I run 6 different calendars in my iCal, and having a separate calendar for my notes really helps me even if the note pertains to something in one of the other calendars. If I make a note for a specific meeting, the note and meeting overlap, so it's easy to find. And it makes printing easy. I can print multiple calendars on one page, but I don't have to.
Also, I recently started using iCal to journal, and I came up with a couple of options that work reasonably well. If you need the Notes field, Option 1 might work for you, but you may have already tried the various print options and found them wanting in your particular circumstances. (Of course, sometimes it's just a matter of finding the right combination of checkboxes to click. Oy!)
Option 1: Enter the title into the event title and the body of your note/journal entry into the Notes field. When you print (from the iCal on the desktop at least; don't know about printing from a Blackberry or iPod), choose "Day" in the View dropdown menu and make sure that the "Details" checkbox is checked.
Result: Each day takes up one page with two columns. The left-hand column contains a calendar with truncated information, and the right-hand column contains the entire event title and note.
Pros: The Notes field allows you to use the Enter key to make paragraphs! It's easy to use the "All day" duration for an event.
Cons: Half the page is lost to duplicated (and often truncated!) information.
Option 2: Enter your entire journal entry into the event title. When you print, choose "Day" in the View dropdown menu and UNCHECK the "Details" checkbox.
Result: Each day takes up one page with one column. This column contains a calendar with the event title (which is as long as the time period you choose for the event, e.g., a two-hour event can have a title twice as long as a one-hour event), so make the event duration as long as you need to hold the journal entry/note/event.
Pros: The one-column page looks the most like a journal entry. You have the choice of printing the week view and seeing the whole entry (assuming that your daily journal entries fit in a column roughly 1/8th the size of the page).
Cons: No paragraphs. The journal entry may be truncated, depending on how long you made your journal "event." If you choose "All day" for the duration, you are limited to one line. (Ack! If it had wrapped to the next line or lines, this would have been my hands-down favorite choice.).
Please note that I haven't written more than a half page in one day, so I don't know if you would be limited per day to a half-page for option 1 or a whole page for option 2.
Hope this helps. And if you come up with any tweaks, please post. I'm mostly happy with this, but it could always be better.