August 2026 Breakdown: Happy Planner Season!

One thing I forget about August is planner season being under way and all of the Hobonichi lineup reveals, which means all of the planner companies are also doing reveals. And that, of course, reminds me that we are well over the halfway point of the year and I’m marching ever closer to 30 where all of the stress my body has stored away will probably just explode into various health problems (next year aaaaaa).

I never was one to follow the planner lineups closely, though. Hobonichi doesn’t suit my needs, and I’ve frankly had no energy since moving so my Sterling Ink Daily Planner has been hanging out in my room on the corner of my new desk (that I haven’t used because I haven’t gotten around to cleaning up the scatter across the floor in front of it and I still haven’t gotten around to getting a chair but also my laptop is mostly gathering dust anyway). I guess it’s about time to sit down and decide how my journaling needs have changed throughout the year as 2027 looms ever closer. Currently I’m looking at the Sterling Ink Core Planner, Take a Note* (maybe the Taiwan Holiday Version for the lunar calendar even though I can read only some of the characters), or one of the Midori diaries!

*Super delighted that Yoseka Stationery carries them!

(I found out Hobonichi was doing a collaboration with Hello Kitty a few days ago, and I would literally commit crimes for her – not as much as Kuromi or Cinnamoroll, though – but then I found out it was Japan only. T_T At least I have stickers to decorate a cover separately, though.)

Book Hauls and Reading

I went with a friend to a local bookstore earlier in the month and got two books: Dominion by Jean Kwok (I trust Ruby’s word that it’s excellent) and Prince of Swords by Elise Kova (I wanted to go to the event last month since I really liked Dragon Cursed but I had to work that day, so I’m happy that I managed to get a signed copy of the second book regardless).

There’s a few books I’m eyeing from the Barnes & Noble sale currently going on for the next few days, but I’m really wanting to read those books first before I decide whether or not I want to purchase them. I did get a few, though! Kiki’s Delivery Service, which I read and loved, and its sequel, Kiki and the New Magic. I also got Afia in the Land of Wonders.

And finally, my Illumicrate copies for The Heroes of Olympus came! I never continued with the universe after finishing this spin-off, but maybe it’s time to get around to doing that in the near future.*

*I’m the biggest liar and will probably never get around to it. But I have the new book from the Camp Half-Blood series on hold so maybe I’ll get around to it!

What I Read

As for reading, August wasn’t too bad though (more accurate: solid graphic novels, manga and manhwa but not so solid on novels) I did have two DNFs in a row and honestly, I was scared of picking up another book in case it was going to be a third DNF. 🫠

• Who Made Me a Princess, Vol. 4-5 by Spoon
• You Must Live: New Poetry from Palestine (anthology)
• Float, Vol. 2 by Kate Marchant
• The Wicker Husband by Ursula Wills — IYKYK
• W.I.T.C.H. Part II: Nerissa’s Revenge, Vol. 3 and Part III: A Crisis on Both Worlds, Vol. 1 by Elisabetta Gnone
• Boring Asian Female by Canwen Xu
• The Two Week Roommate by Roxie Noir — I should’ve DNFed this one, honestly.
• Dinner for Vampires by Bethany Joy Lenz — This was really interesting but it was also super exhausting.
• How to be Ace: A Memoir of Growing Up Asexual by Rebecca Burgess
• Snow White with the Red Hair, Vol. 27 by Sorata Akiduki
• Storm Breaker by Nisha J. Tuli (DNF) — I genuinely wanted to like this but the world building made 0 logistical sense and there’s way too many side characters to keep track of.
• The Deal by Elle Kennedy (DNF) — So not only was this my second DNF in a row, but it was also the same day. 😭 Anyways, maybe 2015 me would’ve ate this up (her brain was still cooking) but 2026 me is not okay with a guy essentially stalking a woman for like 15% of the book after she tells him “No.”
  • Maybe I’ll eat up the show if I subscribe to Prime for a month to catch up on all the shows and movies, I don’t know.
• KPop Demon Hunters: The Official Deluxe Junior Novelization by Jessica Yoon — Such a quick read (finished it in a sitting), but I adored it!
• Manhattan Kiss by Louise Bay — Deacon needs therapy, y’all. But I really did like how Bay depicted a relatively healthy (all things considered) mixed family relationship dynamic.
• Champion of the Rose, Vol. 1 by Cat Aquino —Absolutely solid debut, love the themes of colonialism and gender, will definitely be on the look out for the next volume.

Music

I would love to say I kept up with releases that I enjoyed and music I discovered throughout August, but alas this was the most empty section of the month. Anyways, I tried tracking them down in my playlist.

• Celebration by from20
• Flowerburn by KAVE
• Crossfire by Lay
• 99 Degrees by Jaehyun
• back to life by Han
• 1-800-hot-n-fun by Le Sserafim – I know it’s been some time since this came out but I only recently got it stuck in my head…

Movies

I finally got a portable DVD player near the end of the month so I didn’t have to pull out my laptop and the external drive every time I wanted to watch a movie! I think I’ll make good use of it; I’ve already watched two movies that have been collecting dust a little: The Devil Wears Prada 2 (very nostalgic, but I loved it) and Hoppers (the lizard, of course, lives rent free in my head).

I had plans to watch more that I’ve hoarded in the past month or two, but that didn’t happen.

