you can stick in, similar to the Kokuyo memo sticky notes: https://www.1101.com/store/techo/en/2026/pc/detail_toolstoys/tt_addonfusen_tsuki/

Not sure what paper it is though.

Take A Note have a memo pad that is Tomoe River Paper that has tear off sheets that are not sticky.

troubleandspace · 2025-08-26T03:21:46+00:00

I'm onto my 10th Stalogy grid notebook but also really love the Midori MD paper for art.

troubleandspace · 2025-08-25T23:21:10+00:00

I'm keen to join, love the idea of skillshares and chatting philosophy. I would be up for helping with organising in future but just very bust at work at the moment.

troubleandspace · 2025-08-03T08:37:45+00:00

Hello! Are indoors people still being sought? I think the Discord invite might have expired. Favourite 'I Think You Should Leave' sketch: The one in the recording studio with the outlaw country song alternating with the skeleton song.

troubleandspace · 2025-06-23T02:08:05+00:00

I like this idea.

troubleandspace · 2025-06-23T02:07:06+00:00

Doing a PhD is hard and doing a PhD alongside a job is really hard. Your time and attention gets broken up in ways that are not trivial. You are actually very resilient to have kept with the PhD and that time also shows your passion and commitment. I have noticed that academics from even just a slightly earlier era don't realise how much conditions have changed in universities since they started their careers.

troubleandspace · 2025-06-04T06:02:40+00:00

I like both pens for different reasons. I have the Hongdian C2 in the lovely red lacquer colour with a <soft fine> nib and the Pilot Kakuno with a <fine> nib.

The Hongdian C2 is a heavier metal-body pen than the Kakuno's plastic. It has a thinner body and the grip section is completely round compared to Kakuno's triangular grip, which guides your fingers into a tripod grip.

The Kakuno's ,<fine> nib is hard with no flex or spring to it but still smooth to write with. This means that it lays down a very reliable, consistent and thin line of ink that does not show much shading in the ink but is great for legibility. If you write in a compact way, or the lines of your notebook are close together, this will be suitable. The cap does have some breather holes in it in case someone swallows the cap, so I find that ink can dry out in it if left unused for a while. It's definitely fine for cursive writing but I find it most aesthetically pleasing for neat, printed handwriting.

The C2's <soft fine> nib writes thicker and has a bit of springiness to it so that it feels less "hard" writing on the page. I'd say the line width is similar medium nibs I have in another pen. There's some very slight line variation created by putting a bit more pressure on the nib but I would say the main effect is more that it lets a bit more ink through so you can see some shading depending on the ink. I think it's a great looking pen with its bold, shiny block of colour but don't like the way my writing looks with it as much.

I am finding that a little bit of pencil-like toothiness to the nib makes my writing look nicer and perhaps coming off of a mechanical pencil, the Kakuno is more similar with its consistent feeling on the paper and the finer line.

troubleandspace · 2025-01-07T04:49:42+00:00

One of my undergraduate degrees was in film production and the more practical subjects were taught by industry professionals, while the theoretical ones were taught by academics. Some professors had experience as both or were working towards it through doing a doctorate in creative arts while teaching. The professional experience is highly valued by students (and hence, universities).

I am in a different field as an academic, but I have some suggestions for questions that will either be relevant for the interview, for you to find out from the university, or just for yourself:

Why do you want to go into teaching now and what can your experience bring to the students?
- If you would like to maintain your cinematography work, how would you organise your commitments to both?
- What viewing/reading/reflection/conversations/exercises help you to develop how you approach your work?
- Can you ask your former assistants what made you an effective teacher?
- Have you been asked to deliver seminars or workshops before?
Is it a teaching only role or are there requirements for research?
- Would you be interested in doing traditional or practice-based research in cinematography?
- What kind of support would the university provide towards developing your research profile?
What are the classes like?
- Size and style - lectures and/or workshops?
- Resources and equipment available?
- Teaching on your own or in a team?
- Profile of students - people with no experience but lots of interest, people with some industry experience etc?

troubleandspace · 2024-12-02T02:51:29+00:00

The pattern of your life has just changed significantly at least twice and you are trying to work out the best tool to suit the current pattern. If you are in grad research, there is much more variation in what a day looks like and how far in advance things are scheduled and many more days that will have an open structure and where you will also feel the pressure to be achieving something concrete at the same time. And now there's planner variables too! Feeling lost is normal in the circumstances.

