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When The D came up, he brought with him a present from a famous niche bookstore back home, Books Actually.  Being very familiar with my notebook fetish, he found an adorable blank notebook that would also be of some significance to me - the book has a darling print of a birdcage on one cover and a bird's nest on the other.  Shortly after he met me, The D got a drawing of a birdcage tattooed on his ankle.  Not because of me - the timing was random and I certainly hope the birdcage doesn't represent me but you know, meaningfulness and things.

The covers are also made of a lovely cream coloured card, and the paper, bound old-school style with string, is very fine and has barely any teeth - perfect for ink drawings.  The other day, inspired by the random idea of a carousel of wild ponies in a forest, I let my fingers do the walking and made a little doodle.  I think it has a quality that fits the whimsical spirit of the book, don't you?

Notebook jonesing

I've been on a massive stationery geek kick lately.  One reason for this might be that I'm slowly getting my writing process in order.  (I know that sounds terribly fartsy and pretentious, but to be honest, I'm not capable of being very fartsy and am just trying to get a system going so that I can write consistently and know where I'm going with it.)

I love looking into people's notebooks and getting a glimpse into not just their thoughts but how they organise them, and so I thought I would share my system with you a little bit.  Ever since I read this piece called The Three Notebooks Every Writer Should Keep, I've been trying to adhere to their recommendations.

These are the three tools I use for writing (not counting my personal diary and organiser and so on, of course).  I use my laptop to do a writer's exercise called "Morning Pages" which was recommended by a classmate of mine.  Basically every morning, as soon as I wake up, I roll over, boot up and write two pages of stream-of-consciousness rubbish.  It's taking a lot of getting used to because I have to delay the start of my day by about twenty minutes, typing furiously in bed, but I'm hoping to get some interesting ideas from it and I can already see that morning thoughts are less guarded and more free flowing than thoughts you'll have throughout the day.

I use the Snoopy moleskine as a notebook on the go.  I pop it in my handbag and scribble down things that come to mind.  It's recommended that the moment you hit upon an idea, you scribble it down so that you don't forget it.  I do think this is great advice as I'll often think of an interesting storyline as I'm walking down the road and then five minutes later, to my great frustration, it will have slipped away.  Unfortunately, this can also make you look all stuck up and fartsy, whipping out a pretentious notebook to write pretentious things in front of friends, but hey, if it helps me keep my ideas, I'll do it.

Above is an idiotic drawing I did to try and figure out what "Ninety-nine times as high as the moon" physically meant.  Not much maths smarts there I have to say.

I'd earlier posted about my Snoopy moleskine here, but believe it or not, neglected to look into the back pocket until recently (some moleskine user I am!) and found these adorable stickers!  HUZZAH!

The "World's Storyteller" notebook was a present from my mother who got it from the BBC (long story).  It is one of THE MOST AMAZING notebooks I have ever owned and unfortunately I don't know if I will ever be able to get my hands on a similar one.  Never have I seen a free notebook with such beautiful paper in it.  There is a lovely light grey grid across the paper which is so hefty and creamy and thick that I wouldn't be surprised if it was 100gsm or more.  My moleskines have nothing on this beauty.

My only issue is the spiral which makes it very hard to write on the facing pages, so like a true notebook nerd, I'm using up all the left-hand side pages till I get to the back (I'm a leftie), then flipping it upside down and going back to front.  Hey, I never claimed to be sane.

I'm using this one as my proper writer's notebook.  Above, is an example of a fun character sketch I'm doing for one of the characters I'm writing right now.  The purple ink represents physical traits and the blue ink personality traits.  I'm not neat in person but in my notebooks, I'm downright anal as you can probably tell.

The post-its are how I storyboard right now.  It's a good system so far because I can move things around without them flapping around on the wall in front of me.

Another reason for my recent jonesing streak might be that people keep sending wonderful things my way, for example, this beautiful notebook with gold animals inlaid into the cover from one of my best friends, Becky. I especially like the greyhounds and the very intelligent looking foxes on the bottom of the book.  I once ran into a fox on a country road (literally) and it looked just as intelligent as all that.

Becky and I have known each other for over ten years and she never fails to pick beautiful things out that absolutely suit my tastes.  This notebook didn't just come with the lovely owl-printed pages, but also a handwritten message (with Secondary School glitter pens no less!) that made my heart flutter just a little bit.  Thank you my dear, sweet, partner in crime!


I thought I would end this post with something crazy. 

