Scription

Stationery Landscape

 

(Video shot with Leica M240, stablized by youtube)

Imagine flying on a plane looking at my stationery landscape from high above.  Beautiful song by Dimitri From Paris featuring Pink Martini.  Yup, I was busy flying around HK/Shanghai/Japan/Korea lately.  Next trips to Shanghai/Korea in October.  Sorry, I'm so slow in my blog, but rest assure the instagram feed is the best place to tag on my journeys.

 

Syracuse

J'aimerais tant voir Syracuse
L'ile de Paques et Kairouan
Et les grands oiseaux qui s'amusent
A glisser l'aile sous le vent

Voir les jardins de Babylone
Et le palais du Grand Lama
Rever des amants de Verone
Au sommet du Fuji Yama

Voir le pays du matin calme
Aller pecher le cormoran
Et m'enivrer de vin de palme
En ecoutant chanter le vent

Voir le pays du matin calme
Aller pecher le cormoran
Et m'enivrer de vin de palme
En ecoutant chanter le vent

Avant que ma jeunesse s'use
Et que mes printemps soient partis
J'aimerais tant voir Syracuse
Pour m'en souvenir a Paris

Why I did this update?  I needed to slow down and turned down going out on Sunday, listening to Jazz radio and dwelling in these beautiful landscapes.  So beautiful I had to make a video and bring everybody with me flying for just one minute.

Then all hell broke loose, there are so many stories behind each piece of treasure, I am to write just a little bit here after.

Something annoyed me for a long while, right behind my desk there is this window I hate.  Normally I love windows, this one, landlord decided to replace a broken air conditioner with one that must be sealed onto the window, somehow the contractor had to glue the whole thing and the window couldn't be turned open anymore.  The heat, the vibration noise, arghhhh, I couldn't even install a curtain anymore, my desktop monitor would be impossible to look at during day time.  Anyways, I faced the same problem today, kid just gave me a solution which I never thought of.  I got some nice Norens (Japanese fabric dividers) bought from Traveler's Factory and ITOYA, and we just clipped them onto the window and it was almost a perfect day.  Beautiful Japanese design.  Vibration still goes on, but it is alreay a lot better.

A few days ago, as usual I got pissed off with vague empty monkey ideas which everybody seems to have opinions about how to realize but none could specify exactly how.  I could "let it go", but my problem is I couldn't bear such ugly outcome if I were not getting my hands dirty.  Luckily I have the experience using SketchUp for close to 10 years now, I found a crack of time and I had to specify it clearly.

Got me into thinking: physical form follows function, conceptual form follows intentions.  Yes design is an iteration process, building something starts from fulfilling function with form, great designs infiltrate aesthetics and intentions into the form in the process.  Most people forget that the most important aspect of customer experience is YOUR intention, how is that being designed.  Losing focus on that, you get a piece of junk sitting around doing nothing.

Got me into thinking: form is emptiness, emptiness is form. Buddhist's word.

Got me into recalling: "Who?  Who is but the form following the fuction of what and what I am is a man in a mask".  V for Vendetta.

Back to stationery.  I usually use my Kaweco SketchUp 5.6 for rough draft, Rotring 800+ (which has a nice twist and hide mechanism to protect the needle head and a nice stylus tip, got it from ITOYA a week ago in addition to my Rotring 800) for finer lines drawn on my Traveler's Notebook.  Then I move on to SketchUp for simulation in exact measurement.

Which lead me into another project, a space to be created in a new store coming up in December, for gathering with customers having fun together, once in a while with interesting exhibitions.  I can't be fully involved but according to some, this space is important to my departments, so if I don't specify it will go astray to my dismay.  Then there was this Saturday afternoon having fun and deeper discussion with partner Out of Stock.  What interests me is that picking people's brain trying to integrate and elevate something satisfies me immensely.

Got me into thinking: what's the most common pattern in nature?  I was thinking of honeycomb hexagon when designing flexible tables, allowing multiple arrangements and collapsable for storage.  Turned out there is no such thing as "the most common", there are variety of patterns in nature, spirals, fractuals, chaos, waves, etc.  Thank God I have this wondering journey of discovery and linkage back to my science education, which is mostly an intellectual process I enjoy most for the work I do.

