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-rw-r--r--docs/index.html24
-rw-r--r--docs/index.xml241
-rw-r--r--docs/posts/index.html17
-rw-r--r--docs/posts/plain_text_journaling/index.html308
-rw-r--r--posts/plain_text_journaling.md347
5 files changed, 925 insertions, 12 deletions
diff --git a/docs/index.html b/docs/index.html
index 7b2b6b6..10ed746 100644
--- a/docs/index.html
+++ b/docs/index.html
@@ -40,15 +40,15 @@
40 <tr> 40 <tr>
41 <td class=table-post> 41 <td class=table-post>
42 <div class="date"> 42 <div class="date">
43 03/09 — 2022 43 19/06 — 2023
44 </div> 44 </div>
45 <a href="/posts/curing_a_case_of_git-UX" class="post-link"> 45 <a href="/posts/plain_text_journaling" class="post-link">
46 <span class="post-link">Curing A Case Of Git-UX</span> 46 <span class="post-link">Plain Text Journaling</span>
47 </a> 47 </a>
48 </td> 48 </td>
49 <td class=table-stats> 49 <td class=table-stats>
50 <span class="stats-number"> 50 <span class="stats-number">
51 9.6 51 8.9
52 </span> 52 </span>
53 <span class=stats-unit>min</span> 53 <span class=stats-unit>min</span>
54 </td> 54 </td>
@@ -57,15 +57,15 @@
57 <tr> 57 <tr>
58 <td class=table-post> 58 <td class=table-post>
59 <div class="date"> 59 <div class="date">
60 28/08 — 2022 60 03/09 — 2022
61 </div> 61 </div>
62 <a href="/posts/programming_on_34_keys" class="post-link"> 62 <a href="/posts/curing_a_case_of_git-UX" class="post-link">
63 <span class="post-link">Programming On 34 Keys</span> 63 <span class="post-link">Curing A Case Of Git-UX</span>
64 </a> 64 </a>
65 </td> 65 </td>
66 <td class=table-stats> 66 <td class=table-stats>
67 <span class="stats-number"> 67 <span class="stats-number">
68 6.2 68 9.6
69 </span> 69 </span>
70 <span class=stats-unit>min</span> 70 <span class=stats-unit>min</span>
71 </td> 71 </td>
@@ -74,15 +74,15 @@
74 <tr> 74 <tr>
75 <td class=table-post> 75 <td class=table-post>
76 <div class="date"> 76 <div class="date">
77 02/08 — 2022 77 28/08 — 2022
78 </div> 78 </div>
79 <a href="/posts/a_reference_counted_afterlife" class="post-link"> 79 <a href="/posts/programming_on_34_keys" class="post-link">
80 <span class="post-link">A Reference Counted Afterlife</span> 80 <span class="post-link">Programming On 34 Keys</span>
81 </a> 81 </a>
82 </td> 82 </td>
83 <td class=table-stats> 83 <td class=table-stats>
84 <span class="stats-number"> 84 <span class="stats-number">
85 1.6 85 6.2
86 </span> 86 </span>
87 <span class=stats-unit>min</span> 87 <span class=stats-unit>min</span>
88 </td> 88 </td>
diff --git a/docs/index.xml b/docs/index.xml
index c0277f1..eb43379 100644
--- a/docs/index.xml
+++ b/docs/index.xml
@@ -12,6 +12,247 @@
12 <language>en-us</language> 12 <language>en-us</language>
13 <copyright>Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0</copyright> 13 <copyright>Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0</copyright>
14 <item> 14 <item>
15<title>Plain Text Journaling</title>
16<description>&lt;p&gt;I cobbled together a journaling system with {neo,}vim, coreutils and
17&lt;a href="http://www.fresse.org/dateutils"&gt;dateutils&lt;/a&gt;. This system is
18loosely based on &lt;a href="https://www.rydercarroll.com/"&gt;Ryder
19Caroll’s&lt;/a&gt; Bullet Journal method.&lt;/p&gt;
20&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://u.peppe.rs/SpF.png"&gt;&lt;img
21src="https://u.peppe.rs/SpF.png" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
22&lt;h3 id="the-format"&gt;The format&lt;/h3&gt;
23&lt;p&gt;The journal for a given year is a directory:&lt;/p&gt;
24&lt;div class="sourceCode" id="cb1"&gt;&lt;pre
25class="sourceCode bash"&gt;&lt;code class="sourceCode bash"&gt;&lt;span id="cb1-1"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb1-1" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="ex"&gt;λ&lt;/span&gt; ls journal/&lt;/span&gt;
26&lt;span id="cb1-2"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb1-2" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="ex"&gt;2022/&lt;/span&gt; 2023/&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
27&lt;p&gt;In each directory are 12 files, one for each month of the year,
28numbered like so:&lt;/p&gt;
29&lt;div class="sourceCode" id="cb2"&gt;&lt;pre
30class="sourceCode bash"&gt;&lt;code class="sourceCode bash"&gt;&lt;span id="cb2-1"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb2-1" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="ex"&gt;λ&lt;/span&gt; ls journal/2023/&lt;/span&gt;
31&lt;span id="cb2-2"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb2-2" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="ex"&gt;01&lt;/span&gt; 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
32&lt;p&gt;We can now begin writing stuff down:&lt;/p&gt;
33&lt;div class="sourceCode" id="cb3"&gt;&lt;pre
34class="sourceCode bash"&gt;&lt;code class="sourceCode bash"&gt;&lt;span id="cb3-1"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb3-1" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="ex"&gt;λ&lt;/span&gt; vim journal/2023/1&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
35&lt;p&gt;Every month must start with a calendar of course, fill that in
36with:&lt;/p&gt;
37&lt;pre class="vim"&gt;&lt;code&gt;:read !cal -m&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;
38&lt;p&gt;Your entry for January might look like this:&lt;/p&gt;
39&lt;div class="sourceCode" id="cb5"&gt;&lt;pre
40class="sourceCode bash"&gt;&lt;code class="sourceCode bash"&gt;&lt;span id="cb5-1"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb5-1" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="ex"&gt;λ&lt;/span&gt; cat journal/2023/01&lt;/span&gt;
41&lt;span id="cb5-2"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb5-2" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;span class="ex"&gt;January&lt;/span&gt; 2023&lt;/span&gt;
