diff --git a/bash/next/next.sh b/bash/next/next.sh
index cf6dfb5..b9359e7 100755
--- a/bash/next/next.sh
+++ b/bash/next/next.sh
@@ -64,7 +64,8 @@
 # may in certain situations conflict with the alias. The link should be "next.sh" -> ~/config/..
 # 4. NOTE: I use 'e' rather than 'emacs', to use my clever emacs/emacsclient function.
 
-ls | egrep '^[[:digit:]].*\.md|txt' | tail -n 1 | awk '
+
+NEXTFILE=`$UMBASEPATH/bash/last/last.sh | awk '
 
 BEGIN {
 # set field separator, blank by default
@@ -108,3 +109,6 @@ finalstr = sprintf("%s.%s", finalstr, $NF)
 END {
 print finalstr
 }'
+`
+
+emacsclient --eval "(progn (find-file \"$NEXTFILE\") (journal) (message \"creating $NEXTFILE\"))"
diff --git a/um b/um
index eb3d487..47edd11 100755
--- a/um
+++ b/um
@@ -1,20 +1,22 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
+# export so that we can use it in subscripts.
+export UMBASEPATH=`realpath $0 | xargs dirname`
+
 # catch first arguments with $1
 case "$1" in
     next)
-        NEXTFILE=`./bash/next/next.sh $2`
-        emacsclient --eval "(progn (find-file \"$NEXTFILE\") (journal))"
+        $UMBASEPATH/bash/next/next.sh $2
         ;;
     last)
-        ./bash/last/last.sh
+        $UMBASEPATH/bash/last/last.sh
         ;;
     cat)
         # all args but first
-        ./bash/mdcat/mdcat.sh "${@:2}"
+        $UMBASEPATH/bash/mdcat/mdcat.sh "${@:2}"
         ;;
     rename)
-        ./bash/rename/rename.sh "${@:2}"
+        $UMBASEPATH/bash/rename/rename.sh "${@:2}"
         ;;
     *)
         # else