I have finished reading Creative Code and decided to get back to using my business planner, as well as continuing to use my morning pages. Yesterday I realized that I have turned all of my stationery into drawing utensils (more on that in a few months), so I went shopping for writing utensils.

And, as things are with all graphic designers, I of course did not use these tools to write anything, but instead put together a flatlay of what I’ve got.

I am playing around with becoming a travelling designer of sorts, so I need to consider a few things in the future, like how mobile can a workshop be and is that even a thing? That sort of play.

But with these new tools up there, I am fairly sure I can find new enjoyment in writing down, literally writing down.

And it struck me as odd how expensive these products were, since I associate Lamy and Pelikan with school brands, much less stationery brands. Maybe I am wrong, and these are just high quality brands? Having looked through my local supply store’s shelves one town over, all the other brands were a lot less expensive, so maybe these things in my flatlay are frivolous to someone else?

Eh. Now that is some Poor Dad talk right there, if I may say so!

There are also other things happening right now, which curiously are also about writing–typing, that is.

Maybe you remember that I have put together a set of so­‑called text expansions for the Beeftext software before and uploaded these to github, and there is some development happening there, but in a direction basically implied in this repository, and this development has been catalyzed by a kickstarter project turning the E1‑keyboard layout into a physical keyboard, which I have backed for the keycaps (I’ll put my own keyboard together, thank you very much).

I am teaching myself how to use the E1‑keyboard layout, while not relying on my own text expansions. Gradually, I am learning where the additional, typographically accurate marks are.

Until my set of E1‑keycaps arrive, I have plenty to study and improve upon. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll enjoy being able to do this, using a typewriter keyboard:

While chatting with an old friend today, I took note of what I’ve said about listening to the band Meshuggah, and liking it. “When you like Meshuggah,” I typed, “then you don’t have to share it with anyone–you don’t care if somebody listens to Meshuggah, you don’t care if they don’t. You just enjoy what you enjoy.”

Source: My after‑hours blog on Tumblr Code & Canvas