diary

All the fonts

The diary program I use for my journaling is Diarium (yes, I’ve talked about its unfortunate name before). It’s available on pretty much every platform, save Linux (and web). Unlike many people, I don’t write in the diary on my mobile devices, so I’m usually using the Windows or Mac version. Both have slight differences in UI, but generally work the same.

One key difference is fonts. The Windows version lets you use any font you want. I am using the new MS Office font, Aptos, because I like the way it looks. The Mac version only offers a small subset of fonts and I have no idea if this is just the default setup for any Mac program and easier to program or what, because other apps, such as Affinity Designer, will show you all fonts.

My point, though, is that when a program gives me a choice of fonts, I want access to every font available. If I want to write my journal in Papyrus or Comic Sans, let me! The Mac version of Diarium won’t let me and it makes me sad. 🙁 (I would use Aptos there, too.)

Anyway, this is my plea to app-creating wizards and gnomes: Always let the users choose from any fonts they have installed. It’s the nice thing to do. Also, make a Linux version, or at least make the Windows version behave nicely under Linux.

That is all.

I started a diary

Last month I decided to start keeping a diary, or journal, if you prefer. I’m using the Diarium app, mainly because it is cross-platform and can sync across OneDrive, so I can pour out my soul from any convenient device! I could have used an actual paper version, but paper is for the Amish. I’m all about the tech, baby.

I still think Diarium sounds way too close to diarrhea, but the best name, Day One, was already taken.

So far I have managed to write something every day for the past 21 days (including today), which technically means I’ve made it a habit. Go me. Most of it has been nonsense and I’m still trying to figure out what to put there vs. what to put here, on the blog.

I’m also thinking of changing the blog in some big ways. See below!

Possible Big Ideas for This Blog:

  • A new name and URL. No more creolened.com, since what does it even mean, anyway?
  • Splitting off the run/fitness stuff because, really, no one else should or would care about this. This might be more useful in the actual diary, perhaps as dedicated entries.
  • And so forth.

Anyway, I’ll follow up on the diary stuff soonish. I may even switch to a different app (Journey, Obsidian, etc.), who knows? I am unpredictable as all get out.

Dear Diary (no, just kidding)

I occasionally toy with the idea of starting a journal again. While this blog mostly serves that purpose, there are things that I don’t really want or need to discuss publicly (ie. here), but might be helpful to write down somewhere. It’s kind of like how I make shopping lists, but wouldn’t post them publicly because who cares about my shopping lists?

Shopping lists will suddenly become a thing now.

I have the Day One app and despite some quibbles with it, it functions fine as an actual journal, yet I’ve only written in it a few times. Maybe committing to it on a daily basis would help my overall writing, as well as my state of mind, especially in these nutty pandemic times.

For example, a few days ago I wrote on the board on the fridge: Do something positive or productive every day. I wrote this for myself and my partner, thinking it would help us find something good in every day, even if the overall day was a bit poo. These positive or productive things would be good for recording in a journal. Today’s entry would be something like: Um…I was kind of lazy today, actually. I offered advice. I helped my partner with a technical issue on the iPad. I put away the clean dishes and loaded the dishwasher with the dirty ones. Okay, I guess I wasn’t totally lazy. But I could look back on this in a journal and nod at how I always put the dishes away, because I’m highly organized or something.

Hmm. I will have to ponder this journal thing. It seems like a positive step, with no real downsides, so I don’t have a good reason to say no to it.

We shall see.