42&lt;span id="cb5-3"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb5-3" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="ex"&gt;Mo&lt;/span&gt; Tu We Th Fr Sa Su&lt;/span&gt;
43&lt;span id="cb5-4"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb5-4" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;span class="ex"&gt;1&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
44&lt;span id="cb5-5"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb5-5" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;span class="ex"&gt;2&lt;/span&gt; 3 4 5 6 7 8&lt;/span&gt;
45&lt;span id="cb5-6"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb5-6" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;span class="ex"&gt;9&lt;/span&gt; 10 11 12 13 14 15&lt;/span&gt;
46&lt;span id="cb5-7"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb5-7" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="ex"&gt;16&lt;/span&gt; 17 18 19 20 21 22&lt;/span&gt;
47&lt;span id="cb5-8"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb5-8" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="ex"&gt;23&lt;/span&gt; 24 25 26 27 28 29&lt;/span&gt;
48&lt;span id="cb5-9"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb5-9" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="ex"&gt;30&lt;/span&gt; 31&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
49&lt;p&gt;I prefer planning week by week, as opposed to creating a task-list
50every day, here’s what I have for the first couple of weeks:&lt;/p&gt;
51&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt; January 2023
52Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
53 1
54 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
55 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
5616 17 18 19 20 21 22
5723 24 25 26 27 28 29
5830 31
59
60
61week 1
62
63done apply leaves
64done dload boarding pass
65moved reply to dan
66
67
68week 2
69
70todo reply to dan
71todo pack bags
72done travel insurance
73todo weigh luggage&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;
74&lt;p&gt;I start the week by writing a header and each item that week is
75placed on its own line. The items are prefixed with a &lt;code&gt;todo&lt;/code&gt;
76or a &lt;code&gt;done&lt;/code&gt; signifier.&lt;/p&gt;
77&lt;h3 id="form-over-function"&gt;Form over function&lt;/h3&gt;
78&lt;p&gt;Right off the bat, the signifiers look very noisy, Even more so once
79we start introducing variety (I use “event”, “note” and “moved”):&lt;/p&gt;
80&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;week 1
81
82todo apply leaves
83done dload boarding pass
84todo reply to dan
85event fr trip
86note weight 68.6&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;
87&lt;p&gt;We can clean this up with “abbreviations”
88(&lt;code&gt;:h abbreviations&lt;/code&gt;):&lt;/p&gt;
89&lt;pre class="vim"&gt;&lt;code&gt;:iabbrev todo ·
90:iabbrev done ×&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;
91&lt;p&gt;Now, typing this:&lt;/p&gt;
92&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;todo apply leaves&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;
93&lt;p&gt;Automatically inserts:&lt;/p&gt;
94&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;· apply leaves&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;
95&lt;p&gt;You can use &lt;code&gt;x&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;o&lt;/code&gt; as well, but
96&lt;code&gt;×&lt;/code&gt; (U+00D7, MULTIPLICATION SIGN) and &lt;code&gt;·&lt;/code&gt; (U+00B7,
97MIDDLE DOT) are more … &lt;em&gt;gourmet&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
98&lt;p&gt;The other signifiers I use are:&lt;/p&gt;
99&lt;ul&gt;
100&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;-&lt;/code&gt; for note&lt;/li&gt;
101&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;o&lt;/code&gt; for event&lt;/li&gt;
102&lt;li&gt;&lt;code&gt;&amp;gt;&lt;/code&gt; for moved.&lt;/li&gt;
103&lt;/ul&gt;
104&lt;p&gt;Nit #2 is the lack of order. We can employ vim to introduce grouping
105and sorting. Select the list of entries for this week:&lt;/p&gt;
106&lt;pre class="vim"&gt;&lt;code&gt;vip &amp;quot; line-wise select inner paragraph
107:&amp;#39;&amp;lt;,&amp;#39;&amp;gt;sort &amp;quot; the markers &amp;#39;&amp;lt; and &amp;#39;&amp;gt; are automatically inserted,
108 &amp;quot; they mark the start and end of the selection&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;
109&lt;p&gt;We end up with:&lt;/p&gt;
110&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;week 1
111
112· apply leaves
113· reply to dan
114× dload boarding pass&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;
115&lt;p&gt;The lines are grouped by their signifiers, segregating todo items
116from completed items. Luckily, MIDDLE DOT is lesser than MULTIPLICATION
117SIGN, so todo items are placed at the top. The same goes for
118&lt;code&gt;o&lt;/code&gt; and &lt;code&gt;x&lt;/code&gt; symbols, either set of signifiers will
119result in the same sorting order.&lt;/p&gt;
120&lt;p&gt;We can shorten this select-paragraph-invoke-sort dance by setting the
121&lt;code&gt;formatprg&lt;/code&gt; variable:&lt;/p&gt;
122&lt;pre class="vim"&gt;&lt;code&gt;:set formatprg=sort\ -V&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;
123&lt;p&gt;Now, hitting &lt;code&gt;gqip&lt;/code&gt; should automatically group and sort
124the items for the week under the cursor, moving todo items to the top.
125Finding signifier glyphs that suit your sorting preference is a fun
126exercise.&lt;/p&gt;
127&lt;h3 id="syntax-highlighting"&gt;Syntax highlighting&lt;/h3&gt;
128&lt;p&gt;Adding color to items introduces another layer of visual distinction.
