moleskine sakura

Thanks to my sis, this pocket moleskine sakura is joining my planner gear for 2022. I would say, this one will also be by my side for many years to come because I will use it for keeping important notes; such as important numbers, password hints, etc. I really like the colour and the cover design. The cover is also covered by smooth fabric.. just feels like Japanese cherry blossom 🌸.

planner peace

Planner peace? That's your resolution for 2022? Yea.. rite. 

I just told ya on my previous post, that I'm gonna use only two planners (hobonichi cousin and hobonichi day-free) next year. But I guess it's too early saying that.. 

I've ordered a planner which is local-made, based in Bandung (Indonesia), known as RA Planner. I don't know what's got into my mind, but their design and layout is not bad at all. So I am gonna give it a try. And I ordered two - one for myself, and I will keep the other one to be given as a gift. Okay, just one additional planner. I can use it to note down the progress of my dissertation or my paper. Including books to read, sched, and deadlines for my study. This planner is for a year, but undated, so it's quite flexible. I can use it right away, from November or December 2021.

As you all know, moleskine is not available in Indonesia. But I managed to get one from my family member who recently went abroad. However, it's not dated one coz I found it too expensive and I've spent too much for my 2022 planner prep. It's a pocket notebook. And I already plan what to fill it with. It's gonna be the book to store important numbers, lists (or what they call "collections" in bullet journal), password hints, and those kinda thing. 

I think I'm going to review each planner on my next posts. Perhaps some hacks or set up I use for each of them. 

planner(s) that works for me

After all these years I've dubbed myself as a stationery girl, reviewing some stuffs in a blog which then become outdated in just a couple of years, now I try to find peace.

I can't get rid of all of my collections (or clutter) just yet. But I can now hold myself not to buy any stationery related unless it ran out (like ink / cartridge or glue) or something I really need (not something I want) like yearly planner.

I also tend to be careful in choosing my planner. No more than two kinds. The perfect combination used to be hobonichi A6 planner for diary and pocket weekly moleskine for work related. But then the moleskine wasn't available anymore in my my country. So I tried somekinda bullet journal using an ordinary notebook. It works. But I think next year I'm gonna try something new. I'm gonna use hobonichi cousin (A5) for work related bulet journal and hobonichi A6 day free for personal diary.

Ok. What about the "brouillon" (draft/scratch book) I normally use to note everything? That would be onto the daily section of hobo cousin. As well as meeting notes etc.

What about the schedule, sleeping pattern and meal plan I used to note down on hobonichi weekly supplement? Well, hobo cousin has its own weekly section. Checked.

Habit tracker, period tracker, health symtomps.. will note them on the yearly section.

Birthday, important index and dates (exams, deadlines, etc.) and bill / payment reminders, will be noted on monthly section.

The A6 day-free should be worked as personal diary because sometimes I write longer than a page, or sometimes I didn't write at all for days. I used to journal using A6 hobo english version, but many pages left blank. And it's also more expensive than the original one, let alone the day free. So.. I am stepping out of my comfort zone since 2014 here.

Those planners have arrived few weeks ago. Stay tuned to see how I'm gonna setup, review, and customize them. See ya..

doraemon moleskine in yerevan

Barev !

This is the selfie of my Doraemon moleskine in the Cascade complex of Yerevan, Armenia. The photo was taken in January 2020.

Although there is a moleskine distributor in Yerevan, but I haven't seen much enthusiasm in stationery things. However, I found many Armenians are very artistically talented. I really hope to meet some fellow stationery aficionados next time. It should be very interesting to chat about stationery, writing equipment, swapping some washi tapes, etc. Who knows, maybe we can create a planner which combine some languages and kawaii design / illustration. 

getting back here

OMG, the last time I post something on this blog was two years ago. Can't believe how time flies so fast. 

2020 was not a good year for me, well for most of us, because of the pandemic. Life was hard. Still it's kinda hard for me, but I am getting a grip and carry on.

So, let's start with a review of the planners I planned to use in 2020.

