How Analog are You?

This post despite being presented in the digital format, is about asking how analog are you?

I am one of those born in 1989, in my formative years in school, I have seen chalk boards become white boards and now you have digital boards. Computer lessons from once a week became heavier than the textbooks. Our phones are way more powerful than the computers Nasa used to send Apollo 11 to the moon.

-Rant-
Kids nowadays are very into nostalgia, vintage, and this word I hate a lot, THROWBACK. What the hell is with circa? Does everyone who puts a Facebook photo captioned circa 2010 deserve a slap to their faces with a vintage ping pong paddle? Circa meant the approximation of a certain year. If the photo is in a digital format, I bet there is a timestamp as well. It is not circa 2010 when it is just 5 years ago and when you know when it is taken.
-End rant-

Back to analog, I realised these stupid throwback lifestyles and nostalgia, come with a cost, reasons cited are like its out of production, it is rare, it is vintage and the list goes on. The one true reason it is expensive is because it is in demand. And when there is demand, people will keep increasing its price till people cannot afford it anymore. (maybe the real rant ends now).

Amidst all these costly things, there is some good and gold to be found by adopting certain aspects of these lifestyles.

Being Analog is about doing things the old way because it is these few things (in bold are the key features of analoging):
- Cheaper in the long run
- Requires a proper skill (not a craftsmen's grade but some practice)
- Is indeed better than it's modern counterparts
- It is used by you on a daily basis
- Items used are extremely durable
- Still in production and within reasonable grasp
- It is cool

Some of these features above can also be easily confused for your hobbies or interest or if overdone, is more of an hobby/interest/addiction than a practical analog solution. Again, hobbyist and purist are of another level, the first feature of being Analog is not to brag about it on Instagram, the most important feature is that it is cheaper and better. 

For instance, film cameras for daily taking of photos would not be Analog as digital is much faster and much much much cheaper. Not to mention an entire film wasted due to light exposure.

Most of these things I have discovered from their own interest groups, although they are beneficial, but these groups also have a constant Gear Acquisition Syndrome or known as G.A.S. which is very easy to be trapped by. I will mention the traps I have encountered so if you are thinking of switching, you would not fall into them. Maybe except when starting out.

Lets look at some of the things I have Analog-ed.

Wet Shaving

photo credit: blacklapel

I am particularly fond of this as it meets all the above features of being Analog. Wet shaving is using a straight razor or double edge razor as opposed to  cartridge razors. A quick google search will tell you, single blades is more than enough to shave and 2 or more will cause nothing but skin irritation, tugging, razor bumps (though I have not had that even when I was using carts).

It is much much cheaper, but the financial benefits comes about after 1 year of usage without constantly procuring new gear, only the bare necessities.

This is the one analog where I would suggest starters do a lot of reading on (as with all analogs), but for this, it is okay to buy a slightly expensive razor handle starting out to get the comfort not found in cheaper razor handles durability so that it will last longer.

Traps: I do not shave more than I have to for the sake of shaving, I do not hoard tons of razor blade or splurge on expensive dead animal's hair. Only buy as much as you need and nothing more. Shaving cream and brush can be expensive but it is not all that important for it to exceed $20 for both. My omega synthetic brush costs SGD 6 and the Nivea shaving cream costs SGD3.50. Not even SGD 10.

Finding the right handle/blade combination is quite a challenge as it is very subjective and no one can definitely say what is right for you, but trial and error should not lead to excessive purchasing. Which is why I cannot understand why people buy blades to last them a life time of 3 times a day shaving but never use them.

Debatable is usage of straight-razors, which is some what time consuming and requires honing of the blade (a super skill), it is hard to straight edge fast and in the dark as it is literally Sweeney Todd at your face. The only benefit to the laymen of straight edge is the extremely close shave finish it gives.

Mechanical Watches

photo credits: moving2nd instagram

Mechanical watches are rendered obsolete but I feel that it is still a very special thing. Other than the wedding ring, I consider this to be the only other men's jewelry. I have a deep love for watches, it is almost an addiction. If you have a manual winding watch, you get to interact with your timepiece in a way no one else does with their G-shocks that is merely a piece of circuit board and a screen. If you have a good watch, you can keep it and pass it on to your children and along with that, your legacy.

Traps: of course buying more than one watch, I am guilty of that. I am so into watches that I start to admire the one-watch-man.