129In truth, I like to deck it out just because.&lt;/p&gt;
130&lt;p&gt;First, create a few syntax groups:&lt;/p&gt;
131&lt;pre class="vim"&gt;&lt;code&gt;:syntax match JournalAll /.*/ &amp;quot; captures the entire buffer
132:syntax match JournalDone /^×.*/ &amp;quot; lines containing &amp;#39;done&amp;#39; items: ×
133:syntax match JournalTodo /^·.*/ &amp;quot; lines containing &amp;#39;todo&amp;#39; items: ·
134:syntax match JournalEvent /^o.*/ &amp;quot; lines containing &amp;#39;event&amp;#39; items: o
135:syntax match JournalNote /^- .*/ &amp;quot; lines containing &amp;#39;note&amp;#39; items: -
136:syntax match JournalMoved /^&amp;gt;.*/ &amp;quot; lines containing &amp;#39;moved&amp;#39; items: &amp;gt;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;
137&lt;p&gt;Add highlights to each group:&lt;/p&gt;
138&lt;pre class="vim"&gt;&lt;code&gt;:highlight JournalAll ctermfg=12 &amp;quot; bright black
139:highlight JournalDone ctermfg=12 &amp;quot; bright black
140:highlight JournalEvent ctermfg=6 &amp;quot; cyan
141:highlight JournalMoved ctermfg=5 &amp;quot; magenta
142:highlight JournalNote ctermfg=3 &amp;quot; yellow&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;
143&lt;p&gt;In my terminal, this is rendered like so:&lt;/p&gt;
144&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://u.peppe.rs/Du6.png"&gt;&lt;img
145src="https://u.peppe.rs/Du6.png" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
146&lt;h3 id="habit-tracking"&gt;Habit tracking&lt;/h3&gt;
147&lt;p&gt;While this is not a part of my journaling system anymore, a few
148headers and an awk script is all it takes to track habits. My weekly
149entries would include a couple of habit headers like so:&lt;/p&gt;
150&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;week 1 --------------
151
152× wake up on time
153× water the plants
154
155spend 7.5 7 10
156---------------------
157
158
159week 2 --------------
160
161· make the bed
162· go to bed
163
164spend 30 2.75 6
165---------------------&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;
166&lt;p&gt;Here, under the &lt;code&gt;spend&lt;/code&gt; header in week 1, are a list of
167expenditures accumulated over the week. The monthly spend is calculated
168with this awk script:&lt;/p&gt;
169&lt;div class="sourceCode" id="cb17"&gt;&lt;pre
170class="sourceCode awk"&gt;&lt;code class="sourceCode awk"&gt;&lt;span id="cb17-1"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb17-1" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="cf"&gt;BEGIN&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span class="op"&gt;{&lt;/span&gt;spend&lt;span class="op"&gt;=&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="dv"&gt;0&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="op"&gt;;}&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
171&lt;span id="cb17-2"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb17-2" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="ot"&gt;/&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="ss"&gt;spend&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="ot"&gt;/&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span class="op"&gt;{&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="cf"&gt;for&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="op"&gt;(&lt;/span&gt;i&lt;span class="op"&gt;=&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="dv"&gt;1&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="op"&gt;;&lt;/span&gt;i&lt;span class="op"&gt;&amp;lt;=&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="dt"&gt;$NF&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="op"&gt;;&lt;/span&gt;i&lt;span class="op"&gt;++)&lt;/span&gt; spend&lt;span class="op"&gt;+=&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="dt"&gt;$i&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="op"&gt;;}&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
172&lt;span id="cb17-3"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb17-3" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="cf"&gt;END&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span class="op"&gt;{&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span class="kw"&gt;printf&lt;/span&gt; spend &lt;span class="st"&gt;&amp;quot;eur&amp;quot;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="op"&gt;}&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
173&lt;p&gt;And invoked like so:&lt;/p&gt;
174&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;λ awk -f spend.awk journal/2023/01
17563.25eur&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;
176&lt;h3 id="reflection"&gt;Reflection&lt;/h3&gt;
177&lt;p&gt;Journaling is not just about planning what is to come, but also
178reflecting on what has passed. It would make sense to simultaneously
179look at the past few weeks’ entries while making your current one. To
180open multiple months of entries at the same time:&lt;/p&gt;
181&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;λ vim -O journal/2023/0{1,2,3}&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;
182&lt;p&gt;Opens 3 months, side-by-side, in vertical splits:&lt;/p&gt;
183&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;JANUARY ------------ │ FEBRUARY ----------- │ MARCH --------------
184 │ │
185Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su │ Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su │ Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
186 1 │ 1 2 3 4 5 │ 1 2 3 4 5
187 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 │ 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 │ 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
188 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 │ 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 │ 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
18916 17 18 19 20 21 22 │ 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 │ 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
19023 24 25 26 27 28 29 │ 27 28 │ 27 28 29 30 31
19130 31 │ │
192 │ │
193 │ │
194WEEK 1 ------------- │ WEEK 1 ------------- │ WEEK 1 -------------
195 │ │
196&amp;gt; latex setup │ &amp;gt; forex │ - weight: 64
197× make the bed │ × clean shoes │ &amp;gt; close sg-pr
198× 03: dentist │ × buy clothes │ × facewash
199× integrate tsg │ × draw │ × groceries
200 │ │
201 │ │
202WEEK 2 ------------- │ WEEK 2 ------------- │ WEEK 2 -------------
203 │ │
204× latex setup │ - viral fever │ &amp;gt; close sg-pr
205× send invoice │ × forex │ × plan meet
206× stack-graph pr │ × activate sim │ × sg storage
207 │ × bitlbee │&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;
208&lt;h3 id="reducing-friction"&gt;Reducing friction&lt;/h3&gt;
209&lt;p&gt;Journaling already requires a solid amount of discipline and
210consistency. The added friction of typing
211&lt;code&gt;vim journal/$CURRENT_YEAR/$CURRENT_MONTH&lt;/code&gt; each time is doing
212no favors.&lt;/p&gt;
213&lt;p&gt;To open the current month based on system time:&lt;/p&gt;
214&lt;div class="sourceCode" id="cb21"&gt;&lt;pre
215class="sourceCode bash"&gt;&lt;code class="sourceCode bash"&gt;&lt;span id="cb21-1"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb21-1" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="ex"&gt;λ&lt;/span&gt; vim &lt;span class="va"&gt;$(&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="fu"&gt;date&lt;/span&gt; +&lt;span class="st"&gt;&amp;quot;%Y/%m&amp;quot;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="va"&gt;)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
