hellerphant

So I am playing through Paper Mario TTYD on my Switch for the first time. I never played these games growing up, and while I kinda enjoyed the Super Mario RPG remake for its quirkiness, I strongly believe that if you don’t have specific nostalgia for it, it just doesn’t hit the same.

TTYD is great. It’s so fun and captures a sense of adventure, with big swings from light hearted comedy into some dark territories. I was not expecting that, but I absolutely was not expecting just how horny everyone seems to be for Marty-o!

All the ladies swoon and mention how manly he is, commenting on his moustache. I was not expecting this coming from a Nintendo game. It’s pretty funny and I love it!

I noticed a few of my friends playing Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo on the Switch 2, and so I decided to take a punt on this delightful retro search action game. It feels like a GBA game fell out of the sky with a few modern niceties sprinkled on top, and the writing has made me chuckle a few times in the first handful of hours. When I took a look on Steam I was pretty surprised to see a severe lack of reviews, so I wanted to spread the word for this delightful indie.

I will say that the first hour or so I was not feeling the combat and I was pretty disappointed. I stuck with it and when I was half-way through the second major dungeon (for lack of a better term), it all of a sudden clicked and now I’m hooked.

It bills itself as a search action game but I’d argue that it’s closer to a classic top down Zelda but with way more traversal mechanics. It’s pretty light on the backtracking, at least in the first handful of hours.

I am always interested in what people are using their notebooks for. I often find that many people are using multiples for different topics.

I have a Traveller's Notebook Standard size that has three inserts. I use two of the inserts as bullet journals for work / daily life logging and my future log. The third insert is a standard long-form journal that I write in mostly daily.

I have a Passport size Traveller's Notebook with two inserts that I use as a wallet. The inserts are my gaming log where I take notes while playing whatever video games I am currently playing, and the other is just for catch-all like meeting notes, a bullet journal log for on the go, lists, thoughts etc.

I have a Hobonichi that I put just a daily log in of what I did on a particular day, and I will collect business cards or stickers from places I go an tape them in on the appropriate days. I am not a scrapbooker, but I find that this creates a fun little look through my life as I occasionally go back through old journals.

I supplement all of this with digital notes and a ToDoist account. I am a producer in the video games industry and have a lot of moving parts, so going all paper just won't work for me. But I love having this hybrid setup as I tend to remember a lot more when I write things down.

How are you using your notebooks?

Started a new job today and I feel great bringing my trust Traveller’s Notebook to my desk. I use a hybrid bullet journal method in conjunction with Todoist. I need digital because of all the tasks flying around, but I find that I remember things better, and can focus a lot more when I use pen and paper. This notebook comes with me to my work and home desks, and I have a pocket notebook wallet for when I am out and about.