Which leads us back in time for a week when I was in Tokyo/Osaka.  It was a 7 days travel to visit trade show, meet suppliers and explore places and spaces.  At one point I sat down in a nice cafe in Nakazakicho (中崎町), Osaka, which is a really nice area with small shops and cafes.  I thought of my extremity being in certain roles at one time but completely another roles in other times crossing disciplines, it felt almost unbearable having my personality and skills split into compartments, unable to manage it I would become a mad man getting nowhere.  How to simplify such management was the thought in that very cafe.

Got me into a thought experiment: Can't just be a lighthouse in a tea cup, able to show direction but knowing just that and in a small world.  Can't just be an explorer seeing so much there is no place to berth and share what I see into the future.  Can't be both at the same time either.  What I need to become?  Need to be fluid-like waveform and become Schrödinger's cat, observe me I'm a lighthouse, observe me again I'm an explorer.  Can I master this meta personality?  I have a long way to go.

(Flannagan, Osaka)

Alright Osaka was fun, I wish I stopped by Kyoto instead but it was a rush decision.  I thought I hadn't been there for 5 years so I wanted to see what was changed.  Visited 15 stores, two most loved ones are Flannagan and Standard Bookstore.  Despite unable to communicate in English, staff at Flannagan tried very hard to explain everything I asked.  It has no big difference than the last time I visited, but this time I asked more.  Except Meister Tools Pen, which is from Japan, all of their products are imported from Europe/USA.  The most recent import was from Russia, a 350 yen 2.0 lead mechanical pencil with a sharpener cap, an attractive deal.

(Standard Bookstore)

Standard Bookstore was relaxing to read, to grab stationery and to have a nice cup of coffee.  I got a Apartamento magazine and a book called True Portland.  Spent more than the usual time to walk around the stationery and lifestyle product sections and of course a cup of coffee in their cafe.  There is a certain rawness in it, kind of organized un-neatly yet organized and motivates a sense of discovery.  It is a perfect place to spend an entire day, we need these spaces.

(Trans-Lankhe)

Oh there is another place I stumbled upon, a home/interior shop called Trans-Lankhe, close to Flannagan.  I feel that this is a shop managed by Dulton, a brand I love a lot, but I'm not sure.  I love their cabinets, far-sight eyeglasses, small things like wooden trays and clips as well as those cans and accessories.

(Doutor Coffee, working on Chronodex planning 5 people's schedule for the next day)

Back further before visiting Osaka, it was almost all business and meetings in Tokyo, except in small chunks of time when I was in Doutor Coffee, ITOYA and Angers.

(ITOYA, Ginza, Tokyo)

ITOYA, ITOYA!  I lost a lot of blood over there, it is a family in stationery business I admire a lot.  There are intentions and histories there.  Yup, you can spend a full day there and it is not enough.  Currently their original building is still under re-construction hopefully seeing light into opening in 2015, a temporary building is used but you still get a full 7-8 floors full of stationery, an annex close by called K.ITOYA hosts finer selections of fountain pens, art supplies and study room essentials.  Be prepared to die in this heaven, I got a wooden pencase called AvanWood there, well and many other stuffs too, its a poison.

(Angers in KITTE Marunouchi, Tokyo)

Angers originates from Kyoto since 1993, it is one of the stores with stronger intentions you can tell from product selection and merchandise mix, things are right beside each other for reasons, unlike Loft and Hands which are more commercially oriented and you would have no interest to find out who's behind them (they are still far superior than many Western stationery businesses IMHO), Angers shows telltale signs in every corner.  To put it simply, signage speaks character, as to what character you can perceive from the store, you just have to visit it.

(Traveler's Factory, Terminal 1, Narita Airport, Tokyo)

Oh of course there is the Traveler's Factory in Narita Airport.  This time I brought two colleagues to see it, every corner of the store speaks of details.  You know all the signages there were painted by hands from the original designer, factory only products, rubber stamps, etc all guarantee a few hours of stay even though it is a tiny shop comparing to the flagship factory shop in Meguro.

