Despite a number of attempts over the years, I’ve never been able to maintain a diary. And when I say ‘diary’ I really mean a journal. I’d start with the best of intentions, keen, notepad at the ready, just waiting for the next thing to happen so I can jot it down and record it for posterity. It would never last though. The enthusiasm would go off the boil and somehow time would expand beyond normal parameters, and a day would become a week, and weeks would become a month, and months would become yet another bunch of blank pages in the dusty notebook under the bed. You see that kind of thing in some blogs. Occasionally someone pops up on my Twitter or FB feed and I see in their profile a URI, so I hop on over only to find they haven’t updated it for two years. It’s disappointing.
As of the start of this week I am having a new stab at keeping a diary. But it’s not any old diary, oh no. This one has purpose and a goal. It was suggested to me by a professional person (no less) that I need to keep this one. And being suggested to by a professional person (no less) is a Great Incentive Which Should Not Be Ignored. So I am not. Ignoring it. Obviously.
The first thing to decide on was which tool to use, in which to record the weighty and valuable information. Should I sue Word? Or perhaps Excel? Now you may throw your hands up in horror (who the heck ever does this? Eh? Who? Exactly, nobody does this) at the thought of me using Excel for the purpose of recording information in a journal, but stay with me. There is a degree of logic in this. And I am the proud owner of an ‘I [heart] Spreadsheets’ mug. Or I was, until it recently got broked. Anyway. I decided on using Word.
I quickly came up with a day/date/content format that suited my requirements, formatted it to suit my tastes, added a bit of colouring because geek, and made the first entries. Two entries. Because this journal will receive two entries per day.
What (I hear you cry)? What kind of a fool commits to a) A journal and b) Two entries per day in said journal. Well ha (I respond)! I am that kind of a fool. But I am that kind of a fool who is doing this thing under the guidance of a professional person (no less).
Late on Wednesday evening, after making the 2nd of that days entries. I realised that the tool I had designed for this journalising was not only inappropriate, it didn’t meet my exacting standards. So I redesigned the data capture (because that’s all a journal is anyway) in Excel, exported the previously recorded data from Word into Excel and Robert’s your Mother’s Brother, I’m up and running in a new (and much better) journal.
Tell me about the need for this journal that you have been guided to by a professional person (no less), I hear you cry. Again. Well first of all let me tell you not to cry. There’s really no need. That’s twice in the space a few seconds. Are you OK? Do you need to speak to someone? And secondly I am keeping a food and poo journal!
No, I am not keeping a food and poo journal for me, I am keeping a food and poo journal for my small brown friend. You know, this one:
Unfortunately my small brown friend is having issues in the bottom department. So we’re running a process of elimination to try and identify what substance(s) are upsetting the poor little love’s tummy. And we are recording all of this information in his Food and Poo Diary.
Yes, you should sue Word.
Funnily enough, I am in the process right now of putting a ‘journal’ together in Excel, to record some information that I was advised to do yesterday, by a medical professional.
However, as I usually do with Excel, I have overcomplicated it for no reason other than Excel allows me to do so, and so, about ten minutes ago, I decided to start over from scratch.
If I was just recording this information using pen and paper, it would be done by now..
Also, our dog will occasionally get a dose of the squits for seemingly no reason. Tried keeping a diary, similar to yours, but it revealed nothing, as her diet hardly changes, day in, day out. I put it down to her either drinking or eating something she has found when out on a walk.