216&lt;p&gt;To open all the months within a 2 month window of today, is a little
217trickier. The command we wish to generate is (if today is 2023/12):&lt;/p&gt;
218&lt;div class="sourceCode" id="cb22"&gt;&lt;pre
219class="sourceCode bash"&gt;&lt;code class="sourceCode bash"&gt;&lt;span id="cb22-1"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb22-1" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="ex"&gt;λ&lt;/span&gt; vim &lt;span class="at"&gt;-O&lt;/span&gt; 2023/10 2023/11 2023/12 2024/01 2024/02&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
220&lt;p&gt;And that is where &lt;code&gt;dateseq&lt;/code&gt; from &lt;a
221href="http://www.fresse.org/dateutils"&gt;dateutils&lt;/a&gt; comes in handy, for
222example:&lt;/p&gt;
223&lt;div class="sourceCode" id="cb23"&gt;&lt;pre
224class="sourceCode bash"&gt;&lt;code class="sourceCode bash"&gt;&lt;span id="cb23-1"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb23-1" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="ex"&gt;λ&lt;/span&gt; dateseq 2012-02-01 2012-03-01&lt;/span&gt;
225&lt;span id="cb23-2"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb23-2" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="ex"&gt;2012-02-01&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
226&lt;span id="cb23-3"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb23-3" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="ex"&gt;2012-02-02&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
227&lt;span id="cb23-4"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb23-4" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="ex"&gt;2012-02-03&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
228&lt;span id="cb23-5"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb23-5" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="ex"&gt;...&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
229&lt;span id="cb23-6"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb23-6" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="ex"&gt;2012-02-28&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
230&lt;span id="cb23-7"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb23-7" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="ex"&gt;2012-02-29&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
231&lt;span id="cb23-8"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb23-8" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="ex"&gt;2012-03-01&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
232&lt;p&gt;This script opens all months within a 2 month window of today:&lt;/p&gt;
233&lt;div class="sourceCode" id="cb24"&gt;&lt;pre
234class="sourceCode bash"&gt;&lt;code class="sourceCode bash"&gt;&lt;span id="cb24-1"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb24-1" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="ex"&gt;λ&lt;/span&gt; vim &lt;span class="at"&gt;-O&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span class="va"&gt;$(&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
235&lt;span id="cb24-2"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb24-2" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;span class="ex"&gt;dateseq&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span class="dt"&gt;\&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
236&lt;span id="cb24-3"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb24-3" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;span class="st"&gt;&amp;quot;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="va"&gt;$(&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="fu"&gt;date&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span class="at"&gt;--date&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span class="st"&gt;&amp;quot;2 months ago&amp;quot;&lt;/span&gt; +%Y/%m&lt;span class="va"&gt;)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="st"&gt;&amp;quot;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span class="dt"&gt;\&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
237&lt;span id="cb24-4"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb24-4" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;span class="st"&gt;&amp;quot;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="va"&gt;$(&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="fu"&gt;date&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span class="at"&gt;--date&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span class="st"&gt;&amp;quot;2 months&amp;quot;&lt;/span&gt; +%Y/%m&lt;span class="va"&gt;)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class="st"&gt;&amp;quot;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span class="dt"&gt;\&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
238&lt;span id="cb24-5"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb24-5" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;span class="at"&gt;-i&lt;/span&gt; %Y/%m &lt;span class="dt"&gt;\&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
239&lt;span id="cb24-6"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb24-6" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;span class="at"&gt;-f&lt;/span&gt; %Y/%m&lt;/span&gt;
240&lt;span id="cb24-7"&gt;&lt;a href="#cb24-7" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="va"&gt;)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
241&lt;h3 id="fin"&gt;Fin&lt;/h3&gt;
242&lt;p&gt;You can find a sample vimrc file here: &lt;a
243href="https://git.peppe.rs/cli/journal/tree"&gt;cli/journal&lt;/a&gt;, along with
244a nix flake file to kick things off.&lt;/p&gt;
245&lt;p&gt;Plain text journaling can be just as much fun as a pen and paper.
246Throw in some ASCII art for each month, use swankier signifiers, or
247louder syntax highlighting. Don’t expect forgiveness from org-mode users
248though.&lt;/p&gt;
249&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://u.peppe.rs/ZCK.png"&gt;&lt;img
250src="https://u.peppe.rs/ZCK.png" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
251<link>https://peppe.rs/posts/plain_text_journaling/</link>
252<pubDate>Sun, 18 Jun 2023 19:40:00 +0000</pubDate>
253<guid>https://peppe.rs/posts/plain_text_journaling/</guid>
254</item>
255<item>
15<title>Curing A Case Of Git-UX</title> 256<title>Curing A Case Of Git-UX</title>
16<description>&lt;p&gt;Git worktrees are great, but they fall behind the venerable 257<description>&lt;p&gt;Git worktrees are great, but they fall behind the venerable
17&lt;code&gt;git checkout&lt;/code&gt; sometimes. I attempted to fix that with &lt;a 258&lt;code&gt;git checkout&lt;/code&gt; sometimes. I attempted to fix that with &lt;a
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27 <tr> 27 <tr>
28 <td class=table-post> 28 <td class=table-post>
29 <div class="date"> 29 <div class="date">
30 19/06 — 2023
31 </div>
32 <a href="/posts/plain_text_journaling" class="post-link">
33 <span class="post-link">Plain Text Journaling</span>
34 </a>
35 </td>
36 <td class=table-stats>
37 <span class="stats-number">
38 8.9
39 </span>
40 <span class=stats-unit>min</span>
41 </td>
42 </tr>
43
44 <tr>
45 <td class=table-post>