Extremely debatable, you can go out get yourself a cheap SGD 90 Casio G-shock and change every time it spoils in about 3-10 years time and it will still be cheaper than buying a proper automatic watch. But you do not have a beating heart inside it.

Writing in a Notebook

photo credit: Jetpens

This is one of the new things I picked up recently along with fountain pens. I work in shipping, I have to keep writing down stuff. I actually write them on recycled paper from one sided prints, but then felt that I needed something more substantial and writing down notes in the phone may be good with reminders, but it is the motion of writing with the pen and paper that commits stuff to memory.

Out of the many notebooks simply stapled for cheap to the leather bound USD 100 Filofax, I go a Midori Traveler's Notebook, from the Traveler's Company. It is about SGD 65 and it is a system where you can keep putting in inserts and other accessories in a single leather protecting the inserts like a skin. Part of the attraction is the worn look of leather and the marks on it from use. The leather is much shinier now that I have it for about 5-6 months. There are definitely marks every where and it goes out with me everyday even on weekends and I mainly use it to keep track of my work.

The functions or usage out of this notebook system is endless.

Traps: As usual, MTNs have a huge following but I find them to be more geared towards aesthetics than practicality, they lug around huge amounts of colour pens. Spending more time doing stuff to their notebooks to post on social media than actually using it to improve productivity. There are other forms of notebook using similar systems in different leather or fabric. It is interesting but I feel the best is still to bite the bullet and get the MTN and be done with it.

Part of this traps you into getting more into stationary. Using MTN made me wanna get better pens to write with. That is how I started using fountain pens...

Fountain Pen

photo credit: TWSBI.com

I wrote with G2 like most people, but soon, I found that the refills costs SGD 1.20 each and the grip is getting tacky. So I ventured onto the net and found people raving over uni-ball signos, but that was short lived when I chanced upon Pentel's Energel. The ink's quick dry is great for left handed writers like me.

Soon, I decided, hey, since I'm going to be writing, why not try out fountain pens. And that's it. that's all it took. In an impulse, I bought a pilot Kakuno and now I have about 4 fountain pens and one more on the way. I recently acquired a TWSBI Eco in white as pictured above. Which is one of my nicest looking pens that writes really nicely.

I found pelikan 4001 inks to be very cheap, but over time, one might consider the pilot inks for nicer colour.

Traps: Fountain pens are extremely beautiful writing tools. However they come in many shapes and sizes and materials, this is also another area which G.A.S. affects greatly. Some pens go up to a few thousand dollars.

Canvas and Leather Bags

photo credits: Bulang and Sons

What canvas, what leather? Nowadays, there are plenty of new age materials for bags, touted as lightweight, tough, water-proof and durable. They are a good idea, but I feel that a bag is something you carry everyday, it should be sentimental and warm rather than cold and unfeeling.

Some bags indeed better to use and are cheaper, but they do not age well with use. These new age fabric when worn out are costly to replace and more often than not out of warranty or expensive to ship back.

Nothing beats the look of a waxed canvas with leather trimmings that has been used up badly. They only require to be rubbed with beeswax when you feel like it and the fabric is easily found.

If celebrity endorsement is anything, Tom Cruise is frequently seen carrying the classic Filson 256 Briefcase. Other users include Jake Gyllenhaal, Jonah Hill, Daniel Craig, and Will Graham in Hannibal.

Traps: These bags are getting harder to come by, and good brands like Filson is starting to be expensive and suffer some quality issues from what I read. These bags are meant to be used daily, rain or shine for years and years. If you plan to only get it for less than a year, then it defeats the purpose as part of the bag's feature is its durability. And it that is not tested, it is a waste of money.


What is not Analog
Film camera - They maybe cheap on the onset, but it is quite costly to develop the photos unless you do digital scans which involves using a digital camera to take photo of the film over a light box. Plus you risk ruining a whole roll if you accidentally expose the film to light.

Basket woven briefcases - This is a whole level of stupid on its own. Are you going for a picnic and ants are going to carry your twelve cupcake out of your basket on its plate in a conveyor belt fashion?

Half bike Helmets - To be ridden with your cream coloured Vespa with Italian flag stripes. Not to mention how dangerous it is to not have your jaws and chin protected in case of an accident.

How Analog are you? 
The above are mainly the few things I am analog about. What about you? Being Analog is not some Anti-capitalism or Anti-mass produced items. It is about using something that is indeed better and cheaper, doesn't matter when it is made. It also will lead to a simpler life when you know that the way you do things is so meaningful, literally just like the good old days.