Why TN is loved by so many?  In addition to the flexibility for customization, the leather, the paper etc, I will tell you why: Serendipity.  It's a long story by itself of where this TN movement came from, it is other long stories of how things evolved around my life with it.  Simply said, I met a lot of friends from around the world because of it, you too have to step out of your zone and meet other users, it changes your perspectives and I mean it.

(mini meet-up in Tokyo with Shigeru and Rocketman, together with Suzuki and Rita)

For a while, Mr. Shigeru follows my instagram and I thought he only plays Ukulele, nothing to do with stationery or TN.  Then this July I saw his feed showing Traveler's Factory Narita in construction as well as Designphil's booth construction in time lapsed video, I got curious and asked if he is involved in the same industry.  Turned out he is a contractor for Designphil helping to build these things and he has been a TN user for many years.  Alright, let's come out when I visit in Sep I said, then dispite the language barrier we met in Nonbei Yokocho for a drink, together with my visiting colleagues.  Then Rocketman joined all of a sudden, I knew him only on Flickr liking his photos and he is actually a TN user too, he is probably uploading the most TN photos to the Flickr group and what a surprise I could finally meet him in person.  Rocketman sings in a hobby band, catalogs his meals meticulously on his TN, loves photography just like me and tries to visit new places every year.

Aren't we all connected?  Yes but if you are connected to people just on the net and never met any one of them, you missed a lot.  There are so much more in each of us that's worth sharing and peeking.

(mini meet-up with Traveler's Notebook Korean users)

Each TN is a conversation starter.  Last year I had a great time visiting Korea to join a TN user gathering and we couldn't have enough.  So far, users in Korea are way more willing to show and share their TN usage than people in Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan.  This year I visited Seoul again for business but at the end of the last day my friend and business partner Mr. Shin said we should head back to his office for discussion, alright we were tired but no problem, a few more hours of hard work will pay off.  Turned out it was a surprise gathering with familiar and new faces!  I was so happy despite being tired.  We swapped TNs to see what's happening lately to each other and how each one added personal touches to their TNs, be it customization or usage.

Who they are? Mathematics teacher in University, fashion industry mercahndiser, fountain pen fanatic with a background in theoratical physics, tour guide, fine art student etc.  See the diversity and how everyone enjoys sharing?  I learned a lot too.

One unexpected nice gift was from a fine art student who painted in very fine lines my avator onto a TN refill! 

Earlier this year, Voloymyr from Ukraine came to Hong Kong travelling with family, we knew each other briefly on facebook only but when he said he was going to leave Hong Kong the next day, I couldn't resist to come out very late a night just to catch up chatting with him.  I wondered what is happening in Ukraine, how he can spend 6 months working and then 6 months of vacation with family year after year, etc etc.  Stories and life diversity again and again.  Well, he didn't really go away, he left for Indonesia with family and filled up 128 pages of his TN and came back to Hong Kong for yet another brief meet up.  Amazing, he is back to Ukraine now, hopefully I will meet him again.

August this year, I was in Shanghai for a brief stay to help set up our ¬ [DESKBOUND] campaign (I would love to tell you more about this but maybe later).  On the last day I was carrying my luggage walking around the campaign area for a final glimpse, "Breeze in May" came and poking here and there in the TN zone, I was trying to answer her questions as much as possible in such short time.  She finally became a TN user, at this moment I think she is working on her USA vacation itinerary on TN :)

I met many new users in Hong Kong too!  During the ¬ [DESKBOUND] campaign in Hong Kong in early August, I brought my Kingsley machine to Times Square for a pop-up event, helping customers to emboss their TN with gold foil.  A family from Singapore, a secretary, a TN couple, etc etc.  We are going to have a great meet-up in Hong Kong soon I promise!  How about December when there is a new space we can use?

(¬ [DESKBOUND] event in city'super, Times Square, Hong Kong)

(a sample TN I drew on the cover with gold acrylic for display)

Alright, I'm writing too long and heading nowhere.  Before wrapping up, let me give you a little tip on TN.