If you, my friend reading this, are as addicted to stationery and writing as I am, I am about to provide you with some Grade A smack.

Over the past few days, I have been bookmarking sites which I can turn to for inspiration and an energy boost.  I know it sounds crazy but when I'm flagging a bit on the writing front, there's nothing like looking at some paraphernalia to wake me up again.  If I sound insane right now, please pretend you haven't read this post and scroll right on to the next one.  Thank you.

1) Notebook Stories

This is a great aggregator site (shut up, spell check, "aggregator" is totally a word) which continues to review notebooks and ink that are coming out on the market.  More than that, however, it's a site with heart - it has regular features on notebook addicts, tells stories about the notebooks of famous people and tries its best to field questions from the paper fiend populace.

2) Doodler's Anonymous

I cannot explain to you how fast this site makes my heart race.  But maybe I can demonstrate:

All picture from http://www.doodlersanonymous.com/

This site basically features everyone from amateur doodlers to full blown artists, some of whom blow my mind.  I love the last picture in particular, drawn by an outstanding cartoonist called Jim Bradshaw.  I love notebooks that look like this, well-filled, wonderfully drawn and, dare I admit it, still with some semblance of method in the madness.  If you are even the slightest bit interested in art, check it out.

3)  The Well Appointed Desk

 All pictures from http://wellappointeddesk.tumblr.com/

This website is like the Ikea of stationery.  One look at some of the beautifully put together workstations, novelty notebooks and writing implements and I feel like getting down to work right away.  If you visit their site, please, please do yourself a favour and click on the archive link in the left sidebar.  They are put together in a way that is, no other way to describe it, delicious. 

You'll find everything from tools of the trade to the people who ply it here.

4)  Anna Rusakova's moleskine

This is one of the many artists I have discovered from The Well Appointed Desk.  I love notebooks (OBVIOUSLY) and there is nothing I love more than seeing them well-used, well-loved and filled with talent this way.  I really enjoy Rusakova's fine, sensitive drawings that manage to be both precise and quirky.  If you like the example above, go ahead and click on her link.  You have an afternoon of oohing and aahing ahead of you.

I've got several other sites in mind, but I thought that was what I would share for now.  If you have any suggestions for similar sites, I would LOVE to hear them.  Please feel free to share! 

We The Thousands

Lately, I've been spending some time designing t-shirts for the band that Dhany's in, 
We The Thousands (check 'em out, they're awesome!  Every time I hear their music, I'm awed that I know such people).

Short of being an actual member, I've been to a few of the recording sessions and jams and I've spent some time taking pictures of the band as well (more for practise than because I'm a pro!) and now that they're recording proper, I thought I'd draw some t-shirts with fabric markers for fun so Dhany could wear them to jams and things.


Here are a couple of the designs I thought I'd share just for fun - they incorporate a teeny acronym of the band name that you really have to search for.  Obviously, the pictures and designs are copyright me!

I was actually experimenting with fabric markers on this shirt, so the shading and all are a little bit wobbly, but Dhany's already worn it to a jam and apparently the band likes the idea.

This one, I took in progress:

This design is just a prototype and I'll be tweaking it further, but I just thought it was a fun idea, what with all kinds of light bulbs dangling down every which way.

If anyone is interested, as I've mentioned before, I'm happy to draw on people's t-shirts or design things for practice.  I like doodling for fun, and am happy to take on any practice I can, so just let me know!

A lifetime of journalling

Warning:  The following post is an extremely long and technical post about the specifics of journals and notebooks.  If you're the kind of person who will be put into an irreversible stupor by nerdy rambling, it is wise that you desist from reading.  If you are Rebecca Norfor or someone of the same ilk, read on and share your views!

Since I was twelve, I've kept a personal diary, one that you literally write in by hand.  Many people have told me that they find it difficult to keep up the practise of a maintaining a diary and so abandon all efforts eventually.

I don't know about that, while I certainly don't write in mine every day, when things happen or I want to sit down and take stock of my life, I feel like I have to sit down and go back to the medium most comfortable to me.  I think the secret to maintaining a diary is not to force it or to feel like you have to write every day or about every little thing, but simply write when it moves you and accept that there will be big gaps in between.

I have gaps of up to three months in mine, but as long as I come back to it eventually, the habit continues.  I've used up about twelve books or so over my lifetime, and I tend to change books every time something drastic happens in my life or I move somewhere new.

This brings me to the second part of diary keeping that I enjoy, and the reason why I've never taken my diary online - notebooks.

