Analog: is it Minimalism?

Being analog is just a name I gave to this way of life, some people may have been unknowingly been analog their whole life. 

It is not about shunning technology or modernisation, in fact, it embraces true innovation.

It is not being beggar-like frugal, but it is about having a happy wallet that sustains your hobbies and keeping yourself happy.

It is not only minimalism or de-cluttering, it is about not even wanting/having to buy things you will throw out later.

Why it isn't minimalism?

Analoging is a complete way of life, it just starts off in one wonderful session that kickstarts everything, packing parties is a good idea (quite honestly the best ones I've come across in a long time), but it doesn't do two things:

- it doesn't really stop you from buying unwanted things

- it doesn't convert you into a minimalist

Call it mimicry or adaptation, this is an embellishment of the way of life, we do not let others dictate how we live, neither do we want to be miserable while de-cluttering. 

Yes, it is good to have packing parties and all then blog to show others about it, but if you do not fully believe in the minimalist system in the first place, deep down, you are crying miserably as you rid of your favourite LV handbags or limited edition watches that you store in the safe. Probably two possible outcomes:

- you will go buy it back or something similar as you regret ridding it in the first place

- you become a full minimalist but the start is not ideal, it is like having stockholm syndrome to your new you. Or to sound worse, cutting off your arm and learn how to live 1 handed.

"People (not just kids) today glue themselves to their phones, taking away their phones permanently does nothing. I can spend days without wanting to look at my phone even though it is in my pocket, fully charged with internet data."

How to Start?

Although I say that being Analog is not something you can instantly kickstart or turn on like a switch, it still has to start some where.

Honestly, I would say that I don't even know as I cannot tell you how to live your life. You can start by wet shaving, but if you are in a situation whereby it is not convenient for you, either have better time management or don't do it than be miserable.

I'm not so sure about girls, but if you are a guy, seriously, go out get a proper mechanical watch (quartz is fine too if it is a good quartz piece). Stop buying overpriced stuff like Daniel Wellington or watches from any fashion brand.

It is better to believe it in your mind and let your body catch up to it than the other way round. You can do packing parties, take ideas from other minimalist websites but please treat it as means of complimenting your life than as a fall back plan to get rid of too much stuff you shouldn't have in the first place. 

"If you buy things you do not need, soon you will have to sell things you need."

- Warren Buffett

Where it isn't Minimalism?

This is a big part of being Analog that I love. Some of the things I do is also hobbies, for instance, wet shaving, fountain pens, and watches. Having one or two of it is bare minimum, having 3 or 4 is a small collection and with watches, sky's the limit. 

I feel minimalism is about having bare minimums, whereas being Analog embraces spending money on your own obsessions and hobbies but within reasonable limits of course. You can buy if it makes you happy and you can afford to throw it at $0. That is where I think each of us have to personally believe in this ideology before practising it. This is very much self-discretion, for instance, an Analog guy could have a shelf of whiskey, watches and still be an Analog-er. He gets by, no worries on his savings, he does not need to sell them to raise money for emergencies. That is a wonderful life to live. 

Also, a big part of being Analog is about being honest to yourself, no pretentious-ness, no wanderlust (in Helvetica fronts no less), no escapism, and manage your own expectations. If you love branded stuff, it is ok, but do not expect yourself to completely turn it off in a day, and throwing stuff away or fire-sales is not going to curb it either. you must come to a point where you have it but really do not feel the need to carry it anymore.

Price vs Value

In full disclosure, I own a LV wallet, because after searching around, I find LV to make incredibly durable wallets. mine looks like new after 5 years. I do not like buying a $20 wallet every time it spoils, being Analog also embraces quality. I think that as a guy, you have to have the taste to carry something of quality and class. being analog is most definitely not being a beggar. Also buy owning and using something for a long period of time shows that you can take care of things and is not fickle minded (I do not set my wallet on fire, but I do not baby it much either, I just don't sit on it).

In these days, sometimes good quality things comes with a certain price. For instance, 30 - 40 years back, no one gives two shits about a Rolex submariner. They may be expensive, but it is not as expensive as it is today with inflation factored in. (Inflation is about 4-5 % annually, and Rolex ups the prices at 7-10% annually, so in about 25 years, it is literally twice its 'expensive-ness'. 