If you have bought the brass index clip, have you ever wonder how other people are using it so that it won't fall off from the edge?  I did.  Here's a simple solution for you, just tape the back of the clip onto the page with masking tape, that's it.  Masking tapes are easily removable and you can relocate the index clip very easily.  Securing the clip using masking tape also helps to prevent excessible movement of the index clip which can easily damage the paper on the edge.  Good tip eh?

Finally, back to the Stationery Landscape topic.  I travel relatively more than other people, yet I feel seriously not enough coz most of my trips are on very tight business schedule, leaving me not much time to explore with people and places.  But life is like that isn't it?  Not enough not enough not enough, when can we start to enjoy more?  Let's steal time, find cracks, take moral advantages and be explorers meeting new people and making new friends on those common landscapes, I'm sure through that, we can be lighthouses to other people once in a while.

If you have reached this far of this blog post hahahah, its time to go back to the video and enjoy that one minute fly over with me once again, over the stationery landscape of mine.

Durable DIY Bookmark Made from Air Baggage Tags

For all travelers who have a diary, you need a bookmark.  Well, you can buy a bookmark but what if you can create your own with a material accessible because of your traveling spirit?  Look no further than your very own luggage, the material is just your airline luggage tag, which was given to you free during your last check-in.  The history and evolution of luggage tag is worth to read here, but before RFID tags becomes everyday object, you better start to collect these silicon/plastic/adhesive/barcode based tags right now, just like those of you who collect vintage luggage tags before.

These magic tags are resistant to moisture, heat/cold, sunlight, ice, oil and all the wear and tear which can occur during your luggage's journey from home to destination.  Dozens of patents were filed around the 90s, not only did the design make sure of the tags' durability but the integration of barcode into tracking systems made accurate delivery a defacto.

So here's how you make a bookmark out of the tags.  You will make a thin piece of bookmark to be inserted onto your notebook's spine with a small tab extended out of your closed notebook.  First, pick a portion of your tag with the graphics you want, in my case it is where black stripes and arrows are located.  Fold it and glue the two halves to make your tab.  Next, also finding the portion of the graphics you like then fold and glue to make a longer piece of horizontal stripe, finally gluing it onto the first tab you've just made.  That's it!

This is how it looks, preferably you would want to make both sides of the bookmark look good because you will see both sides when you use it.  Tip: make sure the thinnest part of your bookmark is in the middle where there is only one layer of material, because this part is going to sit at the spine of your notebook between your notebooks' pages.

Inserting is easy.  For Chronodex users who don't need to bind their pages (because it is held with just an elastic band), simply insert the bookmark through the spine so half of the bookmark is sitting on the other side of the spine (gee I'm so clumsy with words).  For Traveler's Notebook refill users, the refills are stapled on the spine, so you can tailor your bookmark about 3cm in height, which allows you to insert the bookmark close to the top of the refills, works like a charm.  The pressure of a closed notebook on the spine will keep your bookmark safe.  For people using refills that have the entire spine stitched or glued, this bookmark is not for you.

 

I hope you've enjoyed a little bit of history and a lot of fun gluing these tags!

Phew, 2014 is Here Already...

It's been a slowest blogging year, things happen to you, you thought you were not whining but you were.  You thought you would deal with them one by one with methods but they just keep coming at you.  With all the good intentions somehow attracting me negative energies, I started to realize that good intentions without positive emotions didn't do any good.  Everything went downhill coz I chose to fight giants, to look down on poor quality, to prove myself by winning battles, etc all these did me no good, in terms of health and effects on people and family around me.

(Pencil, pencil and pencils, nice colors and wooden barrels)

So at one point, I was near break down coz everything went nowhere, with increasing number of triggers lying around to set me off on anger and despair, I finally screamed in front of the mirror.  That was scary, that was the point I realized I had to re-wire my brain.

(that scream happened on 16th March 2014)

While I'm doing that, please stop by my Instagram and twitter feed.