46 <div class="date">
30 03/09 — 2022 47 03/09 — 2022
31 </div> 48 </div>
32 <a href="/posts/curing_a_case_of_git-UX" class="post-link"> 49 <a href="/posts/curing_a_case_of_git-UX" class="post-link">
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1<!DOCTYPE html>
2<html lang="en">
3 <head>
4 <link rel="stylesheet" href="/style.css">
5 <link rel="stylesheet" href="/syntax.css">
6 <meta charset="UTF-8">
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10 <meta property="og:title" content="Plain Text Journaling">
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15 <title>Plain Text Journaling · peppe.rs</title>
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24 <a class="stats post-end-link" href="https://git.peppe.rs/web/site/plain/posts/plain_text_journaling.md
25">View Raw</a>
26 <div class="separator"></div>
27 <div class="date">
28 19/06 — 2023
29 <div class="stats">
30 <span class="stats-number">
31 138.66
32 </span>
33 <span class="stats-unit">cm</span>
34 &nbsp
35 <span class="stats-number">
36 8.9
37 </span>
38 <span class="stats-unit">min</span>
39 </div>
40 </div>
41 <h1>
42 Plain Text Journaling
43 </h1>
44 <div class="post-text">
45 <p>I cobbled together a journaling system with {neo,}vim, coreutils and
46<a href="http://www.fresse.org/dateutils">dateutils</a>. This system is
47loosely based on <a href="https://www.rydercarroll.com/">Ryder
48Caroll’s</a> Bullet Journal method.</p>
49<p><a href="https://u.peppe.rs/SpF.png"><img
50src="https://u.peppe.rs/SpF.png" /></a></p>
51<h3 id="the-format">The format</h3>
52<p>The journal for a given year is a directory:</p>
53<div class="sourceCode" id="cb1"><pre
54class="sourceCode bash"><code class="sourceCode bash"><span id="cb1-1"><a href="#cb1-1" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">λ</span> ls journal/</span>
55<span id="cb1-2"><a href="#cb1-2" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">2022/</span> 2023/</span></code></pre></div>
56<p>In each directory are 12 files, one for each month of the year,
57numbered like so:</p>
58<div class="sourceCode" id="cb2"><pre
59class="sourceCode bash"><code class="sourceCode bash"><span id="cb2-1"><a href="#cb2-1" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">λ</span> ls journal/2023/</span>
60<span id="cb2-2"><a href="#cb2-2" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">01</span> 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12</span></code></pre></div>
61<p>We can now begin writing stuff down:</p>
62<div class="sourceCode" id="cb3"><pre
63class="sourceCode bash"><code class="sourceCode bash"><span id="cb3-1"><a href="#cb3-1" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">λ</span> vim journal/2023/1</span></code></pre></div>
64<p>Every month must start with a calendar of course, fill that in
65with:</p>
66<pre class="vim"><code>:read !cal -m</code></pre>
67<p>Your entry for January might look like this:</p>
68<div class="sourceCode" id="cb5"><pre
69class="sourceCode bash"><code class="sourceCode bash"><span id="cb5-1"><a href="#cb5-1" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">λ</span> cat journal/2023/01</span>
70<span id="cb5-2"><a href="#cb5-2" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a> <span class="ex">January</span> 2023</span>
71<span id="cb5-3"><a href="#cb5-3" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">Mo</span> Tu We Th Fr Sa Su</span>
72<span id="cb5-4"><a href="#cb5-4" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a> <span class="ex">1</span></span>
73<span id="cb5-5"><a href="#cb5-5" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a> <span class="ex">2</span> 3 4 5 6 7 8</span>
74<span id="cb5-6"><a href="#cb5-6" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a> <span class="ex">9</span> 10 11 12 13 14 15</span>
75<span id="cb5-7"><a href="#cb5-7" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">16</span> 17 18 19 20 21 22</span>
76<span id="cb5-8"><a href="#cb5-8" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">23</span> 24 25 26 27 28 29</span>
77<span id="cb5-9"><a href="#cb5-9" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">30</span> 31</span></code></pre></div>
78<p>I prefer planning week by week, as opposed to creating a task-list
79every day, here’s what I have for the first couple of weeks:</p>
80<pre><code> January 2023
81Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
82 1
83 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
84 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
8516 17 18 19 20 21 22
8623 24 25 26 27 28 29
8730 31
88
89
90week 1
91
92done apply leaves
93done dload boarding pass
94moved reply to dan
95
96
97week 2
98
99todo reply to dan
100todo pack bags
101done travel insurance
102todo weigh luggage</code></pre>
103<p>I start the week by writing a header and each item that week is
104placed on its own line. The items are prefixed with a <code>todo</code>
105or a <code>done</code> signifier.</p>
106<h3 id="form-over-function">Form over function</h3>
107<p>Right off the bat, the signifiers look very noisy, Even more so once
108we start introducing variety (I use “event”, “note” and “moved”):</p>
109<pre><code>week 1
110
111todo apply leaves
112done dload boarding pass
113todo reply to dan
114event fr trip
115note weight 68.6</code></pre>
116<p>We can clean this up with “abbreviations”
117(<code>:h abbreviations</code>):</p>
118<pre class="vim"><code>:iabbrev todo ·
119:iabbrev done ×</code></pre>
120<p>Now, typing this:</p>
121<pre><code>todo apply leaves</code></pre>
122<p>Automatically inserts:</p>
123<pre><code>· apply leaves</code></pre>
124<p>You can use <code>x</code> and <code>o</code> as well, but
125<code>×</code> (U+00D7, MULTIPLICATION SIGN) and <code>·</code> (U+00B7,
126MIDDLE DOT) are more … <em>gourmet</em>.</p>
127<p>The other signifiers I use are:</p>
128<ul>
129<li><code>-</code> for note</li>
130<li><code>o</code> for event</li>
131<li><code>&gt;</code> for moved.</li>
132</ul>
133<p>Nit #2 is the lack of order. We can employ vim to introduce grouping
134and sorting. Select the list of entries for this week:</p>
135<pre class="vim"><code>vip &quot; line-wise select inner paragraph
136:&#39;&lt;,&#39;&gt;sort &quot; the markers &#39;&lt; and &#39;&gt; are automatically inserted,
137 &quot; they mark the start and end of the selection</code></pre>
138<p>We end up with:</p>
139<pre><code>week 1
140
141· apply leaves
142· reply to dan
143× dload boarding pass</code></pre>
144<p>The lines are grouped by their signifiers, segregating todo items
145from completed items. Luckily, MIDDLE DOT is lesser than MULTIPLICATION
146SIGN, so todo items are placed at the top. The same goes for
147<code>o</code> and <code>x</code> symbols, either set of signifiers will
148result in the same sorting order.</p>
149<p>We can shorten this select-paragraph-invoke-sort dance by setting the
150<code>formatprg</code> variable:</p>
151<pre class="vim"><code>:set formatprg=sort\ -V</code></pre>
152<p>Now, hitting <code>gqip</code> should automatically group and sort
153the items for the week under the cursor, moving todo items to the top.
154Finding signifier glyphs that suit your sorting preference is a fun
155exercise.</p>
156<h3 id="syntax-highlighting">Syntax highlighting</h3>
157<p>Adding color to items introduces another layer of visual distinction.
