Phew, we’re 2/3 of the way through September and I’m just now getting to this monthly post.  I’ve spent the past two weeks being out of it: first sick, then a migraine (likely caused by sickness sleep disruption).  Such is life.  Honestly, despite it sounding objectively bad, giving myself permission to slow down and be unproductive because I was feeling meh was actually kind of nice?  Worked from home slowly when I could, took a few days off when I couldn’t.  Reading  and napping and didn’t feel guilty or unproductive.  Plus the weather’s turning and the mosquitoes are finally starting to die down so I could sit outside more again.  I guess so far September’s been hard but not actually unpleasant?  We’ll see how I feel when I get back to the commute tomorrow.

Back to school time means a new monthly calendar for me.  I keep my monthly calendar in synch with my kid’s school calendar in part for convenience and in part because the fall still feels more like the “new year” to me after years of PhD and also just the way the seasons change.

I fought with the decision to keep the monthly calendar as is this year.  I’ve been moving some of my health tracking over to a weekly calendar that I carry at work, which is working better for making sure I jot down things as they happen because the planner is open on my desk to record other stuff, but it’s worse for analyzing the data because I need to see more than a week to identify patterns and predict stuff like migraines. Knowing things weren’t working perfectly in my current setup, I spent a lot of time examining 2027 planner offerings this month and contemplating what to try next and I’ve ordered a few things for 2027.

That said, I did decide to keep the same type of monthly planner with my a5 journal setup for this school year.  I will continue to use it as a sticker chart for my almost-daily writing habit and I’m going to be copying over some health-life stuff for analysis for at least the next few months until my 2027 stuff starts.  After that, we’ll see what works and this will be my fall-back.

Outgoing Campus Free Diary monthly calendar and Mugobunni A5 journal.

Incidentally, check out the cute mushroom sticker my kid drew for me on the bottom left of the outgoing calendar.  I love it.   And below, here’s a link to Tonkai where I got that cool big manta ray sticker.

The other side of my monthly calendar, showing a nice big manta ray sticker from Tonkai, and the Mugobunni A5 notebook with the camper van on it.

Also outgoing is the Mugobunni A5 journal on the right.  The paper in this was slowly driving me crazy with my fountain pens so as cute as it is with the camping critters, I was very glad to see it go.

September’s replacement journal is a Clairefontaine lined notebook from the local art store.  It doesn’t look like anyone’s carrying my beloved thin Rhodia softcover notebooks up here so I decided to try this out as something that was really easy to find locally but had the same paper (although with a different ruling).  (My other option will likely be the thicker Rhodia softcover book.  My favourite has 32 sheets and the one that’s easy to find here is 80.)

What I like:

• The 8mm ruling is easy on my hands and gives some more space for a bit of flourish in my hand writing.
• The 90gsm paper is really lovely as always. No bleed through and the ghosting is there but not in a way that I find distracting or makes pages unusable (in the previous journal I had to sticker over spots repeatedly)
• The dry time for the inks is such that I’m not smearing anything, even when I’ve got a flex pen in rotation this month.
• I’m not getting weird fingerprint issues and don’t have ot use a hand guard all the time.
• It’s pleasant for pencil drawing
• I like the shiny gold leaves on the art deco inspired cover, and the thicker cardstock used is nice.

What I don’t love:

• The ivory paper isn’t really working with my current ink selection.  It’s legible but not amazing especially if I’m writing at night or with the lights dimmed due to headache.
• The ruled lines are very obvious.
• I don’t like drawing with the ruled lines.

Mixed feelings:

• I’m using this one a lot faster than usual because my handwriting is bigger.  But also because I like writing on it?

Overall, I like it, but it’s definitely not the perfect notebook for me.  (That, alas, still remains elusive.) Still, I find it reassuring to know that these are easy for me to find and I don’t have to worry about shipping minimums and can just bike over to the store if I want.  My rational mind knows that I have something like 6 a5 notebooks in my stash and could likely go a year without needing a new notebook, but something in my brain just wants to know that I’ve got a backup plan if I need a notebook in a hurry, so now I have one.

Onto the inks and pens and stickers for September.

Inks and Stickers close up: Colorverse Gyeongnyeolbi Yeoldo (pale green), KWS all that glitters Jurrasic Treasure (glittery gold with very mildly green undertone), Van Dieman’s Last Light (purple with blue shading), and sticker sheets with popsicles, school cats, and science animals.

Pens and Inks:

• Monteverde Ritma <flex> – Colorverse Gyeongnyeolbi Yeoldo
  • This is my second time using this ink sample and I won’t be buying a bottle. It’s a bit too dry and a bit too light for me.  I was hoping the flex would help here and it kind of does but I have to really slow down and it’s too much hassle.
• TWSBI Swipe <1.1> – KWZ All That Glitters Jurrasic Treasure
  • This is the first time I’ve had trouble with this ink, but I did have it semi-clog.  Nothing a quick nib rinse couldn’t fix but I was surprised!
• Pilot E95S <medium> – Van Dieman’s Last Light
  • A very pretty combo!  I feel like I’m writing a bit faster than the nib can keep up every once in a while and that’s weird for me with this pen.  It’s also a little lighter than I’d like against the ivory paper.  Not bad, but not a perfect pairing.

So basically all of these are working but not perfectly, and I’ll be planning to use wetter and more saturated inks next month because I feel like these are mostly paper mismatches.  Since I usually prefer wetter and more saturated inks, this isn’t a hardship.

Stickers

• Popsicles by Tatiana Kovaleva
• School Life by Mochi Gardens (August 2026 stickii pack)
• Science animals by Milkkoyo
• School kitties by Papermilio (August 2026 stickii pack)

I have not yet drowned in stickii stickers from the subscription but I’m definitely still not using up as many as I’m acquiring!  Clearly I need to use more stickers.  I am starting to use them in my work bullet journal / to do list notebook, and that’s been bringing some joy and an excuse to use more of the stickers with muted colour palettes that I wouldn’t love for personal journalling but are great for something I leave open on my desk regularly.

I feel like I write these monthly summaries more for me than for anyone else because it forces me to think about what I’m using and why, so if you made it this far thanks for reading!