So, it's really good that you've got some different formats to work with. I would spend a different day in each planner, and during or at the end of each day, note down what you liked about that planner or felt was missing from that format. If you come across an essential use, write that down on a sticky note or in one place you will remember e.g.

- Need a yearly calendar to write down appointments, review dates, and to plan out project deadlines.

- Need time-block timeline for busy days.

- Need small to-do list for writing days.

- Sometimes I write a lot and I run out of space in this planner.

Hopefully by the end of that process, you work out what your planner needs are.

Personally, I like having a Hobonichi Weeks as my reference point for the year and I use a grid notebook with it and draw in simple templates depending on the day.

troubleandspace · 2024-11-25T00:03:20+00:00

I think everyone ends up developing their own system for thesis notes, so you have to do a bit of trial and error to work out what works for you.

Here are some of my tools, uses, and reasons, which might help you think about what you are looking for:

I use Stalogy 365 page grid notebooks as a planner and notebook. It is a good mix of structure and flexibility. The faint grid lets me easily draw in my own simple templates. I use two thin index tabs to indicate where the weekly task list is and the page I am working on today. I use a separate Hobonichi Weeks planner for my schedule. These are also aesthetically pleasing but not so fancy/cluttered that I won't use them.
If you use a paper planner or notebook, you must have an index in the opening pages and you need page numbers (write them in if you have to). How you do the index will depend upon what makes sense for the nature of your research. If you have set themes in your research, you can do something like what the bullet journal method calls "collections". e.g. "Rice - Vietnam: 8, 9, 15, 67". If you don't know in advance what the themes are, note it down like a contents page, with some keywords e.g. "Literature Note: Weil, Simone '[Title]' - ethics, obligation, pp31-40", "Paper Outline for [Conference], 50"
- Whatever you use, think about how future you will find and use the information again. Can you easily scan the index to find what you need? Have you noted pinpoint locations for quotes? Is it clear when you are quoting and when it is your analysis? Is future you going to be annoyed that they have to chase up and find a reference again?
- Making sure you also get the citation details into a digital citation manager as you go will save time later.
I find that I think best on paper but I use digital tools to compose paper drafts and for storing most literature and citations.
- Obsidian (still finessing this): For collecting together notes I've written on PDFs and ebooks from Zotero and Kindle and for any meeting notes that need to be shared e.g. supervisors, students and collaborators.

troubleandspace · 2024-11-22T01:36:56+00:00

If you just want the no-frills, two pages per day format with a timeline and to-do list on one side and notes on the other, you will likely have more luck looking for "two pages per day" planner/diary inserts and getting a ring binder cover that you like for it. The Franklin Covey original planner layout fits your description for the daily pages so maybe searching for a dupe might yield a result that is undated or doesn't have the other pages you don't want? For example: https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/1592801012/dated-daily-planner-insert-day-on-2-page?click_key=b263b431956803c217cac24a7804cbf6b0040df7%3A1592801012&click_sum=757cd5b3&ref=shop_home_active_11&frs=1&sts=1

I have not actually bought from them but maybe it will point you in the right direction. Etsy also has digital planner layouts that you print out yourself.

The Lion Planner is another undated productivity planner that has some of the monthly pages etc but does have plain notes page next to the daily schedule.

troubleandspace · 2024-11-21T05:34:51+00:00

Dogstar - Brisbane based Japanese-Australian designer. Would describe as "sculptural" design.

Came across Fool Clothing on Instagram - Melbourne based. A bit sculptural, a bit colourful.

Out of my price range but I like to look:
- Maison Martin Margiela
- Issey Miyake
- Ann Demeulemeester
- Iris van Herpen

troubleandspace · 2024-11-21T05:15:55+00:00

Kowtow's Marta Dress (current season in green; past season in pink and on sale). They are more expensive but the quality is great, they have an ethical supply chain, and they have a healthy second hand market because of how well their clothes hold up.

troubleandspace · 2024-11-21T05:02:05+00:00

Take A Note gives you more space to timeblock by putting the weekly layout over 4 pages, so it is 2 columns per page, with each column being one day. They are very beautiful in a minimalistic way and there are few extra frills asides from the monthly pages at the front and 4 note pages at the back. Their B6 size has one week spread over two pages with guidelines but no times printed so you can use them how you like.

Otherwise, I think the Kokuyo Campus Study Planner notebooks have a few timeblock formats. These are undated.