This quote from Notebookism sums it up perfectly: "We all share a pleasant affliction - the urge to create on paper.  The smell of smooth creamy paper sends our hearts aflutter. The delicate tinkling of nib against inkwell accelerates our pulse rate. We stare endlessly at the first blank page."

In some weird, nerdy, fetishist way, I have a massive obsession for notebooks.  I love them to bits and I love them thick, with thin space between the lines on good, heavy paper and I love them most just before I crack them open and start writing on them.

My whole life has been one long search for the perfect notebook.  I've gone through thick ones, thin ones, spiral bound, thread bound, hard cover, soft cover, huge, desk sized books that don't travel well, tiny books that are hard to hold open but which I can put in my handbag.  For a time, I even started writing on loose sheets of paper in the hope that binding them into a file myself would be the best solution.

Nothing really worked until my mother brought me home my first Moleskine.  The Moleskine is one of those books that has a heap of PR fluff about Ernest Hemingway and Chatwin and whoever using the books but I didn't know any of that.

I just ripped off the soft plastic wrapping and found a beautiful black book underneath with cream paper, tight lines in an unobtrusive, light colour and a binding that lay perfectly flat meaning that there was no danger of breaking the spine, and I fell in love.  I still use Moleskines to this day. 

For a long time, I didn't realise that there were people out there who were as obsessed with notebooks as I am, until one day, looking around online I stumbled upon a whole host of websites specialising in reviewing notebooks and rating them for their usage, such as Black Cover and Spiritual Evolution of the Bean (my current favourite).

(For some reason, on the Net, there seems to be an overwhelming love-hate relationship with Moleskines because they are so bloody expensive (one in Singapore will cost you about $30) and because people feel that they are of inferior quality compared to journals like the Ciak and the Cartesio and the Stifflexible.  Yet, everyone who has favourably reviewed any of these other brands has still, at one point or another, coveted and owned many Moleskines, hence my use of the term love-hate.

Personally, while I have never used any of the other brands, I had the chance to hold the Ciak in my hands just a few days ago and while I was impressed with the overall quality and design of the book, I'm still not sure it is any better than any of my Moleskines.  I probably won't be able to comment on the Ciak until I have actually used one.  Also, I have never actually paid full price for any of the Moleskines I own, which is probably why I don't yet feel cheated.)

Although I have used Moleskines most often, I have tried many other books over the course of my journal keeping lifetime.  Of particular note, the massive A4 sized Agatha Ruiz de la Prade notebook which was so big I couldn't bring it anywhere, and more recently, a BEAUTIFUL blank notebook with the Sacre Coeur on it, a birthday present last year from Sook and Hanshen and which I have made some of my favourite doodles in.

This was my first ever journal, a cheap $2 book from the school bookshop.  I personalised it and loved it, but because it didn't lie flat, the binding broke down in no time.

This is my current journal, a 365-page journal that has a page a day format so that you can document every day in a special year in your life.  I'm using for the preparation for and my upcoming school year so that I can document the entire process.

To be honest, I sometimes forget to write everyday, but no matter, either I can put in quick notes and drawings about what happened that day OR I use two days' pages to document one day's happenings if they deserve the space.

I'm also extremely obsessive about the materials I use to write in my notebooks.  The main pens I use are either black or blue, extremely fine nibbed and must be waterproof (training from writing in the rain as a journalist).  Everything else has to be multiple colours, if you see what I mean.

Dhany recently bought me this adorable pencil case for school (I know right, I'm like five years old) and while I'm not a fan of Hello Kitty, I absolutely love how she was drawn here.  Also, she is wearing my specs!

Apart from my coloured pens and markers, I have three craft punches (snowflake, a leaf, a strawberry), a mechanical pencil and a special note from a long time ago.

I have two green, yellow and black markers because those are the colours I use the most.

When I'm schooling, I always have on me my diary, my organiser and my pencil case. 

So, sorry about that extremely long blather, but that's basically the history of my journaling over a lifetime.  I've finally settled on fine nibbed, waterproof pens because they make my writing the most coherent and settled on bound books because loose leaves were just too confusing and spiral bound ones are extremely inconvenient for left-handers.

I know there are many many notebook addicts floating around out there, so if you are one of them, I would LOVE to hear from you!

So tell me:

What notebooks do you currently use?  What do you use them for?  What do you look for in a notebook and have you found the perfect one?

Secret project: Revealed!

Um, well, sort of. 

I had been working on a project for Mavis' wedding earlier, which was strictly embargoed till the event was actually over, but I thought it would be nice to document the process anyway, so that I could look at it when it was done.