1. Pocket Moleskine - Doraemon (limited edition), English. As usual, pocket moleskine was kinda work for me. I used it 'til the end of the year.

2. ‎Hobonichi A6 - English version. Same here, it's a diary. Some of the pages are left untouched. Mostly during bad times or busy schedule.

3. Agenda Scolaire - Snoopy, French. I have used it to the max, like a bullet journal.

4. Kokuyo Jibun Techo Biz Mini - Sky blue, Japanese. What a waste. When I received it, I got the usual jibun techo instead of the biz. Anyway, I didn't use it at all. I'm so gutted. 

Just like previous year (2019), I only used 3 planners. More planners don't always correspond with more organized life. 

prepping for 2020

It's October. For some of you, 2020 is just around the corner. Three months to go. For me, it's time to prepare the planner. So far, I already have 3 planners. Let's meet them.

1. Pocket Moleskine - Doraemon, English. My sis bought me this weekly planner during her trip to Europe. The local bookstores in Jakarta didn't seem to stock them any longer. I plan to have this pocket planner as my main planner for meetings, teaching plan (and schedule), daily tasks, and even for jotting down some notes or brain dump. This planner shall always be by my side. 

2. ‎Hobonichi A6 - English version. As usual, I bought this planner online thru their official website. I was tempted to buy the A5 (cousin) size as well, but I don't think I will use it yo the max. This planner will be my personal diary. 

3. Agenda Scolaire - Snoopy, French. This agenda is a student planner, for the academic year of 2019/2020. I have it from a friend who went on vacation to France last summer. She knows I am fan of agenda scolaire. So, this agenda / planner is quite perfect for me. Have been using it since last August. Hope it will last until July 2020.

4. Kokuyo Jibun Techo Biz Mini - Sky blue, Japanese. I asked a friend (who went for a trip to Japan) to buy it for me. The price is 2700 Yen (plus 10% tax). Although I don't use my jibun this year, I decided to give it one last chance. This time I will try the Jibun Biz mini. The paper is not the tomoe river.. but I think there are less frill (subtle colour scheme, no japanese watermarks for certain holidays, etc.) so I can use it as my main planner, beside my pocket moleskine. Jibun is good for tracking things. How's my diet, my exercise, my health, my habit.. those kinda things. So let's see about that.

Apart from that, I have also bought a ‎muslim planner; but I offered this as a gift to one of the student in my campus. I bought this because I was curious about the layout and tempted to see what kinda cute things merged with religious related could be squeezed into one planner. It's good if you're really practicing your religion, there are spaces to note down the versets you read, what's their meaning to you, your prayers, etc. However, some of them are too much for me. So I better give it to someone who can use it better than I do.

That's all for now. I hope I won't need any other planner. Enough.

hobonichi cousins pros and cons

I've been trying to find justification for getting a hobonichi cousin. Yup, the A5 size. For me, I need to list the pros and cons before deciding to buy one. Let's start.

Pros.

+ A5 is actually an ideal size. Many compatibilities with other writing equipment, such as binder note, file pouch, etc.

+ ‎Lots of space to write, draw, paste anything you like in day-per-page

+ ‎The weekly section which has similar layout like Jibun

Cons

- It's in original version only. Which means different colors for each month ( I don't feel like writing about work in red-coloured page) and mm/dd format instead of dd/mm format (which sometimes confuse me).

- ‎Too many blank pages need to filled in. It could be intimidating when I'm behind schedule or when I have no time for journaling.

- ‎I have tried Jibun and A6 weekly supplement, which has similar weekly layout, and it just didn't work for me.

- It costs 3780 yen. With that price, I might print out myself a planner designed by me.

Sorry cousin, I think I won't buy you this time.

planner evaluation

Last year, I boasted to start 2018 with these 10 planners. But I have to admit that I didn't manage to use all of them. Let's begin the evaluation..

Dated

1. Hobonichi Weeks. Main planner, mostly for work and study related. - I gave up after a couple of months. In February I couldn't keep up to jot down my schedule in it. Couldn't figure it out why.

