Scription

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.

How to Use Things You Collected from Travel for Projects and Still Keep Them Intact After?

There are so many small things you collected from travel, train/plane tickets, travel pass, postcards etc.  You don't know what to do with them, you don't want to make a scrapbook out of them coz you are not sure if they will look good or you simply don't have such kind of energy to complete such daunting task, you obviously don't want to throw them away.....

I asked my flight attendant friend, whom I met years ago from tap dance group, to get me some of the tickets and paper stuffs she could collect from her trip to Russia, so that I could pretend I went there.  Posted this picture on Flickr, then all of a sudden problem solved, see the conversation below:

Shanti: I'd be interested to see what you do with these. I've got a little shoe box full of tickets and receipts I've saved from wherever in the world I've travelled and I'm yet to plan what I will make with them.

Patrick: hahah for things I don't quite care about keeping, they will be used on some of my notebook refill covers. I suggest you to lay them flat on scanner and scan, not for archiving purpose, just to have a random collection of things from places you travelled to, then laser print the scanned collage on a large piece of A3 paper, use that A3 paper for decorative purpose on your stuffs (notebook refill cover, boxes, etc). This way you get to keep the original and you can enjoy seeing the copies of them here and there. Good tip? :)

Shanti: Great tip! Why haven't I even thought of scanning them? I'm sure some of them are probably faded by now. Ooo! I'm excited to get them out and look them over again now:) Thank you!

Patrick: oh gee, I haven't even done that before too, such a great idea come to think of it ..... hahahahah ;)

Scription Chronodex Weekly Planner Jan-Jun 2013 Released

Alright, haven't gotten much time to take better photos or explaining too much, I guess Chronodex lovers already know how it works.  It was a thrill that there were 72,841 downloads of the 2012 version and I hope many of you are as inspired as I am on everyday basis using Chronodex!  Thank you for being part of it.

This time I've included a yearly dial featuring our beloved Vitruvian Man.  Each division represents the correct number of days in that month, with reference to the week number in the inner most dial.  If you want to plan ahead of the entire year of 2013, it should be a good visual representation of how you want your year spent, just color the weeks or the day divisions and remark radially, you are in control.

If you are new to Chronodex, check out story behind: Scription Chronodex Weekly Planner 2012 - free download with the cost of a prayer. 

To interact with fellow Chronodex users, take a peek here:

1. Chronodex Facebook Page
2. Chronodex Flickr Group
3. The Fountain Pen Network thread about Chronodex
4. Lifehacker's cover of Chronodex

And now the download link of the Jan-Jun 2013 version:

• Free of Holidays version Jan-Jun 2013 (improved to save you printing ink)
• Middle East version without dates or holidays
• Undated version, modification by Paul David Krishnan from Malaysia, portrait mode, dotted grid, 4 Chronodex cores on A4 sized paper to be printed and folded in half: PDF
• Blank Chronodex Daily GTD, two A5 pages on one A4 paper: PDF,JPG
• Blank Chronodex Daily GTD in "GhostWriter Notes" iPad app's "paper" format, works for Noteshelf too: JPG
• Blank Chronodex core, two cores on blank A4 paper for any of your customization: PDF, JPG

Enjoy!  Shoot me comments to make the next cool implementations.

BTW, if you have problem printing the correct sequence, here's a quick guide to give you the concept:

Mult-tasking is a Myth

Today one of my colleagues dropped a few tears feeling overwhelmed by all those nonsense requests from here and there and wondered what management really wants from a buyer.  I couldn't offer help from my beloved GTD practise at that moment, but it is the only way we can manage things in this so called multi-tasking world.

Yes it is a myth, no soul can do multi-tasking, it is not the right term to describe it afterall.  You can only spend highly focused small chunks of time (even stealing time) and still be organized if you have a principle to follow.  The principle for me is much like a processor cycling metaphor, with a meta mind behind directing traffic.

So many seeds I've sown moments after moments.  If I were not able to have a meta mind governing traffic I would lose my mind.  One seed sown 2 years ago was a GTD leather tab thingie using binder clip and scrap leather, upon repeated usage I think it is the right time for sharing it with the world.  Just because I finally found a good manufacturer.  Still unclear of setting up an online shop, payment or logistics, but I'm all for it.  Stay tuned.

I've given up the idea of spending an extensive period of time for one activity for a long while, coz it is a luxury.  Without sacrificing quality, the only way is to make them into small projects, one step at a time.  So I got to spend these small chunks of time for things I like, including photography.  An hour or two with my belowed Voigtlander R4A and Turtleback iPhone jacket etc.