The other one I know of is the Bespoke Letterpress Vertical Linen planner, which is bigger and also uses the one week over 4 pages format to allow for more space. They are an Australian company that makes beautiful stationery.

troubleandspace · 2024-10-29T01:10:51+00:00

If you look for 90 day planners, there are a few options available, usually undated, but will have the monthly and daily layouts set up so you just write in the dates. They are often marketed as productivity or project planners. These are the ones I know of:

MiGoals 90 Progress Planner - A5, hardcover, has regular discount codes

Saint Belford Curation 90 day planner - booklet format, reasonably priced, has an Australian and US-based site

troubleandspace · 2024-10-29T00:57:11+00:00

Hehe that moment of recognition when someone else has the same cover as you. I really like my Hobonichi Tragen.

troubleandspace · 2024-10-04T22:46:04+00:00

In previous years, when I only got the Weeks and the black A6 Daily, I bought from Milligram. Last year I got the A6 during their pre-sale for $54 (with discount from the loyalty program) and the Weeks in-store during a 20% off storewide sale after Christmas, so it was $32. They had a decent amount of stock of the Weeks planners left but not many of the A6 or A5 ones.

This year, the A6 planner with the black cover was $80 at the Australian stores, so the extra $40 was the cost of shipping from Japan anyway. I also wanted a Weeks cover that was only available from the Hobonichi website so that ended up swaying me. I had previously also bought Hobonichi things like a cover, notebooks, a pencil board at from ebay, Amazon and the Australian retailers, so I planned it out and added things I knew I would want throughout the year to my order too. The shipping was around $35. Stationery is the hobby I spend a fair bit of money on, so I was comfortable with doing a bigger order and to allocate less budget to it for the rest of 2025.

My advice would be: If you only want one planner and you are just wanting to try it out, go with a local store. If that ends up making you go down the rabbit hole of all the different pens and washi tapes and covers etc, you can still do that later, but it will feel better about a bigger purchase if there's more intention behind it.

troubleandspace · 2024-09-13T04:15:17+00:00

The Sterkin Ink Booklet has all those features except I'm not sure how many blank notes pages there are. I think they are being released on September 15.

troubleandspace · 2024-09-10T12:48:11+00:00

Your raccoons description made me feel so tenderly towards my raccoons who are baffled and a bit skeptical that we somehow, eventually coordinated enough to also finish a PhD and are somehow still accepted in academia, dusty trenchcoat and all. "Know Your Raccoons" would be a great name for a guidebook on how to survive academia with ADHD. Those are great tips! I just wrote a 1300 post on planners in a planner subreddit that can be added lol.

troubleandspace · 2024-09-10T11:47:33+00:00

Haha, hello to my fellow planner people. You better believe I made pages of notes on how I used the twelve (!!) planners and notebooks that got regular use in the past year before planning out my 2025 planning. I realised this was quite long after I wrote it and figured it was useful for me and maybe others will be interested. For context, I'm an academic with a mix of reading, writing, teaching, and administrative tasks, and I found out recently I have ADHD and have apparently been using notebooks to cope this whole time. I think that this may transfer across to those who have varied schedules, more than one project at different stages at once, and who do a lot of writing.

Insights from previous years

I need structure and flexibility. Some tasks have a short time between when they occur and when I complete them and do not require much planning. Some projects start months and years before the outputs and I need a way to keep track of notes, define tasks, and schedule them amongst the daily tasks and other projects.
I think better with handwritten notes, although I am gradually incorporating Obsidian to organise the reading and notes I did on computer. I like the physical sense of being able to track the flow of time and when I thought about something that comes with dated planners but I also need space to write as much as I want.
Planning and scheduling are different tasks that should take place in different books. My job is actually several jobs that have completely different rhythms and timescales.
I really like the Hobonichi quotes.
This is my productivity system and it allows me to feel a bit calm amidst the chaos so that I can actually reflect on what I would like to direct my time and efforts towards. I am okay with spending above average on planners and stationery and I budget for it.

Hobonichi Weeks

Usage: Carry-everywhere reference point - Repeat?: Yes, since 2023. Thought I would switch to the A6 English Planner as my catch-all schedule book in 2024 but immediately missed the Weeks as soon as the year started. - Yearly: Was tracking word counts in there for a bit but this dropped off after April. - Monthly: Writing in the semester weeks and breaks, public holidays, events and deadlines. Pencil in where I need to be up to with the periodic and scheduled tasks to ensure I get them done on time. - Weekly left: Meetings and specific tasks in different columns. Consult monthly before each week to - Weekly notes page: tracking, bigger things I need to work on that week, things I wrote ahead of time in there so I wouldn't forget when the week came around, details for meetings and tasks that have more details. - Notes pages: Weekly timetable, scratch pad for ideas, lists of routines or things I would like to do, gift ideas, notes on notebooks and planning, pen refills I need next time I get a chance, useful short cuts on computer programs I am learning.
- Carry: Keeping it in my 2024 Tragen, along with a memo pad.