2. Hobonichi Planner (A6, English version) planner. I'm gonna use this as my diary. - This is ok.

3. TH Pocket Diary black.  I will use it for my pak boss schedule and everything related to him. - Many things happened in 2018 related to pak bos. Gave up after some months.

4. TH Agenda Schedule blue. This is for home related matters, such as daily expenses, bills, groceries, meal plans, etc. - I just completely forgot about this. Sorry. Perhaps I lost it somewhere.

5. Fancy Taiwanese planner. I have it discussed on my previous post here. To be honest, I haven't use it cos it's too pretty. - Yup, it's too pretty.. I didn't use it at all. It's part of my pretty collection.

6. ‎Daiichi schedule check. Will leave this on my desk. Can be double serve as desk calendar and planner. - Yeaa.. this thing kinda work tho.

7. ‎Starbucks planner. Will use it to record my life with my hubby which will be going ten in 2018. - Another planner I gave up in February.

Undated

8. Kikki K personal size. This chunky planner will stay on my working desk, I'll use it for meeting notes. - Are you kidding me? I didn't even figure out how to use it.

9. ‎TN passport size. This is my idea book or mini bullet journal. - Same with number 8. I just put it aside in my drawer.

10. ‎Seyes generic Monoprix notebook. I'm using this to note down everything related to my dissertation / thesis. - This one is still on duty until today.


Let see.. only 3 planners I used during the year. So I guess I won't need so many planners. Just try to make the best use of what I've got.

In mid 2018, I bought a pink pocket weekly moleskine and apparently it worked for me.

hello again

It's been a while since I left this blog. I'm still passionate about stationery, lunchbox and school stuff.  No doubt about that. But I'm also more rational these days. I realize my stationery are piling up high, and I have no place to store them. There are also things I haven't use for ages, such as many colour pens, and the ink starts to dry out. So I try to write more here, reviewing things, without any intention to get many followers. I am just happy if I could find a fellow stationery geek from around where I live or from other part of the world :)

So, see ya around !!

hobo in kyoto

Sorry for this throwback post. 

Went to Japan with my family in July last year (2018). I just managed to take one photo of my hobo while I was there.

Yeah, my hobo visited his home country :) This photo was taken in Kyoto, at Higashi Hongan-ji temple. As you can see, it's not far from Kyoto tower. I wish I could visit Japan again. Although I have swear I wouldn't buy stationery again, it's still hard to resist. You just can't. They have so many cutes, various types, and excellent quality stationery. There's no country can beat Japan in this case.

nobita-shizuka hobonichi cover

As I said in my previous post, I'm not interested to buy any cover for my hobonichi this year. For 2020, I will keep using my Nobita-Shizuka which still cute and steal my heart.

It's still available for sale on Hobonichi website. For 3024 yen, I think it's still reasonable.

hobonichi release day 2020

I am not so excited for Hobonichi release day this year. I couldn't find any interesting cover. Still, I bought things on the release day on September 1st.

I tried to keep everything below $100 to avoid unnecessary tax in my country. So, prefer to buy things in (small) batches. Normally, I will use this moment to buy predictable sold-out items or cover. Since I don't feel like buying expensive things --I'm kinda broke at this moment-- so I just bought the essentials. 

Here are the things I bought.

- A Hobonichi Card Case to store some important cards or loose notes (432 yen)

 

- My Hobonichi Stencil (the Speech Bubbles) is broken, so I bought this one (370 yen) for replacement.

- This Multi 8 Set is a mechanical pencil with multicolour pencil leads. It's quite expensive (3,240 yen) so I hope it's worthed.

- A must-have plastic Cover on Cover for A6 size. Well, I bought two.. just in case. (216 yen each)

- Plastic sleeve Hobonichi Folder Set by Naoko Horiguchi is in A5 size. I like the graphic design and I can use it for keeping loose sheet of paper. Will pair it with my A5 ring binder. (464 yen)

- The color of Hobonichi Pencil Board (warm gray-pink) is sooo me. I bought for the A6 size (216 yen)

- The usual Planner Book 2020 in English A6 size (2,700 yen)

Planner options are more interesting. Beside the Original Techo A6 (in Japanese), English A6, and Cousin A5, they now have undated techo as well. Inside, there's monthly section and plain grid pages instead of day-per-page. You need to wait until November 1st to buy this undated techo. 