(Traveler's Notebook experience corner, inside 5F Raffles City, "Life by city'super" store)

Short update you don't need to read: just finished setting up new "Life by city'super" store in Raffles City, Shanghai 2 weeks ago, loving the new furnitures and zoning I planted, thankful to friends and colleagues helping out a lot.  1st May we will launch a huge store in iAPM Shanghai, so next two weeks I'm flying there again.  June is Travel Photo Cafe 2014. Early July is stationery show in Tokyo I hope I can visit, but in that month a new store will be launched in Hong Kong which we've spent a lot of time perfecting, plus a relocation of another store.  August is Back To School, huge project.  September is launching of a range of limited edition Traveler's Notebook which is stuck at certain stage right now. Close to the end of the year is another new store I'm hoping I could spend a lot more time on planning, not to mention crazy Xmas season for gifts, cards, diaries, etc…. Wife's last chemo shot will be two weeks from now, then there will be a series of radiotherapy. Poor boy got his elbow broken 2 days ago and his arm is in plaster cast, oh gee he signed up for swimming competition.  Tons of small projects to seed, track and execute.  I love doing all these, if they were not all cramped together, I thought last year was hell hahahah.  And my Chronodex stamp, sorry that the maker of a special part went bankrupt and I couldn't find replacement yet, got to do it got to do it.  And yes the 2nd half of the 2014 weekly Chronodex should be on its way.

(nano Traveler's Notebook)

Did I manage to have some fun with my Traveler's Notebook?  Yes, I made the world's first nano Traveler's Notebook :)

Scription Chronodex Weekly Planner 2014 - free download with the cost of a prayer

It is time for the release of the next 6 months' worth of Chronodex!

In 2011, my family received thousands of prayers for my father's condition, it was a lot of positive and calming energy and I still appreciate many of your kind messages to this date.

Chronodex as a creative tool was shared to make a difference in traditional and limiting grid-style scheduling.  It was also shared to elevate positive energy for myself and my family.  This time my wife needs your prayers, tomorrow she will go through an operation as the first battle against breast cancer, there will be a series of followup treatments I hope it will pass like a breeze.  I hope to maintain a clear mind and yet being able to take it easy for why things happened the way they are, in terms of work, love, dreams and health (Did I just unconsciously telling myself that I've been putting these in the wrong priority?).

Here's the Jan - Jun 2014 no holiday version download!

The Chronodex Facebook Page is going to be the center of version releases, news update, hacks sharing, so please do stop by once in a while to see what others are doing with their Chronie.

The Chronodex Flickr Group is a place where nicer photos were taken by users.  The Instagram hash tag #chronodex allows you to find yet another bunch of interesting users and the crazy things they've done.

On the other hand, do Google up Chronodex for the fun of it.  There have been a lot of mods in various paper sizes (A5, filofax, etc) or altered cores, as long as they are shared free, I'm ok.  Some of the Chronodex super fans reported that there are people on Etsy selling Chronodex, that I'm not ok.  So far, I've issued no license to anybody for commercial usage, but I will consider if it is a quality implementation.

Although creating your own ways to notate from a Chronodex core is encouraged, be it colors, pinpointing on tick marks or radiate from zones etc, I do have some tips I want to share in 2014.  That's why I'm working on an upgrade of the core (now in its version 8, 9 and 10) which will allow you to draw with guides and simply look more elegant and smart.  In the mean time, Maryanne Moll (Thanks Maryanne) did some nice videos on youTube sharing her way of using Chronodex, take a look:

 

For the fun of it, here's some beautiful Chronodex to look at:

(@momojin made this rubber stamp for herself by hand!)

(@aircrush made each of her days colorful)

(I've visited Seoul for business at the end of October, we had a great gathering of the Traveler's Notebook Korea User Group, they are absolutely amazing TN and Chronodex users, which I'm gonna talk about it in later posts.  Jessica and several of her friends printed the Chronodex core on the passport size and kind enough to find a page not too personal to share here)

Finally, some of you already knew I have a Chronodex stamp under progress.  It was too bad one of the parts maker went out of business so I had to find another quality maker to continue the project.  I've tried many different ways and I found an elegant solution, I am determined to release a self-inking Chronodex stamp in 2014, you will love it!

What's in the 1st Official TRAVELER'S notebook Hong Kong Gathering 2013

We spent 8 months in preparation to launch the Star Edition TRAVELER's notebook, it was unbelievable how the project sucked away my time from normal work, but it was super rewarding.  Tomorrow will be the day when we can get on the "Shinning Star" ferry to enjoy a sunny day of the 1st Official TRAVELER'S notebook Hong Kong Gathering!

