aboutsummaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/docs/posts/plain_text_journaling/index.html
blob: 1ef90111dd0f8d90220aa8122b031a578f4362df (plain)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="/style.css">
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="/syntax.css">
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="initial-scale=1">
    <meta content="#ffffff" name="theme-color">
    <meta name="HandheldFriendly" content="true">
    <meta property="og:title" content="Plain Text Journaling">
    <meta property="og:type" content="website">
    <meta property="og:description" content="a static site {for, by, about} me ">
    <meta property="og:url" content="https://peppe.rs">
    <link rel="icon" type="image/x-icon" href="/favicon.png">
    <title>Plain Text Journaling · peppe.rs</title>
    <body>
      <div class="posts">
        <div class="post">
          <a href="/" class="post-end-link">Home</a>
          <span>/</span>
          <a href="/posts" class="post-end-link">Posts</a>
          <span>/</span>
          <a class="post-end-link">Plain Text Journaling</a>
          <a class="stats post-end-link" href="https://git.peppe.rs/web/site/plain/posts/plain_text_journaling.md
">View Raw</a>
          <div class="separator"></div>
          <div class="date">
            19/06 — 2023
            <div class="stats">
              <span class="stats-number">
                138.66
              </span>
              <span class="stats-unit">cm</span>
              &nbsp
              <span class="stats-number">
                8.9
              </span>
              <span class="stats-unit">min</span>
            </div>
          </div>
          <h1>
            Plain Text Journaling
          </h1>
          <div class="post-text">
            <p>I cobbled together a journaling system with {neo,}vim, coreutils and
<a href="http://www.fresse.org/dateutils">dateutils</a>. This system is
loosely based on <a href="https://www.rydercarroll.com/">Ryder
Caroll’s</a> Bullet Journal method.</p>
<p><a href="https://u.peppe.rs/SpF.png"><img
src="https://u.peppe.rs/SpF.png" /></a></p>
<h3 id="the-format">The format</h3>
<p>The journal for a given year is a directory:</p>
<div class="sourceCode" id="cb1"><pre
class="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>
<span id="cb1-2"><a href="#cb1-2" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">2022/</span>   2023/</span></code></pre></div>
<p>In each directory are 12 files, one for each month of the year,
numbered like so:</p>
<div class="sourceCode" id="cb2"><pre
class="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>
<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>
<p>We can now begin writing stuff down:</p>
<div class="sourceCode" id="cb3"><pre
class="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>
<p>Every month must start with a calendar of course, fill that in
with:</p>
<pre class="vim"><code>:read !cal -m</code></pre>
<p>Your entry for January might look like this:</p>
<div class="sourceCode" id="cb5"><pre
class="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>
<span id="cb5-2"><a href="#cb5-2" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a>    <span class="ex">January</span> 2023</span>
<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>
<span id="cb5-4"><a href="#cb5-4" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a>                   <span class="ex">1</span></span>
<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>
<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>
<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>
<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>
<span id="cb5-9"><a href="#cb5-9" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">30</span> 31</span></code></pre></div>
<p>I prefer planning week by week, as opposed to creating a task-list
every day, here’s what I have for the first couple of weeks:</p>
<pre><code>    January 2023
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
                   1
 2  3  4  5  6  7  8
 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30 31


week 1

done apply leaves
done dload boarding pass
moved reply to dan


week 2

todo reply to dan
todo pack bags
done travel insurance
todo weigh luggage</code></pre>
<p>I start the week by writing a header and each item that week is
placed on its own line. The items are prefixed with a <code>todo</code>
or a <code>done</code> signifier.</p>
<h3 id="form-over-function">Form over function</h3>
<p>Right off the bat, the signifiers look very noisy, Even more so once
we start introducing variety (I use “event”, “note” and “moved”):</p>
<pre><code>week 1

todo apply leaves
done dload boarding pass
todo reply to dan
event fr trip
note weight 68.6</code></pre>
<p>We can clean this up with “abbreviations”
(<code>:h abbreviations</code>):</p>
<pre class="vim"><code>:iabbrev todo ·
:iabbrev done ×</code></pre>
<p>Now, typing this:</p>
<pre><code>todo apply leaves</code></pre>
<p>Automatically inserts:</p>
<pre><code>· apply leaves</code></pre>
<p>You can use <code>x</code> and <code>o</code> as well, but
<code>×</code> (U+00D7, MULTIPLICATION SIGN) and <code>·</code> (U+00B7,
MIDDLE DOT) are more … <em>gourmet</em>.</p>
<p>The other signifiers I use are:</p>
<ul>
<li><code>-</code> for note</li>
<li><code>o</code> for event</li>
<li><code>&gt;</code> for moved.</li>
</ul>
<p>Nit #2 is the lack of order. We can employ vim to introduce grouping
and sorting. Select the list of entries for this week:</p>
<pre class="vim"><code>vip         &quot; line-wise select inner paragraph
:&#39;&lt;,&#39;&gt;sort  &quot; the markers &#39;&lt; and &#39;&gt; are automatically inserted,
            &quot; they mark the start and end of the selection</code></pre>
<p>We end up with:</p>
<pre><code>week 1