158In truth, I like to deck it out just because.</p>
159<p>First, create a few syntax groups:</p>
160<pre class="vim"><code>:syntax match JournalAll /.*/ &quot; captures the entire buffer
161:syntax match JournalDone /^×.*/ &quot; lines containing &#39;done&#39; items: ×
162:syntax match JournalTodo /^·.*/ &quot; lines containing &#39;todo&#39; items: ·
163:syntax match JournalEvent /^o.*/ &quot; lines containing &#39;event&#39; items: o
164:syntax match JournalNote /^- .*/ &quot; lines containing &#39;note&#39; items: -
165:syntax match JournalMoved /^&gt;.*/ &quot; lines containing &#39;moved&#39; items: &gt;</code></pre>
166<p>Add highlights to each group:</p>
167<pre class="vim"><code>:highlight JournalAll ctermfg=12 &quot; bright black
168:highlight JournalDone ctermfg=12 &quot; bright black
169:highlight JournalEvent ctermfg=6 &quot; cyan
170:highlight JournalMoved ctermfg=5 &quot; magenta
171:highlight JournalNote ctermfg=3 &quot; yellow</code></pre>
172<p>In my terminal, this is rendered like so:</p>
173<p><a href="https://u.peppe.rs/Du6.png"><img
174src="https://u.peppe.rs/Du6.png" /></a></p>
175<h3 id="habit-tracking">Habit tracking</h3>
176<p>While this is not a part of my journaling system anymore, a few
177headers and an awk script is all it takes to track habits. My weekly
178entries would include a couple of habit headers like so:</p>
179<pre><code>week 1 --------------
180
181× wake up on time
182× water the plants
183
184spend 7.5 7 10
185---------------------
186
187
188week 2 --------------
189
190· make the bed
191· go to bed
192
193spend 30 2.75 6
194---------------------</code></pre>
195<p>Here, under the <code>spend</code> header in week 1, are a list of
196expenditures accumulated over the week. The monthly spend is calculated
197with this awk script:</p>
198<div class="sourceCode" id="cb17"><pre
199class="sourceCode awk"><code class="sourceCode awk"><span id="cb17-1"><a href="#cb17-1" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="cf">BEGIN</span> <span class="op">{</span>spend<span class="op">=</span><span class="dv">0</span><span class="op">;}</span></span>
200<span id="cb17-2"><a href="#cb17-2" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ot">/</span><span class="ss">spend</span><span class="ot">/</span> <span class="op">{</span><span class="cf">for</span><span class="op">(</span>i<span class="op">=</span><span class="dv">1</span><span class="op">;</span>i<span class="op">&lt;=</span><span class="dt">$NF</span><span class="op">;</span>i<span class="op">++)</span> spend<span class="op">+=</span><span class="dt">$i</span><span class="op">;}</span></span>
201<span id="cb17-3"><a href="#cb17-3" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="cf">END</span> <span class="op">{</span> <span class="kw">printf</span> spend <span class="st">&quot;eur&quot;</span><span class="op">}</span></span></code></pre></div>
202<p>And invoked like so:</p>
203<pre><code>λ awk -f spend.awk journal/2023/01
20463.25eur</code></pre>
205<h3 id="reflection">Reflection</h3>
206<p>Journaling is not just about planning what is to come, but also
207reflecting on what has passed. It would make sense to simultaneously
208look at the past few weeks’ entries while making your current one. To
209open multiple months of entries at the same time:</p>
210<pre><code>λ vim -O journal/2023/0{1,2,3}</code></pre>
211<p>Opens 3 months, side-by-side, in vertical splits:</p>
212<pre><code>JANUARY ------------ │ FEBRUARY ----------- │ MARCH --------------
213 │ │
214Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su │ Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su │ Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
215 1 │ 1 2 3 4 5 │ 1 2 3 4 5
216 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 │ 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 │ 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
217 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 │ 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 │ 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
21816 17 18 19 20 21 22 │ 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 │ 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
21923 24 25 26 27 28 29 │ 27 28 │ 27 28 29 30 31
22030 31 │ │
221 │ │
222 │ │
223WEEK 1 ------------- │ WEEK 1 ------------- │ WEEK 1 -------------
224 │ │
225&gt; latex setup │ &gt; forex │ - weight: 64
226× make the bed │ × clean shoes │ &gt; close sg-pr
227× 03: dentist │ × buy clothes │ × facewash
228× integrate tsg │ × draw │ × groceries
229 │ │
230 │ │
231WEEK 2 ------------- │ WEEK 2 ------------- │ WEEK 2 -------------
232 │ │
233× latex setup │ - viral fever │ &gt; close sg-pr
234× send invoice │ × forex │ × plan meet
235× stack-graph pr │ × activate sim │ × sg storage
236 │ × bitlbee │</code></pre>
237<h3 id="reducing-friction">Reducing friction</h3>
238<p>Journaling already requires a solid amount of discipline and
239consistency. The added friction of typing
240<code>vim journal/$CURRENT_YEAR/$CURRENT_MONTH</code> each time is doing
241no favors.</p>
242<p>To open the current month based on system time:</p>
243<div class="sourceCode" id="cb21"><pre
244class="sourceCode bash"><code class="sourceCode bash"><span id="cb21-1"><a href="#cb21-1" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">λ</span> vim <span class="va">$(</span><span class="fu">date</span> +<span class="st">&quot;%Y/%m&quot;</span><span class="va">)</span></span></code></pre></div>
245<p>To open all the months within a 2 month window of today, is a little
246trickier. The command we wish to generate is (if today is 2023/12):</p>
247<div class="sourceCode" id="cb22"><pre
248class="sourceCode bash"><code class="sourceCode bash"><span id="cb22-1"><a href="#cb22-1" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">λ</span> vim <span class="at">-O</span> 2023/10 2023/11 2023/12 2024/01 2024/02</span></code></pre></div>
249<p>And that is where <code>dateseq</code> from <a
250href="http://www.fresse.org/dateutils">dateutils</a> comes in handy, for
251example:</p>
252<div class="sourceCode" id="cb23"><pre
253class="sourceCode bash"><code class="sourceCode bash"><span id="cb23-1"><a href="#cb23-1" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">λ</span> dateseq 2012-02-01 2012-03-01</span>
254<span id="cb23-2"><a href="#cb23-2" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">2012-02-01</span></span>