Nearly a 100 fans, friends and staff will go onboard.  Participants will receive a pack of Star Edition cookie made freshly by Aunt Stella (all natural ingredients mixed in small bowl before baking) and a set of event only stickers kindly created by Designphil.  Our Korean TN friend won't be able to come but he made an interesting pin/badge for each of the participants too!

There will be 3 corners on the ferry in addition to the beautiful open deck on two sides where TN friends can enjoy a great harour view.  Customization corner will feature loads of scrap materials, masking tapes, event only rubber stamps and beads.  I will bring along my Kingsley leather hot stamp machine for an event only emboss for participants too.  Rubber stamp crafting corner will have demonstration of how to use a typical eraser and carving knife to make your own rubber stamp.  Presentation corner will feature slides of old Hong Kong and a collector will share the stories he found from these old Star Ferry postcards and tickets.

(photo credit: mimuthings workshop)

We've also made a huge event poster at the lower deck where TN friends can take photo in front of the ferry wheel to play coxwain.

Who will be there in this historic event?  THE Designphil TRAVELER'S notebook project owner Iijima san and designer Hashimoto san, brining along 7 Japanese TN fans flying HK just to be on the ferry.  Alan Cheung the crazy collector who can talk hours and hours of old Hong Kong and Star Ferry.  Shizue Takehara san who is an art exhibition organizer and rubber stamp fanatic, she helped to arrange Hong Kong artist and rubber stamp carving teacher Fion Wong onboard to give TN fans a glimpse of how easy it is to bring creativity into your TN life.

In addition to Japanese TN fans, we will have two French magazine editors from Pinholet, also fans of TN, coming onboard looking at the content of my bag and reporting this event.  They are here in Hong Kong to gather materials for their magazine issue specifically about Hong Kong sub-culture, featuring Michael Wolf pictures, HK Honey, Shanghai Street Studios, So Soap, Kacey Wong's work and Tom Grundy's explorations (remember his attempt of citizen's arrest on Tony Blair in Hong Kong).

Stationery freaks in Asia have probably noticed a new dream store in Taiwan called TOOLS to LIVEBY (禮拜文房具) by now.  Guess what, founder and owner Karen Yang has flown to HK just for this too!  To my delight my dear TN friend "Fishball" is also flying here to join us.  Finally, digital scrapbooking and installation artist Lie Fhung from Indonesia whom happens to be the 008 TRAVELER'S notebook Professional User couldn't resist the temptation to come as well.

Can you imagine?  We are all connected through TN.  I wish my UK friend Colin Edwards could come, we are connected through TN and my blog and he used to travel to Hong Kong in his youth.  Now do I sound like this is my Tuesday-with-Morris type of funeral which everybody I hold dear of can attend?  It does.

Lastly, before I start to pack my bag for the ferry ride, I would like to express my dismay of being unable to write on Scription as much as I would like to.  My job has the most rewarding things one could get from a job ever, but at the same time as an employee in business (oh this blog is personal BTW), the under manpower and workload is killing the whole team and drained my energy.  Like this Conklin fountain pen, the beauty and aura it emanates can't be measured by numbers, frequencies, profit or a paycheck, you will never pick this pen up if that's all you look for, you will not put this in your store if that's all you look for.  I fall for beauty and aura.

Tools to Liveby

In such a short period of time, Karen Yang has achieved what I've been dreaming for so long, I hope to visit her shop Tools to Liveby soon.  But of course she would be facing a whole new set of accompanying problems she couldn't have imagined before, I presumed.  It will be interesting to interview her, let's see.

 

Field Notes Dream Journal with Leather Vest

My pile of Field Notes laid dormant for a while because they tend to bleed with my fountain pen or roller balls.  On a surprising turn of events (meeting Tsuchihashi san and his idea note), I realized I hadn't been jotting down my dreams for a long while and started to look for a handy reliable notebook to do so all over again.

The trigger was a week ago when my Dad passed away.  I was expecting to see him at least in my dreams on the 7th day of his passing, realizing that I had to write down every single word I would hear from him, I frantically picked up Field Notes and pondering how I would attach a pen onto it for quick access.

