Mikes Thoughts

journal to blog

I’ve enjoyed my morning writing in the journal. Often by 530am I’m awake or at least pretending to be. By that time the automation on my iPhone has worked and I have a new daily note. This saves a step for me. Admittedly a small one but I still feel it enables me to write faster and to be lazier.

Around the house in the mornings, my wife is first up. She wants the morning tea and talk time with neighbors. Those are her mornings. She must have the get together for words and sharing whatever Facebook and TikTok things come down. Since I don’t use those things I am thankfully spared receiving the things. The neighbors provide that instant Khmer response to social media interactions that she will still seek out when she’s not there. Khmer people are social media mavens. Or they are addicted and will spend the day relentlessly chasing shares and likes. I get lesser of those on mastodon and I feel empowered to turn off push notifications sometimes.

I never do hear phone alerts since I have the silent switch turned on all the time. At night it’s that and do not disturb to limit whatever renegade things manage to break in. Some do. Like the haptic notifications.

Anyways what I’m getting around to I guess is journal writing. In the mornings with a coffee and laying in bed. How all that previous stuff leads me to writing in the mornings is up to debate. Really though I think phones are just noisy and when I want the morning writing I want no noises. I can sometimes hear the soft whir of Khmer voices across the street. Sometimes in the middle of some rant or rave laughter bounces around. I don’t do much talking and I’ve become less good at it with less practice. That’s good because I feel writing in the journal mornings takes the place of the inane stuff verbally with equally inane stuff written.

I will sit and write

Morning time until feeling the desire for making coffee. Truth be told in our bedroom I have a water kettle and French press and the coffee. I try to make sure there is water waiting to do its thing. I guess the less times I have to leave the better.

Until... I walk. Then I cannot wait to go. The writing on my iPhone sometimes stops me at some bench. The morning sun dances sometimes with cruel intent on those last rain puddles. The coffee shop vision is firm but I also feel I should write down whatever crap stopped me. So I do.

Blogging then

Somewhere some blogpost started. Perhaps on something completely different but hijacked into a different outcome. It’s okay. That’s why there are h2 markdown headers and horizontal rules. Maybe a footnote thrown in [1].

Seriously though many things just seem to come from some morning journal thing. Like an idea is busting to be heard but I don’t want it. I’m never sure where a thing goes in the blog. It just goes.

Like now. It’s after 10pm. I’m kinda tired. I think throw the gauntlet down with a well behaved markdown format and let this be here and that be there.

See? It’s easy to go from talk and tea to rambling bullshit to coffee. Separated by day. There are no rules. So why not let your journal feed your mornings and then let the morning inform the blogpost. Seems fair to me. Anyways this will by my desire to continue to tomorrow when we go for breakfast and coffee together. Of course after morning tea and talk time and my inveterate journal writing.

Morning at the river

Divided into two pieces. Breakfast at the usual place and then I go to my place here for coffee. Then walk. Think on journal to blog. How ideas percolate. A thing I write in passing in a morning becomes a blog post.

It’s nice moving slowly at first this morning from breakfast to Noi Cafe. Then I walk. Now I copy this thing to that thing.

  1. I’m a footnote. See me show up down here. I’m cool. ↩︎