oleh-oleh dari korea

Some of my students had a chance to go to South Korea for somekinda academic competition. They asked if I would like to have something. From South Korea? Are you kidding me? Of course it's gotta be stationery !! So these are what they brought for me. 

• a set of colourful highlighters 
• a letter opener -which also a bookmark
• a set of Winnie the Pooh 3M Post-it-Notes oh sooo cuuute.. really makes my eyes popped
• a pink needle-point pen, and 
• a small traditional pouch

So happy. Yippeeeeyyy...

   

cash book - ticket book

Other things I found in the drawer of my office desk is these pocket books. The one which has cover of cans is a ticket book, while the other with the swans on its cover is a cash book. Both of them were provided with double-side slip pockets. So you can slip the book on the front pocket and slip the receipts or tickets on the back pocket.

A cash book is quite common for Asians as we are trained to be careful in spending our money. There are coloumns of date, amount spent, amount gained, balance.. usual stuff. I think we should take notes of everything we spend if we want to stay out of financial trouble.

The ticket book is quite useful to record the details of what we spend. There are space to attach the receipts or ticket, there are coloumns to record the date, time, what kinda of event, description, etc. I think this book is quite special as you can use the book to record your happy moment as well. For example, ticket of the movie you saw with your friends, concert ticket of your favourite band, transportation ticket or boarding pass of your holiday.. Good idea ;)

sticky list

 

Here goes another things I found on my desk. This is lined sticky notes. Very useful for making a list... to-do list, wish list, appointments, etc. It was designed with coloured tab on the top and bottom, so it can also be used to mark the agenda / planner. Very neat.

fuel lunchbox

Searching for the right lunchbox would never comes to an end. Well at least for me. Have different kinds, shapes, brands, quality.. it's really good to appreciate what we have. Whether local or global brands, they all have uniqueness -and flaws- but I'm here not to judge the negative side. Those critics should be addressed straight to the company, to the production dept, to the directors, the decision makers.  I write about lunch box to share what I have and my personal opinion about it.

One of lunch box I came across recently is called Fuel from Trudeau Corporation . I think it's one of the ingenious design I've ever seen in lunchbox.. or I should say lunch-bowl ;) The official website call it "Soup on the go" container.

I got the picture from Amazon India few months ago, but it's no longer available.. anyway, I bought the bowl from a local Ace Hardware store (the one in Grand Indonesia). Got the kinda same colour (teal blue), but the set didn't come with the spoon like the one on the picture.

To carry this bowl, I think you'll need a seperate mini tote bag. It's too bulky to get into your bag, though I managed to tuck it onto my backpack. As you can see on the picture, there are 2 compartments. One is the bowl and the other is a round dish on top of it. So you can have soup or liquid food on the bowl and keep the dry ingredients (such as crackers) on the top compartment. This is perfect for Indonesians who love to eat congee (rice porridge with shredded chicken) and kerupuk. Bon appetit..

More about Trudeau Corporation : http://www.trudeaucorp.com/ca-en/default.html

hey ebay

Yaaayyy.. !! Today I received my first ever package bought from ebay. As I've told on my previous post, I'm not actually a kind of online shopper, but yes.. I tried to embrace it. So this is my first experience of buying stationery from ebay.

This is a study planner. It costs about $17.. For a cute planner, it's kinda over my budget.. but they offered free shipping. No additional cost for shipment. Fair enough. Even better, as I got $10 discount coupon from PayPal (as a welcome gift for newbie, I guess), I use it to pay the product. At the end, I just paid $7 ;)

Honestly, I am curious about this so-called study planner. It's not a common thing in my country. I guess this is why many students are still lost even when they already in higher education. They went to college because their parents told them to do so, or because they want to have a degree (without knowing what would they learn). Many of them do their assignment only hours before the due date, and revising their notes the night before the exam. This cute planner makes students to plan their study and have somekinda vision of what they're gonna do.

I'm gonna share the layout of this cute planner later. Stay around guys..

toko merbabu semarang - revisited

I actually have visited Toko Merbabu in Semarang in February. But I can't help for not visit it again. This time I went there with my sister and these are what I bought.

toko nam bie - semarang

Toko Nam Bie is one of the oldest shop in Semarang, Central Java - Indonesia. Located in the corner of Jalan Pemuda (used to known as Bodjong street), this shop is said to be established since the colonial era. I asked to one of the shopkeepers (a lady, whom I assume about 40 years old) about when the shop was firstly open. She answered "it's been here since a long time ago, before I was born" .. Well, not quite exact year I expected, but I will try to ask for a short informal interview with the owner next time if I had a chance.