Energy is another matter, depleted easily if it were only a matter of corporeal property.  If you have that spirit, you can always find chances to deplete the way you want it.  Hair cut on Sunday, Jerry Liu the stylist told me about his sister's obsession with a pair of HK$30K hair scissors.  Gotta see it in person, maybe an interview.

I've declined an invitation to my very own event in the Traveler's Factory store in Tokyo because of tight schedule, better wait when my own stuffs are ready in time.  But I'm very happy that somehow my gathering with famous Japanese photographer Ryu Itsuki san in the Traveler's Factory shop spinned off a nice interesting small collaboration project there.  The world is small and only if you can take advantage of connections.

Lastly, I'm enjoying a little craft projects here and there, this one being customizing a few Traveler's Notebooks for our stores to display, showing customers how they can also do their own customization using lamination sheets from Japan.  6 more copies to go but I can take the time.

Middle East Starts Sunday - Chronodex Updated

I never knew people in the Middle East starts their week on Sundays and their weekends are Friday/Saturday.  They also start their day early at 7am to avoid heat, one guy from The Fountain Pen Network who works there pleaded for a Chronodex version tailored for that.  I couldn't make a full version of it so I made a version free of dates and holidays.  Hope to have more audiences over there :)

Check out the Chronodex page for the newly available download, in addition to the recently added Korean version.

Chronodex July - December 2012 Weekly Diary Free Download Released

Here comes the long awaited release of the Traveler's Notebook sized weekly planner for July to December 2012.  I'm working on the Korean version too, so stay tuned my Korean friends (update: and it is done!).

Head over to the Chronodex page to find out more, or simply download from the link below:

• Hong Kong Holiday version Jan-Jun 2012
• Hong Kong Holiday version Jul-Dec 2012
• Japanese Holiday version Jan-Jun 2012
• Japanese Holiday version Jul-Dec 2012
• Korean Holiday version Jul-Dec 2012
• Free of Holidays version Jan-Jun 2012
• Free of Holidays version Jul-Dec 2012
• Dated, free of Holidays version, modification by Coronado from Fountain Pen Network, portrait mode, dotted grid: PDF
• Dated, free of Holidays version, same modification by Coronado, particularly made for ARC/Circa notebook users, print double sided on Letter size paper, cut the pages in half and bind to your ARC/Circa notebook: PDF
• Undated version, modification by Paul David Krishnan from Malaysia, portrait mode, dotted grid, 4 Chronodex cores on A4 sized paper to be printed and folded in half: PDF
• Blank Chronodex Daily GTD, two A5 pages on one A4 paper: PDF, JPG
• Blank Chronodex Daily GTD in "GhostWriter Notes" iPad app's "paper" format, works for Noteshelf too: JPG
• Blank Chronodex core, two cores on blank A4 paper for any of your customization: PDF, JPG

Enjoy!

Simon Ward - An Embryologist's Chronodex

Simon has been chasing me for the next July-December 2012 Chronodex release for a while, I got interested in his Instagram photos because I simply couldn't figure how a person constantly on his motorcycle had anything to do with Chronodex.  Turned out we have a lot in common, here's what I found out.

1. How did you come by Chronodex?

Well, a little background may help.

My formal training is as a scientist. Originally an embryologist, I have an unhealthy interest in most scientific disciplines but this has always bumped up against a very visual, or artistic, natural tendency. So my life plays out in pictures and I have adapted this to serve me both in work and play. As such, I developed an interest in the analogue side of life prior to the digital revolution. Stationary and tools to help me become more efficient shaped how I learnt and managed my daily routines from an early age.

However, being a true technophile, I was always an 'early adopter', and was soon sucked into the laptop wielding, smartphone brigade particularly fueled by Steve Job's magic blend of art and computing power.

A couple of decades later, my lovely wife and I have both decided to simplify our lives and revert to more traditional, less invasive ways to live live. We wanted to use technology, and not let technology use us! For me, that meant returning to my favoured paper and ink.

I wanted to see how similar minded people had developed since I had disappeared into pixel land, and hence, a few web searches later, I discovered your blog. Chronodex appealed immediately as this is indeed how I 'see' my time laid out. I love the 'blocks of three hours' and the analogue clock face view of the world. Interestingly I do not wear a watch; maybe the Chronodex lay out replaces this?