There it was, a few hours of measuring and hammering, I made a leather vest from ~1mm thin leather (Australian Gold) attaching to Field Notes' cover and holds a wooden ball pen from Japan I love.

So by the 7th night of his passing, I had this fully equipped, following me all the time.  Did he came into my dreams?  No.  But he did tell a love story I will never forget from his small moves.

I guess the insight was "life is what happens when you are busying making other plans".  No regret trying.

You can plan so much and things are not happening the way you expected, but the cool thing to realize is that, things would always turn out to be more beautiful, that is, only had you acted.

The leather vest I made was just the right size to allow me rolling the Field Notes in half for compact storage in jackets.  The proportion even allows me to use it on a typical thicker (and dull) Moleskine in pocket size.

I encourage you to make one yourself, you should be proud of what you can do and carry inspirations (idea notes) and dreams in your pocket.  Fear not losing the notes coz that's only the physical record of what you've already gotten.

Today, I brought my kid out to Cheung Chau island for a leisure cycling, feeling contented my vest and FN, along side with my inspirations and dreams were with me.

An Afternoon with Tsuchihashi san 與土橋正先生的一個下午

Mr. Tsuchihashi is a famous Japanese stationery commentator on a mission to Hong Kong today.  Invited by Messe Frankfurt Hong Kong to write about Hong Kong International Stationery Fair and later on Messe Frankfurt's Paper World.  I had the pleasure to meet him again for a nice chat this afternoon.

We share similar interests in journals and task/time management, language wasn't much an issue at all.  He always carries a tiny idea notebook, which he modifed to have a Fisher pen inserted at the spine for easy access to the pen.  At the end of the pen he taped a thread which allows him to pull out the pen easily and double as a bookmark.  His idea notebook is a 24 hours companion, whenever he has ideas or need to capture a quick note, he would pull it out in no time.  Because of its small size, he can carry it anytime anywhere without worrying whether it fits his clothing at all, bed time and gym time included.  I actually held it close to my nose, no smell :)  I hope I wasn't being impolite :)

People with similar interests click right away, that was what happened with him previously and today.  I was explaining to him the Chronodex details, while he explained his Clock Style To-Do Memo (English site here). What makes two similar systems in sync is that they both encourage visual representation of time span, only in different ways.  In Chronodex I use concentric arcs to represent 24 hours, note taking is radially put outside of the arcs and make use of the whole page.  Mr. Tsuchihashi's Clock Style To-Do Memo employs two circles to represent am/pm and note is written inside the pies.  Such to-do memo allows users to quickly tack time specifc notes onto any notebooks or surfaces.

We both agree that digitally inputting to-do or schedules do little help to facilitate recall.  Writing things down on paper actually ensures enough processing time in our brains for more efficient future recall.  That's why paper based diary is still very popular, in fact the business size of diary/schedule books is still growing.

Mr. Tsuchihasi has just released his 6th book called 文具上手 (Proficient Stationery, I hope I'm translating the meaning right), I'm so happy he gave me a copy.  In his book, he interviewed 12 professionals ranging from fashion design, medical, stationery, accounting etc industries, it is all about how they use their stationery in their jobs.

Glad to have spent time with him today.  I'm inviting him to Hong Kong again this year to collaborate on a speech to share journaling and scheduling experience with the public.  It will be great fun, hope everything go smoothly.

What's In My Pencase - December 2012

Porn: was on Flickr Explore on 5th December, Things Organized Neatly on 24th December.

Content: candy design & works, merchants & mills tape measure and scissors, scription gtd tap mod, koh-i-noor eraser, mt tape, fishing reel tape measure, Muji scissors, cutter and glue stick, charm, magnifier, Kaweco al sports touch, pilot Capless fountain pen, staedtler 925 mechanical pencil, tascam audio recorder, 8 scales in one body. Beneath: Moleskine large grid journal, saddleback leather cover.

Head over to the Flickr photo, hover your mouse over the objects to see which is which.

Scription 2012 - How Was It?