255<span id="cb23-3"><a href="#cb23-3" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">2012-02-02</span></span>
256<span id="cb23-4"><a href="#cb23-4" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">2012-02-03</span></span>
257<span id="cb23-5"><a href="#cb23-5" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">...</span></span>
258<span id="cb23-6"><a href="#cb23-6" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">2012-02-28</span></span>
259<span id="cb23-7"><a href="#cb23-7" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">2012-02-29</span></span>
260<span id="cb23-8"><a href="#cb23-8" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">2012-03-01</span></span></code></pre></div>
261<p>This script opens all months within a 2 month window of today:</p>
262<div class="sourceCode" id="cb24"><pre
263class="sourceCode bash"><code class="sourceCode bash"><span id="cb24-1"><a href="#cb24-1" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">λ</span> vim <span class="at">-O</span> <span class="va">$(</span></span>
264<span id="cb24-2"><a href="#cb24-2" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a> <span class="ex">dateseq</span> <span class="dt">\</span></span>
265<span id="cb24-3"><a href="#cb24-3" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a> <span class="st">&quot;</span><span class="va">$(</span><span class="fu">date</span> <span class="at">--date</span> <span class="st">&quot;2 months ago&quot;</span> +%Y/%m<span class="va">)</span><span class="st">&quot;</span> <span class="dt">\</span></span>
266<span id="cb24-4"><a href="#cb24-4" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a> <span class="st">&quot;</span><span class="va">$(</span><span class="fu">date</span> <span class="at">--date</span> <span class="st">&quot;2 months&quot;</span> +%Y/%m<span class="va">)</span><span class="st">&quot;</span> <span class="dt">\</span></span>
267<span id="cb24-5"><a href="#cb24-5" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a> <span class="at">-i</span> %Y/%m <span class="dt">\</span></span>
268<span id="cb24-6"><a href="#cb24-6" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a> <span class="at">-f</span> %Y/%m</span>
269<span id="cb24-7"><a href="#cb24-7" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="va">)</span></span></code></pre></div>
270<h3 id="fin">Fin</h3>
271<p>You can find a sample vimrc file here: <a
272href="https://git.peppe.rs/cli/journal/tree">cli/journal</a>, along with
273a nix flake file to kick things off.</p>
274<p>Plain text journaling can be just as much fun as a pen and paper.
275Throw in some ASCII art for each month, use swankier signifiers, or
276louder syntax highlighting. Don’t expect forgiveness from org-mode users
277though.</p>
278<p><a href="https://u.peppe.rs/ZCK.png"><img
279src="https://u.peppe.rs/ZCK.png" /></a></p>
280
281 </div>
282
283 <div class="intro">
284 Hi.
285 <div class="hot-links">
286 <a href="https://peppe.rs/index.xml" class="feed-button">Subscribe</a>
287 </div>
288 <p>I'm Akshay, programmer and pixel-artist.</p>
289 <p>
290 I write <a href="https://git.peppe.rs">open-source stuff</a> to pass time.
291 I also design fonts:
292 <a href="https://git.peppe.rs/fonts/scientifica/about">scientifica</a>,
293 <a href="https://git.peppe.rs/fonts/curie/about">curie</a>.
294 </p>
295 <p>Send me a mail at [email protected] or a message at [email protected].</p>
296 </div>
297
298 <a href="/" class="post-end-link">Home</a>
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302 <a class="post-end-link">Plain Text Journaling</a>
303 <a class="stats post-end-link" href="https://git.peppe.rs/web/site/plain/posts/plain_text_journaling.md
304">View Raw</a>
305 </div>
306 </div>
307 </body>
308</html>
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1I cobbled together a journaling system with {neo,}vim,
2coreutils and [dateutils](http://www.fresse.org/dateutils).
3This system is loosely based on [Ryder
4Caroll's](https://www.rydercarroll.com/) Bullet Journal
5method.
6
7[![](https://u.peppe.rs/SpF.png)](https://u.peppe.rs/SpF.png)
8
9### The format
10
11The journal for a given year is a directory:
12
13```bash
14λ ls journal/
152022/ 2023/
16```
17
18In each directory are 12 files, one for each month of the
19year, numbered like so:
20
21```bash
22λ ls journal/2023/
2301 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
24```
25
26We can now begin writing stuff down:
27
28```bash
29λ vim journal/2023/1
30```
31
32Every month must start with a calendar of course, fill that
33in with:
34
35```vim
36:read !cal -m
37```
38
39Your entry for January might look like this:
40
41```bash
42λ cat journal/2023/01
43 January 2023
44Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
45 1
46 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
47 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
4816 17 18 19 20 21 22
4923 24 25 26 27 28 29
5030 31
51```
52
53I prefer planning week by week, as opposed to creating a
54task-list every day, here's what I have for the first couple
55of weeks:
56
57```
58 January 2023
59Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
60 1
61 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
62 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
6316 17 18 19 20 21 22
6423 24 25 26 27 28 29
6530 31
66
67
68week 1
69
70done apply leaves
71done dload boarding pass
72moved reply to dan
73
74
75week 2
76
77todo reply to dan
78todo pack bags
79done travel insurance
80todo weigh luggage
81```
82
83I start the week by writing a header and each item that week
84is placed on its own line. The items are prefixed with a
85`todo` or a `done` signifier.
86
87
88### Form over function
89
90Right off the bat, the signifiers look very noisy, Even more
91so once we start introducing variety (I use "event", "note"
92and "moved"):
93
94```
95week 1
96
97todo apply leaves
98done dload boarding pass
99todo reply to dan
100event fr trip
101note weight 68.6
102```
103
104We can clean this up with "abbreviations" (`:h abbreviations`):
105
106```vim
107:iabbrev todo ·
108:iabbrev done ×
109```
110
111Now, typing this:
112
113```
114todo apply leaves
115```
116
117Automatically inserts:
118
119```
120· apply leaves
121```
122
123You can use `x` and `o` as well, but `×` (U+00D7,
124MULTIPLICATION SIGN) and `·` (U+00B7, MIDDLE DOT) are more
125... *gourmet*.
126
127The other signifiers I use are:
128
129- `-` for note
130- `o` for event
131- `>` for moved.