For those who'd like to try bullet journaling in tomoe river paper, they also have Plain Notebook. I was thinking to buy this plain notebook.. but I was hesitating. I think it's kinda pricey (972 yen) for a plain grid notebook. 

Lastly, is the Five-year Techo. It's suitable for thoose who want to note down only the essentials for each day and see the timeline for 5 years span. For the time being, I don't think it's the right planner for me. But to mark the nice figures of 5 year (2020-2025), it might be interesting to have one.

hobonichi yerevan

Barev dzez !

Hello from Yerevan. Last December (2018), I managed to visit Armenia. It was my first time and had somekinda mix feeling. I was thinking to do some research, visiting some museums, etc. But it was cold outside and I stayed in a cozy apartment. So I spent most of my two weeks at home, met my new lovely friends, and getting to know the city. 

One thing for sure, I brought my hobonichi and didn't miss the chance to take pic in front of the landmark. So here's the pic of my proud hobo in front of the Cascade in Yerevan, Armenia. 

Hajogh !

musim alat tulis

Kalau di Indonesia ada musim hujan dan musim kemarau, musim rambutan dan buah-buahan lainnya, maka di Jepang ada musim alat tulis hihihi.. Di acara televisi "The Unknown World of Matsuko", disebutkan bahwa berbagai alat tulis (dengan varian baru) banyak ditawarkan di musim gugur seperti saat ini. Agenda / planner untuk tahun depan pun juga mulai membanjiri pasaran, seperti Jibun Techo, Hobonichi Techo, Moleskine, dll.

Sayangnya di acara itu nggak membahas tentang planner. Beberapa alat tulis yang dibahas adalah gel pen yang tintanya cepat kering, buku tulis yang kertasnya berwarna hitam dan bolpoin tinta metalik (untuk menulis di kertas hitam itu). Selain itu, juga dibahas perkembangan buku tulis Campus dari masa ke masa. Tahun ini adalah peringatan 41 tahun buku tulis tsb. Ada juga tempat pensil yang ada lapisan plastik untuk melindungi pin dan hiasan yang ditempelkan. Terakhir adalah sticky notes dengan gambar karakter tertentu.

Mungkin musti nabung buat tahun depan yaaa... Kalo ke Jepang mau belanja alat tulis, maka bulan September-Oktober adalah waktu yang tepat.

hobonichi release day

September the 1st. 11:00 (a.m.) Japan Time.

For hobonichi fans, that means the day to be wait for every year. It's the day when the upcoming (year of) hobonichi is released. There will be new design for covers worth to be fight for. Everyone seems eager to be the first of having the newest hobonichi on their hands. And sometimes, several covers are sold out within hours. 

This year, there are new improvement on their official website. There are different release days for the products, so the traffic was not so intense. 

We still have to wait for 3-4 months to be able to use the planner. I wonder why people are rushing to get what they want. I think it's passion. It really amaze me how a product (and a brand) can be successful like that. In this case, it's also a matter of excellent product quality.

japan stamp

In Japan, people collect many different things according to their interests. Believe it or not, there are stamp collectors. Not the postage stamps, though.. the stamps I refer in this article are rubber stamps.

In many tourist attractions, such as temples, museums, train stations, and airports across Japan, you can find a corner to stamp your book (or paper, whatever stationery you have) with the unique stamp for commemoration. You can specifically collect themed-related stamps, such as towers all over Japan or JR lines around Tokyo, or just stamp your book with any stamps you can find, just for fun. However, the temples usually need special stamp book called goshuin and you need to follow certain rules.

Anyway, I went to Japan last July and I had my hobonichi techo planner in my bag everywhere I go. Everytime I spotted a stamp corner, I happily got my techo stamped. My sis was also happy to stamp her moleskine. When we went out to seperate locations, we showed all stamps we could get that day after we see each other. My dad also noticed our thing and once he gave me a sheet of paper with a stamp from a train station. 