Scription has been very slow in the past year of 2012.  I thought situation at work would become smoother but it didn't.  Simply opening too many stores too fast, losing important connection between sourcing and customer wants/needs.  In addition to under staff situation in my departments, I had a lot of tedious problems to tackle for developing new stores in Shanghai.  That left me essentially no time in cultivating people and projects at work, let alone my own Chronodex adventure.  2012 was a very tiring year.

(Le Jardin Secret)

(A Room vintage cafe: dolls from the 50s meet present day Traveler's Notebook)

(A Room vintage cafe: Tri-eyes of different ages. Bell & Howell model 333 8mm movie camera vs #turtlejacket on iPhone. 3-lens turret)

(GZ cafe: which I brought a dear Korean Traveler's Notebook super fan/friend there)

I did managed to stop by a few nice places during my business trips, which is like Shanghai every month, such as Le Jardin Secret (秘密花園) restuarant, A Room which is a nice cafe flooded with vintage stuffs and GZ cafe which the owner is always there to chat with.

(Shanghai airport lounge)

(Shanghai airport: roof window looks like leaves from certain angles)

I did managed to steal time, like I said before, to do something I like in small chunks of time too, but that's not too fulfilling and I always feel like missing a lot of things.  Like bringing personal projects to business trip hoping I could work on them in hotel but eventually too tired to do so, like I needed to organize ideas floating around but there was never a quiet moment I could use productively.  Despite what you think apparently, I myself feel like losing myself bits and pieces here and there.  2013 new year resolution? Be smarter. 

Smarter!  Like forget about Apple's Map, use Baidu in China once and for all. For the rest of the world, Google Map rocks.  Yup, Apple led somebody in Australia to a dessert, it led me to a wrong building too.  Not smart to roll out an app like that.  Not smart when you don't know you are not ready for it (I'm reminding myself).

(Sensu brush is the best stylus I've ever found! Writing with it on iPad is effortless, not to mention the amazing low friction digital painting in apps like Paper)

(Words notebook: made in USA, carefully chosen paper and ink, size the same as Moleskine Cahier, unique system of notation for tasks and bullets. Fountain pen will bleed through pages, finer rollerballs, pencils and ballpoints are perfect.  I would say it is the tasks/bullets version of Field Notes)

(Varacil mechanical pencil PUZZLE, HK$108 kind of challenging to finish, but it is our 2012 Xmas TOP seller! 砌死人嘅鉛蕊筆)

As for product reviews in 2012, I believe I did nothing at all.  Did managed to post some pictures with short comments on Instagram/Twitter feed, but no analysis and comparison, zero.  Well, Scription is not about product reviews afterall, I am sure you trust what I share here or on Instagram/Twitter has some points of interest.  Maybe I filtered too much, should have revealed a little more.

(Kaweco props for retail display: sick and tired of data analysis and fighting against biased opinions on that day, so I played with tihngs on my table for a few minutes)

(Frame and lenses: I was just posting something I stare at for a long time, bet they are pleasing in some ways, to you too)

(Headphones and cameras cleaning day of the year)

Yes I posted porns on my feeds too, judging from the responds I get, I figured people really don't mind.  I hope in between these porns, you can see tibits of my life and practise perhaps something good will come out of the sharing.

(Love film, no edit great colors and texture, not too real. Mangrove in Tainan. Canon F1 85mm/f1.2, AGFA Vista plus 200)

Oh meeting people in 2012 was fun, great fun.  I took the liberty to further disrupt my work boundaries and went to Tainan University of Technology sharing my retail experience, hope I had inspired some students there.  They are very polite and teachers are super friendly, I appreciate the opportunity.  I also went to a forum to speak to dozens of secondary school students in Hong Kong, sharing thoughts about creating a sustainable campaign for their Chinese New Year projects.  I love sharing, which is part of my very own learning, I just hope I can have more time to do that in our industry as well.

(Thanks world Traveler's Notebook fans @fishball and Colin for sending me lovely greetings! Merry Xmas!)

Lastly, thanks to all of you Scription readers and Chronodex users whom have been heart warming and supportive.  Let's continue the Scription journey in 2013!

Please do comment for the Scription content so far, I'd like to see what I can improve.