Blog Post: Hello 2025.

 2024 and 2025 Techo Kaigi

It is 13 days in to the a the new year it has been two years since I posted here. Even before that it was very few and far between, Which makes me a little sad when I look at all the things that I have written in that time. Mostly poems, and some novelettes. Which I want to post. Along with some non time sensitive articles. Some of the stuff goes back to 2020 that I want to post.

Despite not post here I have been writing a lot. I turned my morning pages practise in to a time to write. It was and mostly pomes or notes on what I want to write, along with journaling.

However it has been nice writing for my self with no pressure of having to create the post, however it is something I enjoy doing, and I want to start creating again.

I have been posting on my art site which has been good, as well as my photography site. 

The black hole scrolling one youtube and instagram has also very much been a distraction for me writing and creating, which I need to change my mind set and habits to use my time better.

So I thought I would started the new year with a post sharing what planners and journals that I used last year and what I am using this year. (It has taken me a week to write and publish this, the mundane scrolling distracted me.)  

“Techo Kaigi is a Japanese term that means "notebook meeting" or "meeting with oneself". It's a reflective practice that involves reviewing your planners and journals from the past year to improve your planning and journaling for the new year.”

I primary use Hobonichi weeks, four of them in total a long with a moleskine notebook and unbranded  planner. 

The easiest one to quickly go over is my work weeks. I manage a film and photo printing lab and shop, so this is filled with notes on what needs doing, things that need ordering, client jobs that need completing. On the weeks that I was off I stuck in photos. Most of these photos were from 35mm film. This is my little work brain. 

Last year I had the 'Popping Yellow' weeks, this year I have gone for the 'Pistachio' weeks.

Next up is the weeks in 'Stylish Grey' which I used for my tarot readings, astrology signs information and full moon dates and information.

I really enjoyed keeping this little book, the only problem was as it is small planner if I was to do a tarot card reading on the same week as a full moon or when the Star signs changed the space was limited for each one.

This year I have a A6 hobonichi from 2024 for my tarot readings as I will not be following the dates I can use as many pages as I want for each reading. The yearly overview with be used as an index. The monthlys I havent decided yet. I got one of the Midori A6 clear covers so I can cover the date and make it look a little witchy cute. 

My personal planner which was the bow and tie ‘Little Dragons’, where I have todos, appointments, if I orders stuff I would note when I ordered it and when I received, as well some journaling.

Then there was the Colours Navy which I was using as a hobby’s tracker and notes on what I had done for my blogs ( visualmerchandising101.blogspot.com alostphotobook.blogspot.com and mytheotyofthecrows.blogspot.com and of course here )

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Which unfortunately didn't get used as much as I hoped and everything that was in there was also duplicate in my personal planner.

So this year I'm using the Bow and tie ‘Cherrys’ mega.

This will combine how I was using the two weeks from last year in to one. The back pages I aim to to use to keep a log of what I do and when. As well as journaling .

Next up are my journals. An 18 month daily moleskine which I started at the end of 2023 when I started doing the Artists way by Julia Cameron, and I was using it for morning pages and for notes on the tasks. And I'm still using this book now as morning pages and journaling. 

The other book is a planner I got from Snappy snaps and I used it as a memory keeper journal. There is quite a few blank pages in this book as a lot of days I did not have anything to put down.

Ive really been missing using a travelers notebook regularly, so I’m going to use one as my traveler’s company’s notebooks as my memory keeper / scrapbook. 

A big thing in the journaling community is picking a word of the year, or a phrase, this is the first time I’m doing this, my word of 2025 is create. The reason I chose this is I want to create more art, write more and take more photos, to create more contact for my sites(blogs) and for social media. 

So here is wish you a happy healthy 2025.

My 2023 Planners

It's been awhile since I posted anything here or my VM blog. Even on my art and photography blogs to. The past fue years have been a bit messy, I’m hoping that this year will be different and I can be more focussed on every thing.

So lets begin with my planners and journals for this year.

This year I will be using 3 planners. All are Hobonichi weeks mega. I got the mega weeks as at the time I got them the mega ones were the only ones that the journal shop had in stock.

Im not overly one for bright note books but for some reason I was drawn to these three bight colours.

The first on is the Tropical Yellow.

This one is my work planner. It's going to have my to do lists, job due dates meeting notes. I work in a film lab so in the back it's going to have chemical mix's. 

The yearly overview I will be using as a tracker, I'll only be taking two things days that I have a red ball and when spend my lunch time drawing - I have a A4 sketchbook at work that Ive started using, so I can spend my break drawing after I've eat rather then going for walk which then ends up with me buying stuff.  I want to stop drinking red ball and other energy drinks. So seeing this on the yearly spread will be encouraging.

As you can see so far I haven't been that good

On the yearly pages I'm write down when I've changed chemicals and when I need to re-make them, when any jobs are due.

The weekly pages I use to list any orders I need to place, jobs Ive taken in and there dead line things I need to do or done. 

This one I possible won't post too many photos of but it may post some a lot later in the year.

Next up is my personal planner which is the Fresh Green.

This will have todos for my home, things I've done, brought, and  journaling in the back.

The yearly overview will be used as a no spend tracker,  each day high lighting wen I don't buy anything (food and drink dose not count) if I do buy anything then how much.

The monthly overview I mark when I've watered my plants, days off appointments.

I have a tracker in the back for when I water and feed my plants

I'm using the Stalogy Forest dots to mark on my weekly and monthly pages when i have watered plants. 

The weekly pages I list what I need to do and anything that I or we have done

Again possible not one I will be sharing a lot of.

Last year I kept my weeks in side one of my traverlers notebooks, I may do the same thing this year.

The last one is my social media planner in the lagoon blue. 

I have it all tabbed up with the Kokuyo Jibun Tech Index Tabs From the journal shop. I like that these are nice and slim, I have found that as they are made so they can be repositioned easily that on occasions the thin toemoe river paper has court the corner of the tab and I've had pages stuck together.

Let's start at the front.

The yearly is going to be tracker each think that I want to track is on the top & bottom, each habit has a letter to represent it. At the end of each month I aim to count up how many days I spent on a habit and put it at the top.

The monthly views, at the bottom I'm putting goals - no more then 3 as I find that over whelming. On the calendar I'll be putting the post posted, if I've drafted one.

On the weekly pages I have things I need to to for a post, and when it's done, &things I've done. I'm not overly one for decorating my planners but this one I want to. To make it more encouraging to do more. - As of yet I have not done that much but I want to.

In the back pages I've got three sections.  The first one is to mark the stat of the note pages -the tab from the set is my news. The second is my goals, the tab - there wasn't a tab for goals so I'm using life plan.

The third I have a marked for the long reads that I have and am writing. - I may abandon some of these, so here I can write down the current word counts weather I am close to finishing so I can see if it's worth finishing.

The forth and final section is the last 26 pages. Space for me to look reflect on each month and finally the year. So I can see how and what I've done.

So...  These are my 3 planners for the year of 2023, I'm also going to be using sketchbooks and a travelers notebook as a creative journal through out the year as well as I have planners for some other journals / study journals, which I well post about as I start them.

As well as quite a bit of creative writing that I have been doing but have just not typed up and posted.

So happy new year - yes it maybe almost at the end of January, but still happy new year. xxx

Check out my Instagram to see more photos of planners and journals @ myconfusedworld