2. Are you a traveler's notebook user?

Oh yes! I have both the original and the passport format. The original is my 'everything' book. In this I carry Chronodox in your weekly format, a separate note book into which I stick the chronodex clock (printed on labels), one per double page (usually landscape), such that I can capture a day in detail and plot routes, write up meeting notes and capture life in general. I also use this booklet for my to do's (again, I have adopted your idea for using tabs to mark pages that collects my next actions, things I am waiting for and my dreams = someday!!). My passport version is small enough to disappear into my jacket pocket and I use this to collect notes when space is a premium. Both are loaded with the plastic wallets to collect receipts and other such bit and pieces we carry around, and I use stickies for more permanent additions. It doubles as my wallet.

3. What do you do for a living?  Would be cool if you were an assassin

An assassin eh? That would be cool, but if I admitted this to you I'd then have to hunt you down!!

Nothing so glamorous!! I guess I am a bio-entrepreneur - a label I have recently accepted. What I do now is hunt new technologies that have potential to provide future healthcare benefits and help, encourage, shape and push these out into products. For instance, currently I am helping an academic institute to develop a new treatment for solid tumours. This means I spend my time between the research and commercial worlds - figuring out how to fund highly expensive programmes to launch new treatments.

4. Journaling seems important to you, is it for personal record? or you have a specific line of work which requires details in time line?

Journaling is part of my day job in that we need a record of what has happened. From my early bench days, we used journals to record experiments. Journaling for science has a long history - google Darwin! Now, my journal extends to general life too. I find it a natural way to organize my thoughts and ambitions, as well as providing fond memories. It is a melting pot of ideas.

5. So you ride your bike a lot, and journal along the road, any story you can tell about this routine?

Always a two-wheel fanatic! I find the freedom of motorbiking cleansing and inspirational. When riding, the world simplifies and my mind relaxes. Traveling like this makes you more aware of your surroundings, and a such this provides me much to journal! It is also fun to turn up to a big 'shirt and tie' meeting in my leathers!! A true ice-breaker!!

I use Chronodex to help detail and plan my travel, marking up distances and times plus addresses and venues, interspersed by meetings. This has helped me become more time-efficient without it becoming a distraction. I do not like being a slave to time, continually clock watching, as life then flies past you. I find I become a passenger, an autobot! Planning ahead in a simple format then allows me to enjoy and participate in the travel and in my daily activities.

6. You seem to travel with another person, and a dog?

Yes. It's a family thing!! Wife and three French bulldogs are our tribe. We had an epiphany a few years ago. We realized that in the usual rat race of modern life, when we momentarily paused, we found it hard to identify what we had been doing in life. Try this: reflect on your last 12 months. What do you remember? What was/were the highlight(s)? We found this a difficult exercise, hardly remembering anything but the daily grind. So we decided to simplify and pull away from the traditional claws of hi-tech life. As we both travelled a lot with work, we decided to allow our life to travel too. We bought ourselves an oversized caravan, and now move from place to place as life and work dictates. This not only shortens our travel times to and from work places (I went one step further and abandoned a permanent office) but allows us to live in the moment and not to separate too many aspects of life as when you do, you rush through those aspects you like less to focus on the others and effectively lose this time. Does this make sense? We also feel closer to each other, and close to our nomadic nature. It's fun too. We meet all sorts of people and have many stories to tell on the road. We feel closer to nature as we now 'live' in more rural places because of the van.

Yes, we can now remember many highlights of any given year!!

 A little note on technology - although I particularly have lessened my dependence on the digital age, we still use it. We have mobile wifi and iPhone/Macbooks, but now these are used to enhance and allow our new lifestyle, not dictate it.

7. And you have quite many fountain pens too, what's your story?

I love ink! Always have. My Mum was a traditional teacher and I had an ink pen from being very young. She bought me a new one to encourage me - e.g. after exams - at milestones in my life. I now use a set of four Mont Blancs, each of a different colour, and a set of pilot's (including the retractable) when traveling.

8. What kind of pen you use on your Chronodex?  You need colors right?

Colours are important - words are fun but colours bring them to life! I'll use any pen that writes gently (i.e. no biro's!!). I use different thickness nibs and colours to bring the page to life and help the brain identify and expand. I find that this system allows my analytical mind to work in sympathy with my artistic side, and often provides insights I would otherwise miss. Mind mapping is a good start, and with my traveller's notebook and a good supply of coloured inks I am as happy as can be!!

9. Are you living in the states?

No, I travel there and we both love the US. We became engaged somewhere on Manhattan bridge on the way to a wonderful fish restaurant (Arthur's Landing - sadly no more). We spent our honeymoon on a motorbike in British Columbia - what a trip! However, we are from the UK and live mainly in and around the north west of our small island.

