Mike Rohde’s Custom Moleskine Planner, originally uploaded by Mike Rohde.

I’m very much a pen/pencil and paper kinda girl.

I’m usually too slow with technology to quickly note down something I just thought of. Besides, somethings as fleeting as inspiration, just can’t be captured in words or by camera as easily. So I draw. I draw a dress I just saw on the street. I draw a silhouette of a person who just alight from the bus. If it goes by too fast, I try to remember 3 things about it and note it down nonetheless.

A drawing pad that went through a lot with me, recently fell apart. The spine disintegrated, and my paper scattered through the front and back. The last week I took it out to a Cotton Inc seminar, it was threatening to spill my doodling out for the world to see. And the world there were full of designers and fashion insiders. I wasn’t sure where I stood in that crowd, but I tried my best to look the part.

I’ve always wanted to get a moleskine, but could never bring myself to splash the cash. Everytime I go notebook shopping, I skip the moleskine on purpose, cos I tell myself it’s too insane to spend $30+ on a note book. So I walk over to Muji instead. The second time, I walk away with a thick gridded lookalike from Paperchase; one that sets me back $10 only. It is a bit too tiny to sketch on it though.

So do I really need the Moleskine? Honestly I don’t, but I want it. It makes everything you draw or write, just a little bit more special. Who doesn’t want to feel special?