· apply leaves
· reply to dan
× dload boarding pass</code></pre>
<p>The lines are grouped by their signifiers, segregating todo items
from completed items. Luckily, MIDDLE DOT is lesser than MULTIPLICATION
SIGN, so todo items are placed at the top. The same goes for
<code>o</code> and <code>x</code> symbols, either set of signifiers will
result in the same sorting order.</p>
<p>We can shorten this select-paragraph-invoke-sort dance by setting the
<code>formatprg</code> variable:</p>
<pre class="vim"><code>:set formatprg=sort\ -V</code></pre>
<p>Now, hitting <code>gqip</code> should automatically group and sort
the items for the week under the cursor, moving todo items to the top.
Finding signifier glyphs that suit your sorting preference is a fun
exercise.</p>
<h3 id="syntax-highlighting">Syntax highlighting</h3>
<p>Adding color to items introduces another layer of visual distinction.
In truth, I like to deck it out just because.</p>
<p>First, create a few syntax groups:</p>
<pre class="vim"><code>:syntax match JournalAll /.*/        &quot; captures the entire buffer
:syntax match JournalDone /^×.*/     &quot; lines containing &#39;done&#39;  items: ×
:syntax match JournalTodo /^·.*/     &quot; lines containing &#39;todo&#39;  items: ·
:syntax match JournalEvent /^o.*/    &quot; lines containing &#39;event&#39; items: o
:syntax match JournalNote /^- .*/    &quot; lines containing &#39;note&#39;  items: -
:syntax match JournalMoved /^&gt;.*/    &quot; lines containing &#39;moved&#39; items: &gt;</code></pre>
<p>Add highlights to each group:</p>
<pre class="vim"><code>:highlight JournalAll    ctermfg=12   &quot; bright black
:highlight JournalDone   ctermfg=12   &quot; bright black
:highlight JournalEvent  ctermfg=6    &quot; cyan
:highlight JournalMoved  ctermfg=5    &quot; magenta
:highlight JournalNote   ctermfg=3    &quot; yellow</code></pre>
<p>In my terminal, this is rendered like so:</p>
<p><a href="https://u.peppe.rs/Du6.png"><img
src="https://u.peppe.rs/Du6.png" /></a></p>
<h3 id="habit-tracking">Habit tracking</h3>
<p>While this is not a part of my journaling system anymore, a few
headers and an awk script is all it takes to track habits. My weekly
entries would include a couple of habit headers like so:</p>
<pre><code>week 1 --------------