10. Any usage hint for Chronodex users? 

I'd just say use it, adapt it to your needs, and don't feel restricted. No system is perfect, and no one system suits everyone. But if you take to the general format, a little creativity will provide yo.u with a useful and engaging system. Change is exhilarating. Engagement is the secret - for anything to work, you have to want to use it. I love creating new Chronodex pages.

(all photos in this post were taken by Simon, @muttleyscrew on Instagram)

Here Are Some Excuses

You must be waiting anxiously for the Chronodex July-December version to come out, believe that I'm working on it and to be released definitely this week.  In the mean time, here's the excuses of being late.

Excuse 1: Obsession with Tri-Eye iPhonography

Can't stop, it is heavy, it is huge and it is fun.  Usually when people I met get interested in the monster, I got chances to take their "The Dog" photos.  Here's Claudia from Staedtler, whom I met in Shanghai a few days ago.  She is going to spend the next 6 weeks in China, it is a long trip.  Since I didn't go to Paperworld this year, I got good updates from her about Staedtler's new product release schedule from 2012 up to 2013.  She speaks fluent Mandarin coz she studied in Beijing some time ago.

And yes self-portraits is fun too with Tri-Eye, here's me in my own toilet.

I forgot to bring my shaver to Shanghai so I accumulated an ugly 5 days worth of beard, kids took fisheye photo of this begger just last night.

Yes kids, they are losing their teeths, in a healthy way.  Desserts are most welcome to them.

So excuse 1 the obsession continues everyhour, business or personal, it doesn't matter.  Here's Mr. Flury the inventor of Cyberclean.  Somebody said "I'm afraid of his nose poking me if it were a 3D photo".

Excuse 2: Shanghai Frequent Visits

We are going to have a new store coming up soon in Shanghai, our second store there (already 12 stores in Hong Kong and 6 in Taiwan).  Management is sending long emails coz they haven't seen my input enough, yeah yeah yeah I'm working on it, I don't want to hand in rubbish just to shut them up but seems like I have to.  Anyway, I'm confident my current composite of the Stationery section is interesting and strong, I just have to make it easier for people around me.  So, I am travelling there a week or two every month.

The last Monday I bumped into The Amazing Race season 21 first shooting.  They arrived Shanghai the same time I did, it was their first stop of the season and it was in Shanghai.  The camera men were super sensitive soon as I raised my iPhone, a few crazy fans were in Shanghai too, I saw them running around with the crew taking pictures and posting to Reality Fan Forum in real time.  Interesting encounter.

For a stay of just 5 days, the schedule was completely full, meeting after meetings.  Just so happened there was the 106th China Stationery Fair and I went there between meetings, not enough time to see but I got a sense that the show is nice despite the fact that import products are a little rare and usually arrives 6 months to 1 year later than the rest of the world.  Damn China import regulations and customs (sorry, don't ban my blog, I'm just saying it is not efficient).

Shanghai is definitely changing a lot and very quickly, IMHO it is one of the fastest changing cities in the world, after Seoul and Tokyo.  I managed to stop by some of the smaller shops and found inspirations every time.  Well, I just borrowed the toilet in this interesting wine cellar/bar, never had the luxury to enjoy a drink, must find time in June to do that.

Excuse 3: Experiencing for the Future Categories

Things won't be exciting at all if I were to order products from catalogs only.  Yesterday's merchanise makes today's sales, many lacks the vision to create a future category thus constantly being bugged by management for lack of 'concept'.  IMHO, the only way to create a future is to explore and experience as much as possible, inspirations will come.  We have so much to learn from other creative people.

Thanks to Petit Morpho, a tiny place which the owner is obsessed with organizing art/craft exhibitions, I had a chance to learn from famous Japanese rubber stamp crafting artist Ms. Tomoko Tsukui (津久井智子).  She has a pari of super steady hands and published several books (in Japanese) about rubber stamp crafting from erasers.  Ms. Tomoko works for the original rubber stamp crafting supplier Hinodewashi and came to Hong Kong for promoting the art.

2 weeks ago, I brought my kid to the event and learned some basic skills and it was great fun for both of us.

Ms. Tomoko carries a few boxes of her stamps, inkpad (she designed interesting sets of finger inkpads for accurate coloring) and signature stamps in various versions.  Why is there no man in any of these workshops and demonstrations?  They are probably playing with their cameras, iPhones or game consoles.  Oh perhaps their bikes....