132
133Nit #2 is the lack of order. We can employ vim to introduce
134grouping and sorting. Select the list of entries for this
135week:
136
137```vim
138vip " line-wise select inner paragraph
139:'<,'>sort " the markers '< and '> are automatically inserted,
140 " they mark the start and end of the selection
141```
142
143We end up with:
144
145```
146week 1
147
148· apply leaves
149· reply to dan
150× dload boarding pass
151```
152
153The lines are grouped by their signifiers, segregating todo
154items from completed items. Luckily, MIDDLE DOT is lesser
155than MULTIPLICATION SIGN, so todo items are placed at the
156top. The same goes for `o` and `x` symbols, either set of
157signifiers will result in the same sorting order.
158
159We can shorten this select-paragraph-invoke-sort dance by
160setting the `formatprg` variable:
161
162```vim
163:set formatprg=sort\ -V
164```
165
166Now, hitting `gqip` should automatically group and sort the
167items for the week under the cursor, moving todo items to
168the top. Finding signifier glyphs that suit your sorting
169preference is a fun exercise.
170
171### Syntax highlighting
172
173Adding color to items introduces another layer of visual
174distinction. In truth, I like to deck it out just because.
175
176First, create a few syntax groups:
177
178```vim
179:syntax match JournalAll /.*/ " captures the entire buffer
180:syntax match JournalDone /^×.*/ " lines containing 'done' items: ×
181:syntax match JournalTodo /^·.*/ " lines containing 'todo' items: ·
182:syntax match JournalEvent /^o.*/ " lines containing 'event' items: o
183:syntax match JournalNote /^- .*/ " lines containing 'note' items: -
184:syntax match JournalMoved /^>.*/ " lines containing 'moved' items: >
185```
186
187Add highlights to each group:
188
189```vim
190:highlight JournalAll ctermfg=12 " bright black
191:highlight JournalDone ctermfg=12 " bright black
192:highlight JournalEvent ctermfg=6 " cyan
193:highlight JournalMoved ctermfg=5 " magenta
194:highlight JournalNote ctermfg=3 " yellow
195```
196
197In my terminal, this is rendered like so:
198
199[![](https://u.peppe.rs/Du6.png)](https://u.peppe.rs/Du6.png)
200
201### Habit tracking
202
203While this is not a part of my journaling system anymore, a
204few headers and an awk script is all it takes to track
205habits. My weekly entries would include a couple of habit
206headers like so:
207
208```
209week 1 --------------
210
211× wake up on time
212× water the plants
213
214spend 7.5 7 10
215---------------------
216
217
218week 2 --------------
219
220· make the bed
221· go to bed
222
223spend 30 2.75 6
224---------------------
225```
226
227Here, under the `spend` header in week 1, are a list of
228expenditures accumulated over the week. The monthly spend is
229calculated with this awk script:
230
231```awk
232BEGIN {spend=0;}
233/spend/ {for(i=1;i<=$NF;i++) spend+=$i;}
234END { printf spend "eur"}
235```
236
237And invoked like so:
238
239```
240λ awk -f spend.awk journal/2023/01
24163.25eur
242```
243
244### Reflection
245
246Journaling is not just about planning what is to come, but
247also reflecting on what has passed. It would make sense to
248simultaneously look at the past few weeks' entries while
249making your current one. To open multiple months of entries
250at the same time:
251
252```
253λ vim -O journal/2023/0{1,2,3}
254```
255
256Opens 3 months, side-by-side, in vertical splits:
257
258```
259JANUARY ------------ │ FEBRUARY ----------- │ MARCH --------------
260 │ │
261Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su │ Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su │ Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
262 1 │ 1 2 3 4 5 │ 1 2 3 4 5
263 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 │ 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 │ 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
264 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 │ 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 │ 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
26516 17 18 19 20 21 22 │ 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 │ 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
26623 24 25 26 27 28 29 │ 27 28 │ 27 28 29 30 31
26730 31 │ │
268 │ │
269 │ │
270WEEK 1 ------------- │ WEEK 1 ------------- │ WEEK 1 -------------
271 │ │
272> latex setup │ > forex │ - weight: 64
273× make the bed │ × clean shoes │ > close sg-pr
274× 03: dentist │ × buy clothes │ × facewash
275× integrate tsg │ × draw │ × groceries
276 │ │
277 │ │
278WEEK 2 ------------- │ WEEK 2 ------------- │ WEEK 2 -------------
279 │ │
280× latex setup │ - viral fever │ > close sg-pr
281× send invoice │ × forex │ × plan meet
282× stack-graph pr │ × activate sim │ × sg storage
283 │ × bitlbee │
284```
285
286### Reducing friction
287
288Journaling already requires a solid amount of discipline and
289consistency. The added friction of typing `vim
290journal/$CURRENT_YEAR/$CURRENT_MONTH` each time is doing no
291favors.
292
293To open the current month based on system time:
294
295```bash
296λ vim $(date +"%Y/%m")
297```
298
299To open all the months within a 2 month window of today, is
300a little trickier. The command we wish to generate is (if
301today is 2023/12):
302
303```bash
304λ vim -O 2023/10 2023/11 2023/12 2024/01 2024/02
305```
306
307And that is where `dateseq` from
308[dateutils](http://www.fresse.org/dateutils) comes in handy,
309for example:
310
311```bash
312λ dateseq 2012-02-01 2012-03-01
3132012-02-01
3142012-02-02
3152012-02-03
316...
3172012-02-28
3182012-02-29
3192012-03-01
320```
321
322This script opens all months within a 2 month window of
323today:
324
325```bash
326λ vim -O $(
327 dateseq \
328 "$(date --date "2 months ago" +%Y/%m)" \
329 "$(date --date "2 months" +%Y/%m)" \
330 -i %Y/%m \
331 -f %Y/%m
332)
333```
334
335
336### Fin
337
338You can find a sample vimrc file here:
339[cli/journal](https://git.peppe.rs/cli/journal/tree), along
340with a nix flake file to kick things off.
341
342Plain text journaling can be just as much fun as a pen and
343paper. Throw in some ASCII art for each month, use swankier
344signifiers, or louder syntax highlighting. Don't expect
345forgiveness from org-mode users though.
346
347[![](https://u.peppe.rs/ZCK.png)](https://u.peppe.rs/ZCK.png)
generated by cgit v1.2.3 (git 2.25.1) at 2024-12-25 06:34:18 +0000