Games

The first half of the month I was absolutely obsessed with Palworld and then suddenly I wasn’t. Or more accurately, I had no energy to pick up a game since I tried picking up Cult of the Lamb to change it up a little thinking I was just tired of playing Palworld and didn’t want to do anything much with it. It’s fun, though – I think I’m just tired of gaming at the moment. Aniimo comes out next month (day before my birthday hehe), though, so I might pick up gaming again.

The Breakdown

A breakdown of what the universe had in store for the month (or longer).

AKA So I yap about Fountain Pens again.

August was a fairly low energy month for me – when I wasn’t working, I was either resting (by doing the bare minimum) or attempting to unpack. Most of the month was sweltering hot and humid, so I didn’t do too much unpacking unless I was searching for something I needed. There were a few days that were relatively cool and I had a little more energy, so I did manage to clear out a few more boxes (they’re mostly books and since I don’t have a bookshelf, they just returned to their respective tote boxes). Looking forward to cooler temperatures being more regular in the next month or so and pulling out my newly acquired hoodie from earlier this year that was a replacement for a super old one that probably should’ve long been gone. I’ve already put my newly acquired mug to use (no photos of the delightfully cute mug because it’s my work one, and I don’t need anyone potentially stalking me).

I also had a lovely trip to a local bookstore and stationery store with a friend and then we hung out with their partner for a little bit (found out Minecraft is too much for me due to my motion sickness; maybe I should get one of those specialized glasses that make my eyes look like they’re drowning) before I had to head home lest I want too many questions. I found out they carry a few items from one of my favorite small businesses (Unicorn Eclipse!), so that was a delightful discovery. Outside of the two books from earlier in this post, I got this very delightful “This is Fine” figurine. It was the last one at the time and in true friendship form, my friend was very much the devil over my shoulder telling me to get it.

I got my first ink bottle for my fountain pen, though! It’s Diamine Brrr! from their Inkvent Teal Edition in 2025, and it sparkles a little. Sadly it doesn’t show up on cheap paper, but I honestly expected that to happen since 1) I prefer fine nibs and 2) cheap paper. I’m also not a huge fan of a lot of shimmer in my ink, so I was very intentional in choosing my first bottle even though I spent way too much time debating between quite a few different inks.

The others I was looking at for the curious folks:

• Wearinguel Hamlet – I’m a huge fan of blue-black ink (it’s not as bright as blue but it also stands out from being black), but I’ve not used Wearinguel before and therefore don’t know how it’ll behave on my usual paper. I think the color is pretty apt for the play, though! I’ll probably see if I can buy a sample from an online retailer.
• Ferris Wheel Press Furry Frostbites – I clearly have a favorite for blue-black shades. Like Wearinguel, I’ve never used them and therefore don’t know how it’ll behave on my usual paper, so it’s another ink I’ll look into buying a sample one day from a retailer.
  • There was a purple one from the same company that I was looking at too (forgot the name) but they were out of stock – maybe another day.
• Wearinguel I am a Cat – A bit more on the shimmer, so it was the first to go from my picks. But it was the first to be considered because of the name! It didn’t click in my surviving brain cells that they had a whole ink set based on literature (even though Hamlet and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was right there in my face) at first. Frankly, I want to look and see the others in the line and what they look like.
• Diamine Aurora Borealis – I have two cartridge sets from Jetpens I got earlier this year that I use with my TWSBI Swipe (still going through the Purple Dream one!) and they get along great with my usual paper, so this was the last to go. I wanted to try something a little different, though (though one could arguably say the teal is a little different from the blue-black I gravitate to often).

I could’ve gotten another one, but cartridges have given me a good estimate of how quickly I go through ink (roughly), and I think I’ll be good for the next year with the one bottle even if I use it daily. I’m also not the biggest fan of glass bottles so I really don’t want them clacking against each other or risk breaking them even if the chances of that are fairly low. But since I’m coming back later this year, I might buy another bottle* depending on how much I have left in the first.

*”No, Hannah, don’t! It’s only downhill from here!” – the fountain pen people in my life.

I’m learning just how thorough I need to clean my fountain pens with the shimmery ink, and that I kind of need to use it daily (at most a day can be skipped) to keep the ink flowing. Luckily I really like the color I got (I’d hope so considering I spent so long trying to decide 😭), and I got some Mohjohn A1 cartridges that come with a stopper so I can use it with my Pilot Vanishing Point Decimo, which is my current daily driver (after using that for about a week or two and now nearly 3 months, I’m thinking I really should’ve just gotten the VP from the get go). I honestly wish the empty cartridges for international short and long converters had a stopper, though; I’m finding I like to carry 1-2 additional cartridges with me in case I run out on the go.

And then not long after I found that my Cinnamoroll pen case that I got a few years ago is starting to peel (the very one I listed in my 2025 Stationery Faves that they no longer carry). T_T It’s still usable at least, and thankfully I did get another pen case a few months ago (when I first got it I looked at the material and figured I would get at least 2-5 years before I would need to replace it so I knew that it was coming but I’m still sad about it*), but I still need to move my stuff over and take it out for a run in my usual bag to see if it fits. I think that’ll be a September plan.

*First World Problems.

Let’s talk!

This was kind of hastily put together (considering the time it went up isn’t my usual time oopsies; in my defense it was too hot to finish this last night), so if you see a little typo anywhere, no you didn’t. Anyways, tell me how August was for you!