Anyway, the interior of the shop is very modest. It really looks like we're stepping into the old days. Quite magical for me.. what a legacy. There are glass cabinets / showcases where you can take and see the items or ask the shopkeeper to get them for you. From what I see, the shop sell a wide range of basic office supplies. What I mean 'basic' is nothing fancy or cute.. However, I still managed to get some cute and unique stationery here. I'm in da house, y'all..

Here goes the list of what I bought. Oh by the way, they give you 10% discount when your bill exceed 20k. Woooww.. what a nice surprise. So I 'only' have to pay 67k for these things :

• 3 exercise books of 3-lined (for handwriting)
• 2 ballpoint pen in blue and red batik pattern
• 1 ZA knock ballpoint pen, which reminds me of the old Pilot knock ballpoint pen, when I was in primary school 
• 1 DR drawing pen 0.1
• 1 correction tape in the shape of whale
• 2 pencil sharpeners, each in the shape of puppy dog and brown racoon
• 1 acrylic ruler which has a mini magnifying glass in one end
• 1 green stapler remover

Overall, I'm really glad to be part of this shop's history. I've stepped into the shop and bought some things as well. Long live stationery.

green pink

When I emptied the drawer of my working desk, I found these two unused objects.

The green fat pencil is actually a pencil highlighter of Stabilo. This product is actually available in 3 different colours : green, yellow and orange. I think this highlighter is simmilar to the chunky version of colour pencils. Yes, it has neon colour like a highlighter should be, but it's kinda tricky to apply on glossy paper. The price is not cheap, about 20k each.

The other object is a pink card holder of Kokuyo. It can store about 60 cards and has elastic strap. As we all know, this brand is always expensive. I bought this in Gramedia for 60k. Remember how pricey it was, I think I better use it now to protect all of my cards.

online purchase

I am not a person who love to make online purchase. Yes, I'm rather an old-school, who raised in a generation where we went to a real brick-and-mortar store for shopping. I was scared of the credit card fraud or internet transactions, I am worry if the package was lost during shipment, or if I have to pay a hefty sum of money for the tax or custom. When I tried to make purchases in Amazon (dot com, not the jungle), most of their products can't be shipped to Indonesia. Other websites have some restrictions as well, such as they don't accept credit card payment from Indonesia. So don't you think what I have said earlier make any sense to you?

Nowadays, there are some local online stores in Indonesia, though nearly impossible to find one selling stationery. However, there are Bhinneka, Lazada, Zalora, low cost airlines.. and hundreds of blogs, facebook account and instagram who also sell products. Instagram?? What the...?! Well, I personally think Instagram has lost its core sense when you post picture for business. Anyway, those local online stores accept payment from Indonesia's bank (clickpay using token) or credit card. However, apart from the convenience of not leaving the house for shopping, I don't think there is any significant value added. I still can find those products from the various malls in Jakarta. I can even touch, feel, and try the product myself before I make a decision. I like to use all of my senses before I bought a product, not only see the details on my computer screen. For example, each paper has its own acidity, texture, colour, smell, thickness, brightness etc.. You can't feel the texture when you buy it online.

These days, I can buy some books -but not clothing and electronic stuff- from Amazon. I use my credit card which has the lowest amount covered, less than $500/month. I use that same credit card for my paypal account. So, yes I try to embrace this online transaction, but very cautious with the risk. Besides, there are inexpensive stuffs offered on ebay which also offer free shipping !! I might go mad just looking those stationery stuff and hit the buy button over and over. Having the small amount of credit balance really help to limit my spending. Always be wise in spending your money.

Aladdin mini tumbler

Got this mini tumbler couple weeks ago during sale period on Metro PIM. It was discounted to half price so.. fair enough. I like the design and the size, about the size of regular mug, which can hold 8 oz or 0.24 litre of beverage. Although it's still kinda bulky to fit into my bag, but it's perfectly nice to carry and fit the palm. Anyway, this tumbler is not really suitable for keeping  the hot/cold drink for so long.. after an hour or so, the content will be in room temperature.

ziplock for hobonichi

After a while, the pen loop of my hobonichi cover begins to run out. It also got stain from pen / ink on the edge of the loop. I don't think it really matters.. but it makes me think about the possibilities of other stain it might get. For instance I often have lunchbox or tumbler inside my bag which may leak -yes, it happened- and I might found all of things I have in my bag completely soaked and smelled awful. I surely won't let it happen to my hobinichi. So I came up with this idea. Get a small ziplock bag -the same size for a sandwich will do fine- and put the hobonichi inside. Even some pens and other stuff may also fit as well. Simple and cheap.