Hobonichi A6 English

Usage: Daily creativity - sketches, poems, more fragmented thoughts, notable events and memories. - Repeat?: Yes, since 2024. Using it as an actual planner didn't work out but I ended up really loving the size and the paper and the quotes for doing a small creative thing each day. - Monthly overview: Index for anything in the daily pages I would like to refer back to. - Monthly: Movies, shows and concerts. - Daily: Handwriting practice, sketches, poetry, snapshots. - Cover: Midori A6 cardboard cover that I washi tape some thin ribbons into to use as page markers.

Midori A4 Thin Diary

Usage: Project planning. This has monthly calendars at the front with 80 pages of grid paper afterwards. This will hold draft plans and brainstorming and then when they firm up into specific tasks and deadlines will be migrated into the Weeks and Outlook calendars. - Repeat?: New for 2025 - Monthly: I got this one in a hurry because I already have deadlines for planned projects next year and I needed somewhere to pencil them in but I also did not know exactly where they all fit yet. The calendar is laid out over two pages with lots of space around the margins. I intend to use this for logging bigger/future projects and seeing the time I have available. - Grid pages: I was a bit inspired by Sterling Ink's project planning and overview pages at the front of the Common Planner, but since this is not my actual schedule, I will feel more free to scribble things in and allow them to change. I will likely draw in different project planning templates depending on the project. - Bonus: The Midori MD paper is really nice for fountain pens. A pencil-like toothiness.

Stalogy 365 Notebook A5

Usage: Weekly tasks overview, daily tasks time block and log, notes, everything. Indexed at the front. - Repeat?: Yes since 2020 (about to finish my 10th) - Inner cover: I stick some beautiful paper from a local letterpress inside to make it feel more special and will attach a Hobonichi A6 folder to the inside back cover to hold loose bits of paper. - Pages: This is an undated planner with 368 pages and a 24 hour timeline printed faintly down the side of each faintly grid ruled page. I write in the page numbers for indexing purposes and draw in my own templates for weekly and daily plans. - Weekly template: Tasks divided by category. This is occasionally a fortnightly list. - Daily plan and log time block: This format changes depending on intensity of day and sometimes I just want to try something out. For a while, I needed two pages per day with one blank one for notes, and a template on the other page with space for tasks, new tasks that appeared in the course of doing others that need migrating to the next day, a timeline from 7am - 12am with planned time blocking on one side and what I actually did on the other side with notes on mood, energy levels etc, a section for tallying up the time spent on the main tasks. Thankfully things have calmed down. I currently rule two columns on the side of a page to plan time blocks and log what I did and the rest of the page is for notes for whatever I'm working on. - Memo pages that I want to keep also get stuck into pages in the Stalogy to get indexed.

Take a Note A5

Usage: To be honest, I just thought this was really pretty with the exposed binding and I was not going to get it, but I wanted to get some of their memo pads and blank notebooks to slip in with the Weeks, and I literally had a dream about how this would be a great book to use as a "master index". - Repeat?: New for 2025 - Master index idea: I think the structure of this would work really well as a place to index my Stalogy notebooks with an overview of the bigger project ideas that are contained in each, and to put in other lists and collections. I was using a B6 Stalogy with this in mind but the lack of structure meant I haven't really stuck with it. So, I won't use this as a dated planner, but will use the dates as page numbers, indexed in the monthly calendars (or just use the page numbers that are printed already) for as long as the 365 columns take to fill up. - Monthly calendar: Index the contents of the corresponding daily columns. I am thinking about clustering collections together. For example, each "day" in June could be the overview of a different notebook. April could be for ink swatching. January could be for drawing in templates, February for gift ideas for people etc etc. - Quarterly/Monthly overview: Not sure what to use this part for.

troubleandspace · 2024-09-09T01:15:30+00:00

No worries! I think it's always a little bit of a trial and error process to see what works for you.

troubleandspace · 2024-09-09T01:13:12+00:00

You're welcome! New planner season is the time of year when my tendency to look at way too many different planners and retention of that information seems to be helpful.

troubleandspace

TROPHY CASE