November!

Dear November,

It's a good thing I kept those "Daily Download" notes in my Bullet Journal, otherwise, I would have a really hard time right now remembering what even happened in a month that seemed to speed by before I was ready for it to be here, let alone done!

So, what happened in November?

November marks the birth dates of some very important people in my life.  First up was G, in the first week of the month.  I girded up my loins for the idea, and booked us dinner at a restaurant in the town of Blind River, knowing I would have to drive at night for the occasion, something I have assiduously avoided whenever possible.  I am pleased to say, both the dinner and driving went smoothly, and we greatly enjoyed the experience.  I chose the experience to be my gift, instead of an item, as he's never eaten at that restaurant before.

In the second week of November, it was my younger brother's birthday, and Remembrance/Veterans' Day.  I was able to spend a half hour or so with him on Skype, in video messaging, and got the ten cent tour of his home and yard, to boot.  I loved every minute of it, moments like that call are what take the edge off how far away I live from my family.

In the fourth week of November, my youngest brother celebrated his birthday.  2015 has been a significant year for him, he has made great personal and professional strides, and he celebrated the day with thanksgiving in a way that touched my heart.  I love nothing more than seeing my loved ones succeed, and he is going for his success with a determination and focus I admire.

November also marked several changes.  First up, there was the end of Daylight Saving Time.  Hallelujah.  We all know how I feel about it, so I won't belabour how happy I am to be given the reprieve I wait all year for.  It was also time to get the tires on our vehicle switched from summer to winter tyres, and a semi-annual checkup, done with its usual speed and care.

November was a good month for my physical fitness goals: of 21 week days I missed a total of 4.  I began tracking my water intake in my BuJo, as I have noticed that I am struggling to drink even nominal amounts of water on a daily basis, even though we are at the time of year when the presence of heat indoors means one loses even more water through the skin.  I also decided to start getting up early again, and for November and December set myself the goal of making it out of bed before 6 a.m. at least 3 weekday mornings per week, and succeeded for November.

November brought some fun as well, in the form of a pen pal group forming out of the Bullet Journal Junkies Facebook group.  I received my first letter from a "pal" in southern Ontario, and mailed off a letter to a chosen pal in Australia.  I had great fun writing the letters: in this day and age of constant contact on social network platforms such as Facebook, it is surprising to realise that we really still don't know a person, and that methods such as letter writing can help us to learn about others.  I know, I know...I rail against DST as a relic of a bygone age, but I write letters on paper and send them via snail mail?  Yes.

There was light snow a couple of times in November, but the weather remained mild.  I did some serious praying to the weather gods as the end of the month loomed and our trip to southern Ontario hastened up my to-do list.  All I asked for was the mild weather to continue into the first weekend of December, so that my first long driving trip would not be complicated further by poor road conditions.  Obviously, we made it safely, as it's now past, but I'll share details in the post for December!

BuJo hack: I use the flags to stamp on, so no bleed through of the ink to the other side!

Studying.  Yes, our tree went up in November!

Supposedly, that's a people-only couch he's so relaxed on.

Fall is here

September slipped away nearly as quickly as August did.  I barely got myself re-organised, before it was all over and the month of October was looking me in the face.

This month: I discover Bullet Journaling

Back in August, I began trying out the Bullet Journal system of planning and noting in what I call my "Day Book", which I have been using since 2014 to keep myself organised alongside the Evernote and Trello apps.  I came across the Bullet Journal system thanks to a blog entry from Evernote, actually.

Not everyone finds a digital application suitable to their purposes, and there are still (many!) people in the world who prefer pen and paper for the inherent flexibility and customization that comes with a blank sheet of paper, as opposed to the structured architecture of the app.  There are also people, like myself, who use digital applications for one purpose, but otherwise turn to pen and paper (or, in my case, pencil and paper, I prefer pencil) for another.

While I will plan a day of doing the bookkeeping for G's business in an Evernote notebook, or list the three things I must get done so I can feel accomplished on a specific day on a Trello board, I have always had an agenda/daily diary type book since I was 13 years old, if not every year, then most of those years, and rely on them for keeping appointments and scheduling work and personal occasions.

Previously, my Day Book just consisted of my goals for the month and any other tasks I wanted to especially accomplish (in 2014 I just did a list of my Resolutions under various subheadings).  If you checked out the Bullet Journal (Bu-Jo to its fans) site, you will see it starts with calendar spreads for the month and the week, and then daily logging (rapid logging) in the form of tasks, events and notes with signifiers (symbols) that quickly identify what an item is.

So far, I am still tweaking the system to suit myself.  I use a monthly calendar listing to see any events at a glance, a Tasks page for an ongoing list of anything that needs doing, a Due page for my bill payment schedule, and follow these pages with what I call my Daily Download, which is just a summary of each day's main events, completed tasks, activities and even random thoughts.  I do not think I will add "Collections" in the form of say, books to read, not this year anyways.  I also do not log daily activities such as meals or workouts in my Day Book, I use apps (LoseIt, Fitocracy, Fitbit) for all that already and am not minded to change that.

One thing that is quickly apparent about Bu-Jo users is how creative they are.  I can't decorate anything to save my life, I have zero talent in the area of drawing, or art, or crafting.  I feel like quite the impostor looking at the posts of the group on Facebook I joined to get ideas about tweaking the Bullet Journal system, my Day Book is relentlessly plain, just words on a page.  To add just a touch of creativity, a friend sent me a box of rubber stamps designed for planners, with symbols you are likely to need in a planner.  I spent a little time stamping each one into the last pages of my Day Book (I don't call it a Bu-Jo, even though I use the Bu-Jo system to organise it now) and labeling them so I know what each will be used for.  Who knows, I might even spend some money and buy some washi tape, a very decorative tape originating in Japan, and give my Day Book some colour.

What else I got up to:

In September, I didn't save anything.  I temporarily discontinued my RRSP contributions in July to allow for some additional income, because G's business slowed right down to very little.  I re-started my contributions with my first pay in October.

I served as a volunteer at the local running of the Terry Fox Run on September 20.  Terry Fox is very much a Canadian national hero, he ran on a prosthetic leg across Canada to raise awareness about cancer.  35 years later and counting, his inspirational spirit is still honoured with runs organised in communities large and small.  It was my first year volunteering with this particular effort, but likely will not be my last.

For 29 of the 30 days in September, I wrote a short affirmation each morning after completing my Headspace meditation practice.  I wrote for 3 minutes, as that was the most time I could add to my morning schedule without going completely off-track.  The point of this was to both start the day with a positive frame of mind, and to use my handwriting, something I don't do much of anymore with all the digital tools I use.

Finally, I decided to not pull out the sweaters and scarves until it was at least mid- to late October.  Summer ended on a beautiful note, but fall swept right in, with high temperatures going from an average of 21 *C to no more than 15 *C in less than a week.  It's not winter yet, and I am not going to dress for it until I have to.  After 3 years, I am interested to see just how adjusted I am.

Some of the stamps, labeled

The rest of the stamps, labeled

The stamps

A single fall rose

This month's cute pup picture