Excuse 4: Ride Along

Social cause. Well, not as grand as it sounds, but I enjoyed the Ride of Silence 2012 event with a borrowed bike.  Yes that's an event with 80% male participants contrary to rubber stamp crafting's 100% female.  People close to me don't get enough of my attention and went sour sometimes, cut back or manage better I don't know.  I like the fact that we can ride together but in silence, for the same goal, well understood simple communications.  And I'm not talking about a bike ride only, figuratively rides to somewhere with companionship, just enojy the rides, explore without sourness.

Excuse 5: Researches

When a shop/place is good, you keep hearing things from people and you keep wanting to find out more about it.  What's the essense behind the apparent pleasant things you see?  People in their beta thinking mode usually cannot see deep enough, I prefer to find all angles from word of mouth, a visit and a time to sit back and think.

Fang Sou (方所) claims to be the best lifestyle store in China, many suppliers said great things about it, so I paid a visit there on a day trip to GuangZhou.  It is a bookstore with a fashion boutique, a stationery corner, a cafe, a home objects corner and an exhibition area.  Like it, although anybody with sufficient amount of money and connection can build one as easily, it is a noble attempt to composite such a mix especially in China.  It is a beautiful place to be.  I managed to stop by a few other interesting small shops in GuangZhou, all these researches help me to orient and pick the right sets of values to convey to customers when creating the next merchandise mix.

Excuse 6: Personal Projects

The best advice to a Gemini is probably "to focus", and I'm still meditating on it.  Leather projects for personal use and to gloat about are fun, creating something useful like GTD index cards and Chronodex to share with people is satisfying, blogging about products not available just yet is ..., ok some of these projects must go somewhere soon.

Excuse 7: Beautiful Hong Kong

Extremely proud of this city, such a great melting pot for many of the world-changing things to happen. Many wrote to me asking for interesting spots to visit, and I gave them a Google map if we have some common interests.  Some day our Tourism Board should have independent agents like me all over the place, equipped by the coolest map and stationery travel kit.... 

Excuse 8, 9, 10...: Skipped

Yup, I'm just giving you excuses, getting back to work now.  I hope you can have a sense of the "mess" I'm in.

Chronodex Daily GTD in GhostWriter Notes iPad App "Paper" Format Released

For those of you who want to enjoy the everyday creativity Chronodex brings, but already moved on to digital note taking or scheduling, I've made Chronodex available for you in digital format.

GhostWriter Notes iPad app is one of the best digital notebooks you can find on a tablet.  Since the creation of Chronodex, many of you want to apply the idea in your own preferred paper and notebook size and format, some of you adapted it into stickers, printed on tracing paper.  Now you can have the same fun on your iPad, just download the Chronodex Daily GTD for GhostWriter Notes JPG, save it in your photo library, choose the image from your GhostWriter Notes "paper" setting, that's it. (Update: seems like the same JPG file works very well on another iPad app called Noteshelf too)

GhostWriter Notes is like a scrapbooking page with dozens of nice features you can play with your Chronodex core.  I love the choice of ink pen which gives you very fine lines to color your pies.  You can simply use the Chronodex core as your mindmapping center on GhostWriter as well.  If you look into the details of the format, I'm sure you will find your very own creative use of the core.

Chronodex Integrated with GTD, A5 Pages on A4 Paper

Thanks for all your enthusiastic comments about Chronodex, it will take me a little more time to respond to your comments.  As of today, there are 28,000 downloads of Chronodex!  Thanks a lot.  Honestly thanks to all of your prayers, almost like a miracle, my Dad smiled like a kid a few days ago, never seen him like that in the past few years.  I'm sure his regression brought his mind back to the old days before his illness, evidented by his choice of language (he now speaks Mandarin rather than Cantonese, he never spoke to us in Mandarin before, although it is the same written language).  He muttered "beautiful kid (漂亮的孩子)" to my son with a nice smile.  Thank God!  I think he is not suffering anymore although physically he is incapable of doing anything, it is a beauty to see him regresses to a younger age in his mind.

I realized many of you don't have Traveler's Notebook and may not like the format of a dated diary, so here you go an undated version of Chronodex fully integrated with GTD in mind.  It is to be used in A5 sized pages, the PDF file is to be printed on A4 paper giving you two A5 pages, the JPG file is just an A5 sized page.

The reason why I included a JPG file is that somebody would like to use the Chronodex core as a template on their tablet.  If you are a GhostWriter Notes iPad app user, I've created a specific paper sized correct to the app at 916 x 768 pixels, you can download and save the Chronodex Daily GTD for GhostWriter Notes JPG in your photo library, open up GhostWriter, press the Paper button, choose "Custom paper from photo album".  Enjoy!

Feel free to explore how to use it, I totally love this format and hope you like it too.  Remember to visit the Chronodex Facebook page.