I really love the idea of stamping the book / planner / travel diary as souvenir. I think a stamp is also mean as a proof of visit. These days we can just snaps some pics to show that we were in such places. But I think, stamp is also quite authentic and unique. Besides, it's more fun to have beautiful stamp when the place is not so instagrammable. 

The above picture is the stamp of Sannomiya Hankyu-line Train Station. Here goes the story behind the stamp. It started when my sis and I needed to go back to our hotel in Kobe from Kyoto. It was already late at night, heavy rain, and we didn't know how bad the weather was. We couldn't get the shinkansen so we took the regular train, got stranded for a while in Osaka train station, followed by late night run to the other side of the station (from JR line to Hankyu line), hurrying to catch the last Hankyu train to Sannomiya station in Kobe. We managed to arrive in Kobe safe and sound. All of those rush and worries were all paid off when we got this stamp.

kamo sensei

I am a huge fan of Kamo sensei. 

She's an illustrator from Japan and I love how kawaii (cute) her illustrations can be. You'll be amazed that total cuteness can be created from simple strokes of ballpoint pens.

If you wan't to learn how to draw / doodle / illustrate your planner, you can buy her books like I did. I learn so much from those books. The only drawback for me was... it's in Japanese. And I don't speak the language. However, the book showed a step-by-step technique, that we can follow easily.

The basic technique, explained in Bahasa Indonesia, is also available on this zebra pen website, as she teamed up with zebra pen (using Sarasa and Penciltic) for illustration workshop. I have once sat on one of the workshops in 2017 and I was sooo happy.

pink moleskine

Hello,

I saw this beauty in one of Tokyu Hands store in Tokyo, Japan. At first, I was thinking hard whether to buy it or not. I have plenty of planners for this year and I don't think they're all well filled in. Anyway.. as you may already guessed, I finally did. 

First of all, the colour. Pastel pink is one of my favorite colour and as far as I can remember, I haven't seen any in my country. Second of all, it's the pocket weekly like I used to have every year. The third and final reason is, it's an 18-months planner. The price is more less the same with the usual 12-months, so I think it's quite a bargain. Besides, I can use it right away because it starts from July 2018.

So far I kinda like it. Yeaah.. I guess because I am already familiar with the size and layout. To write on this moleskine, I am using the zebra hana 3-colour ballpoint pen. 

More pics available on instagram.

blank hobonichi weeks

This year, I tried to swapped my pocket weekly moleskine with hobonichi weeks. The reason I did this was based on those left untouched blank pages on my moleskines. The planner seemed to be abandoned after the first couple of months. So I thought I might be more  motivated when using the weeks since it would be kinda new experience. Apparently, that's not what happened.

As you can see here (above), it's also blank. And it's March. It means, I only filled the pages until February. I just don't get it. I actually like the layout, which is similar to weekly moleskine, dated page on the left, blank page on the right. It's even better, it comes in grids while moleskine is ruled (lined) pages. The paper is Tomoe River, just like the techo, very friendly to fountain pens. But whyyyyy... ??!! Perhaps it's about the size. The dimension was a bit intimidating for me to write something on it. Or perhaps I couldn't find the right pen to fill those pages. I just don't know.

So I guess I will not buy this weeks again. Sorry. I will just keep buying the A6 english planner every year. So far it's the right one for me. And I might go back to the pocket size weekly moleskine again.

hobonichi ukrainian flower

I have this Ukrainian Flower cover for my hobonichi planner A6 since 2017. At first, I bought it with lots of pain (I mean, much higher price) from ebay since it was sold out within 24 hours after its initial release in September 2016. Then, I bought one more from hobonichi official website when it finally restocked. So yeah, I got a couple of this thing. One on duty and one to keep. 

So far, I love it. I put cover-on-cover plastic sleeve to protect it in 2017, then I use the cover as is in 2018. Apparently, the embroidery is good enough to withstands wear and tear. 

Ladies and gentlemen, this is how it looks. The Ukrainian Flower in mid August 2018.