My note taking process has evolved a lot over the years. Originally I used my iPad with the Apple pencil, but having to charge it every few days was a pain. Then I switched to the Remarkable 2, which was great and I didn't need to charge the pen. But as I produced more and more notes, it became awkward to search for them. Unfortunately, handwriting to text, and handwriting search both require a monthly subscription.Screw that.So I switched to the Supernote Nomad, which (in my opinion) has better tooling for finding notes than the Remarkable. I mentioned this in my how do you take notes post. I created a new system for taking notes, and it worked well. It still had it's frustrations, but I could generally find what I was looking for on the Nomad.Then I started writing the occasional journal entry, and for that I decided I needed a physical book and fountain pen. I don't know why, it just felt more personal and more permanent doing it that way. Being left-handed, fountain pens can be difficult, so I got myself a Lamy Safari with a left-handed nib.It writes lovely, especially for the ~£25 ($30) price. So I got myself another one and put red ink in so I can "highlight" certain notes in my journal. It is a really nice experience, and as my journal entries mount up, I can easily flip between pages.And then it dawned on me...it's not the technology that I'm using for notes that's the problem. It's the fact that I'm using technology in the first place!Going analogueAs a test, I dug out an old notebook that we got a freebie from work (it's a really nice one - I figured nice paper would help) and started using my Lamy for note taking in work too.Using a slightly adapted version of my note taking system, it's been glorious! Flipping back through physical pages and easily finding my notes for a particular day has been very refreshing. Everything is in my notebook now, and I rarely use OneNote as a result.I decided to go all in, I sold my Nomad back in January and haven't looked back since.Pen upgradeThe Lamy is a nice pen, but I wanted something a bit more substantial (and made of metal) as the pen gets a lot of punishment being bashed around in my bag all day. I was happy to spend more money, but didn't want to go crazy, so I ended up buying a Kaweco AL Sport in a lovely stonewashed blue colour.Unfortunately Kaweco don't offer a specific left-handed nib, but I've found it to be nicer to write with than the Lamy anyway. It doesn't scratch as much - not that the Lamy is particularly scratchy, but the Kaweco is soooo smooth.So what was the problem with the tablets?I realised that my main frustration with both the Nomad and the Remarkable is that there's a 1-2 second delay on every screen change, so if I need to flip back 10 pages, that's like half a minute of pissing about.Half a minute doesn't sound like a lot, but I can flip back 10, or even a hundred pages in my notebook in a second. It just feels smoother.Final thoughtsMy note taking system now surrounds the specific paper I have in this fancy notebook from work (wide ruled lines, and a side margin) and I can't find anything else that's the same. Everything I find is either shitty quality paper, narrower lines, or no margin.Luckily for me, I've been able to find some spares hang around the office, so I have a cache of half a dozen or so, which should last me a few years.I'm totally converted to analogue note taking at this point, and I really enjoy the process of writing with the fountain pens. I just need to force myself not succumb to my constant desire to start collecting things - as I don't need 50 fountain pens, just like I don't need 50 watches...but I have them!This post kinda went all over the place, sorry about that. 🤷🏻♂️ Thanks for reading this post via RSS. RSS is ace, and so are you. ❤️ You can reply to this post by email, or leave a comment.