Mavis asked me to help her draw a wedding tree in lieu of a guestbook (credit to Jamie for the idea).  Guests were supposed to make green thumbprints on the branches for leaves and then sign their names.

She asked for a bicycle below the tree to commemorate the time Brandon cycled all the way to her house to give her a single flower.  I thought it would be cute to put two lovebirds on it, because I am endearingly creative that way, please note.

I used a brown ink pen with a tiny nib to get full control over all the lines (it makes your arm ache but it's well worth it and I can't paint to save my brother's nuts).  I erased all the pencil marks afterwards.

The final product, which we stuck in a dark wooden frame. 

I love drawing little things like this (and I'll do it for free), so if anyone wants a wedding tree or something similar, let me know and I'll be happy to oblige! 

Within you without you

My first "A photo an hour" post.

It's one of those blog memes where you document your day with a random photo taken every hour.  I love the kind of casual and truthful glimpses they give into someone's daily life.

This was my lazy Sunday last week:

9:00am

 
10:00am

11:00am

We took my grandma to the neighbourhood community centre to check out some of the classes they have for seniors.

12:00pm

Coffee at the Peranakan-themed Starbucks down the street with my mother and grandmother.

1:00pm

One of my favourite face masks ever - an indulgence for when I'm feeling a little ragged round the edges.  In between this photo and 2:00pm, I'm pretty sure some major pig-like napping was going on, but you didn't hear it from me.

2:00pm

Spent some time with a good book.  The Discworld series is a bunch of sci-fi/fantasy books about a world which is flat (like a disc, obviously) and rests on the backs for four giant elephants which in turn rest on the back of a giant turtle.

I actually started with Mort from the Discworld Series first, simply because I'd read that The Colour of Magic wasn't the best book to start with if you really wanted to get into it and understand it.

Believe it or not, there even are charts and diagrams floating around on the Interweb which tell you which order you should read Discworld books in (and never actually in the order they were written!).  After Mort though, I found this double-book version with The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic in one, too rare and good to pass up in Singapore, so I got cracking and I'm actually loving it (despite the fact that the cover is cheesy beyond belief).

My favourite bit of the book is still in the beginning where Prachett is explaining theories of how Discworld came into being, one being that two turtles mated and produced many baby turtles which in turn spawned little worlds, otherwise known as The Big Bang theory.

3:00pm

Hanshen and Sook started watching Lagaan.  One of the best.  Hindi.  Movies.  Ever.  Watched it with them on and off.

4:00pm

I made chai masala to make the Yindian experience more authentic, yaar.

5:00pm

6:00pm

Apple and I watched the rain together for a while.

7:00pm

My brothers returned with dinner.

8:00pm

Watched an episode of "Ai" with my grandmother.  It's one of those infernally long-running soap operas that's on it's 800th episode or something and so slow moving, to boot, that I've missed weeks of the plot and can STILL follow what's going on.

I fail to see where the actual "Ai" (or "love" in Mandarin) is.  Everything is unecessarily complicated and the characters spend ridiculous amounts of time arguing, getting drunk and then having affairs with everyone in a 2km radius.

If you care, in this episode, second brother (pictured above) decided that third brother needed some help because he was really being mistreated by his evil wife, Ming Ming.  Ming Ming had climbed her way to the top of the family business, and now, as general manager was really giving third brother a hard time, resulting in him showing up at random casinos and gambling all his money away.

He would then come home dead drunk and hurl evil curses at his wife, who stood there and rolled her eyes in such a supercilious way that Mother, in disbelief to how unfilial her daughter-in-law had become, fainted THREE TIMES during the episode and had to be carried up the stairs.

In the meantime, first brother returned to visit his mother, but not without his PREGNANT MISTRESS who really upset his actual wife who then fled to second brother's apartment in tears and refused to be consoled.  When third brother finally came to the next day, he realised the casino people, in view of his gambling debts were chasing him all over the place and so, unable to get money from Ming Ming, forged a check in the name of the hotel and began a lengthy embezzlement process.

If anyone is still awake at this juncture, please let me know, and YOU can take over watching this crapfest for me.


9:00pm

A top-secret project I'm working on.

10:00pm

Some music and video watching time with Hanwei.

11:00pm

My gingerbread man jammies!

12:00am

Dhany's old shirt which I shredded up for myself.  Later, I rolled the sleeves and stitched them up as well.  Can't wait to wear it with some denim shorts over the weekend.