× wake up on time
× water the plants

spend 7.5 7 10
---------------------


week 2 --------------

· make the bed
· go to bed

spend 30 2.75 6
---------------------</code></pre>
<p>Here, under the <code>spend</code> header in week 1, are a list of
expenditures accumulated over the week. The monthly spend is calculated
with this awk script:</p>
<div class="sourceCode" id="cb17"><pre
class="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>
<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>
<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>
<p>And invoked like so:</p>
<pre><code>λ awk -f spend.awk journal/2023/01
63.25eur</code></pre>
<h3 id="reflection">Reflection</h3>
<p>Journaling is not just about planning what is to come, but also
reflecting on what has passed. It would make sense to simultaneously
look at the past few weeks’ entries while making your current one. To
open multiple months of entries at the same time:</p>
<pre><code>λ vim -O journal/2023/0{1,2,3}</code></pre>
<p>Opens 3 months, side-by-side, in vertical splits:</p>
<pre><code>JANUARY ------------  │  FEBRUARY -----------  │  MARCH --------------
                      │                        │
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su  │  Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su  │  Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
                   1  │         1  2  3  4  5  │         1  2  3  4  5
 2  3  4  5  6  7  8  │   6  7  8  9 10 11 12  │   6  7  8  9 10 11 12
 9 10 11 12 13 14 15  │  13 14 15 16 17 18 19  │  13 14 15 16 17 18 19
16 17 18 19 20 21 22  │  20 21 22 23 24 25 26  │  20 21 22 23 24 25 26
23 24 25 26 27 28 29  │  27 28                 │  27 28 29 30 31
30 31                 │                        │
                      │                        │
                      │                        │
WEEK 1 -------------  │  WEEK 1 -------------  │  WEEK 1 -------------
                      │                        │
&gt; latex setup         │  &gt; forex               │  - weight: 64
× make the bed        │  × clean shoes         │  &gt; close sg-pr
× 03: dentist         │  × buy clothes         │  × facewash
× integrate tsg       │  × draw                │  × groceries
                      │                        │
                      │                        │
WEEK 2 -------------  │  WEEK 2 -------------  │  WEEK 2 -------------
                      │                        │
× latex setup         │  - viral fever         │  &gt; close sg-pr
× send invoice        │  × forex               │  × plan meet
× stack-graph pr      │  × activate sim        │  × sg storage
                      │  × bitlbee             │</code></pre>
<h3 id="reducing-friction">Reducing friction</h3>
<p>Journaling already requires a solid amount of discipline and
consistency. The added friction of typing
<code>vim journal/$CURRENT_YEAR/$CURRENT_MONTH</code> each time is doing
no favors.</p>
<p>To open the current month based on system time:</p>
<div class="sourceCode" id="cb21"><pre
class="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>
<p>To open all the months within a 2 month window of today, is a little
trickier. The command we wish to generate is (if today is 2023/12):</p>
<div class="sourceCode" id="cb22"><pre
class="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>
<p>And that is where <code>dateseq</code> from <a
href="http://www.fresse.org/dateutils">dateutils</a> comes in handy, for
example:</p>
<div class="sourceCode" id="cb23"><pre
class="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>
<span id="cb23-2"><a href="#cb23-2" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">2012-02-01</span></span>
<span id="cb23-3"><a href="#cb23-3" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">2012-02-02</span></span>
<span id="cb23-4"><a href="#cb23-4" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">2012-02-03</span></span>
<span id="cb23-5"><a href="#cb23-5" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">...</span></span>
<span id="cb23-6"><a href="#cb23-6" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">2012-02-28</span></span>
<span id="cb23-7"><a href="#cb23-7" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">2012-02-29</span></span>
<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>
<p>This script opens all months within a 2 month window of today:</p>
<div class="sourceCode" id="cb24"><pre
class="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>
<span id="cb24-2"><a href="#cb24-2" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a>  <span class="ex">dateseq</span> <span class="dt">\</span></span>
<span id="cb24-3"><a href="#cb24-3" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a>      <span class="st">&quot;</span><span class="va">$(</span><span class="fu">date</span> <span class="at">--date</span> <span class="st">&quot;2 months ago&quot;</span> +%Y/%m<span class="va">)</span><span class="st">&quot;</span> <span class="dt">\</span></span>
<span id="cb24-4"><a href="#cb24-4" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a>      <span class="st">&quot;</span><span class="va">$(</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>
<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>
<span id="cb24-6"><a href="#cb24-6" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a>      <span class="at">-f</span> %Y/%m</span>
<span id="cb24-7"><a href="#cb24-7" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="va">)</span></span></code></pre></div>
<h3 id="fin">Fin</h3>
<p>You can find a sample vimrc file here: <a
href="https://git.peppe.rs/cli/journal/tree">cli/journal</a>, along with
a nix flake file to kick things off.</p>
<p>Plain text journaling can be just as much fun as a pen and paper.
Throw in some ASCII art for each month, use swankier signifiers, or
louder syntax highlighting. Don’t expect forgiveness from org-mode users
though.</p>
<p><a href="https://u.peppe.rs/ZCK.png"><img
src="https://u.peppe.rs/ZCK.png" /></a></p>

          </div>
          
    <div class="intro">
        Hi. 
        <div class="hot-links">
            <a href="https://peppe.rs/index.xml" class="feed-button">Subscribe</a>
        </div>
        <p>I'm Akshay, programmer and pixel-artist.</p>
        <p>
        I write <a href="https://git.peppe.rs">open-source stuff</a> to pass time. 
        I also design fonts: 
        <a href="https://git.peppe.rs/fonts/scientifica/about">scientifica</a>, 
        <a href="https://git.peppe.rs/fonts/curie/about">curie</a>.
        </p>
        <p>Send me a mail at [email protected] or a message at [email protected].</p>
    </div>
    
          <a href="/" class="post-end-link">Home</a>
          <span>/</span>
          <a href="/posts" class="post-end-link">Posts</a>
          <span>/</span>
          <a class="post-end-link">Plain Text Journaling</a>
          <a class="stats post-end-link" href="https://git.peppe.rs/web/site/plain/posts/plain_text_journaling.md
">View Raw</a>
        </div>
      </div>
    </body>
</html>