Hobbies and Obsessions

I have always been grateful that all my life I am allowed to have hobbies. A lot of people have to make do with what they can afford; some spend almost all waking hours working and worrying or they just do not have the chance to enjoy a simple pastime. I hope I will always be able to stop and be thankful.

One of my hobbies is writing. Nothing fancy or creative. I just like the way the pen moves and how I can change my writing to different styles. At work, when most people document almost everything in Microsoft Word document, jot down calendar entries in Blackberries and put reminders in their Lotus Notes, I would still use the faithful pen and paper for everything.

When I was younger I used to write short stories but that did not last long. I still have the imagination but not the skill. Now I only write my thoughts and daily journal entries. I have been writing journal entries for 19 years. I try to write every day but most often than not I fail, either because of laziness or due to a terrible incident. I usually stopped writing when I lost a loved one. Writing about them would send me back to the terrible hole and the pain would be unbearable.

This hobby leads to an obsession with stationery. I used to think (and my husband still thinks) that this obsession is close to madness. That was before the Internet introduced me to a lot of people around the world who are even more stationery-crazy than I am.

The picture above shows my first moleskine and dearest Charmy Kitty Hi-Tec-C pen. I first discovered moleskine in a Kinokuniya bookstore. After this first purchase, I was a convert. I now write my journal entries in a big moleskine diary and I bring the pocket size one in my handbag all the time. Not mentioning all other moleskine purchases but this first one is special. I did not want to bring a big moleskine diary to my recent travel to Indonesia so I brought this smaller one instead. It now contains precious memories about my beloved country and family.

The pen is a popular Japanese pen called Hi-Tec-C. I love the colours. The complete collection has 36 colours, I think, from your regular black and blue, to strawberry, olive and different shades of blue. They also write beautifully. I found this one and bought it just because the cap has Charmy Kitty. I also collect Sanrio stationery, by the way.

I know I will never use up all the pens, paper, notebooks and other stationery I have in my lifetime. But at least I have the peace of mind that should tomorrow suddenly all the stationers went bust, I will have ample supply to last a few generations. : )