Note from July 13, 2026, 1:06 PM

I’m considering going back to small notebooks for dumping these kinds of loose thoughts.
I always have this dilemma between paper and digital things. For example, between a little notebook and this blog. I already have this “stream” for small posts and loose thoughts like that. There’s also probably a better chance I’ll actually browse through it someday, because I almost never look back into those notebooks. But paper has something tempting about it. I like writing, I like holding a fountain pen in my hand... And I like the format of a small, pocket-sized notebook. Bigger notebooks, like LEUCHTTURM1917, are also great and I used them for a long time, but a pocket notebook is something I can always have with me and scribble in anywhere, whatever comes to mind. There’s also something romantic in the way it gets destroyed.

I bought this particular notebook at Tiger in Rome. There was a set of 2 for a few euros. Very cheap, and the quality matched the price. I wrapped it in adhesive tape so it wouldn’t fall apart so much. In the first one, I wrote down Italian words and phrases I was learning at the time. And generally I used my standard approach in it: regular working notes from the front, and more personal entries from the back, something like a diary. I don’t know, this format does something for me.

There’s also an option in between, meaning something like ReMarkable: e-paper, an e-notebook, or possibly scanning the notebook to have a digital copy, but that’s a lot of hassle, not necessarily needed, and I feel like it combines the drawbacks of both worlds. I probably won’t go that route.