"Price is what you pay, value is what you get. "

-Warren Buffett again

Everyone prices things differently, you should not let anyone price anything for you much less a retailer. If in your mind, an item priced at $100, never buy it for more than that, How close or lesser your price is to the item's value depends on individuals. 

As you imagine, I can go on forever, but this is so far I'll go for now...

(that's what she said!)

Have fun

Simple Tactic I Learnt

Last week was Chinese New Year in Singapore so I was quite busy packing up and stuff. On top of that, my family decided to throw out as much things as we can because we will be moving house in the next few months' time.

The thing about packing is, you scold yourself for being so wasteful and more often than not, the reasons not to throw away certain things is because of the price you paid for them or it's lifespan or usage hasn't been utilized completely.

I saw a TED talk about minimalists about two guys who live the minimalist lifestyle (check out their web), everything is about living a meaningful life. Being in Singapore and my general distaste for being pretentious as their entire website is almost in black and white, I do find the ideas they present to be useful most of the time. Their way of life is about important things only, de-clutter, being really rich.

The things they talk about can be embraced in other aspects of your life, such as work, relationships, etc. They provide actual activities to de-clutter or clear away the extra stuff which I think is good rather than being just idealistic and vague. It is not a "see the light" or "feel with your heart", rather it is more of a "try it!" and "see for yourself"

Within the TED talk, the speaker, Joshua, gave a simple method on transforming your life which I find to be extremely effective. *Disclaimer: the below described though is taught by them in the TED talk, but the actual described is how I did it, derived from their talk, How much I derive from their talk is up to you.

To clean out your room, you have to get rid of stuff, like I said earlier, you don't know which. Fret not, this method is to help you find out.

1) Apart from stuff you most certainly will use everyday, pack the rest into boxes, label it, and stack it up outside of your room.

2) Make sure the boxes are being labelled correctly and accurately.

3) Go on live your life as usual, when you find that you need something stowed in the boxes, you take them out, after using, put it back and stack that box under the other boxes. If you need that same item again, you ask yourself, is it important or are you too lazy to take it out and live your life without it.

4) In two weeks time, you should have certain things taken out completely and some still left in the box.

5) Put some of those expensive things or relatively unused items on sale on Carousell or wherever.

6) When it is 1 month since you first packed it into the boxes, those things not posted to sell online or unused can be thrown away completely.

7) When things posted online for a month or so and still no interest, you can throw it away or give to salvation army too.

Please do not recycle stuff into art project as it takes up space and wastes time.

Now CNY is over, you can just start this packing. The fact you need a massive spring cleaning is a sure enough sign that you have too many things.

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.

Planning 2016

This year definitely will be the next chapter of my life. I am collecting the keys to my flat this year and also getting married towards the end of the year. So mazel tov!

Here's a few changes I have made to myself which you will also see reflected in this blog. 

- I have been maintaining a simple once-a-week calisthenics work out with a few great guys, it's quite fun and I can feel the significant improvement in my strength. 

- My watch addiction is now very limited

- This is due to my recent start of using a fountain pen. Which has so far been proven to be poisonous and acidic to wallets.

- Not losing sight of my end goals, some stricter austerity measures have been put in place to make sure I save money and do not overspend in the stock market. (Managing your own cash flow is as important as the company's cash flow).

All in all, I'll be plotting my HDB + wedding progress from end March to April onwards. 

- Happy 2016 everyone! -

How I Use My Midori Traveler's Notebook

I found out about Midori Traveler’s Notebook through no idea where, it made me start using notebooks. It made me more productive. After a while, I decided it was time to bite the bullet and get a MTN.

But as I dive deeper, I found that most users seem to be using it for aesthetic purposes and blogging on a paper rather than for productivity. It’s a notebook to help you remember things to do, events that take place. Not for you to bring on your travels in $50 leather bag that only fits one MTN + various colour pens/sticky tape/insert quotes that you find meaningful.

Don’t blame me, I’m a guy, I would be pretty pissed if we spent so much money to go abroad and time spent is “notebooking” (fingers inverted commas).

Firstly, notebook is a means to be productive and save time, by spending time “paper-blogging”, it is quite counter-intuitive no?

Secondly...

search image for photo credit please

Anyways, I saw someone on facebook wanted to know how I use my MTN, it’s boring, but it works for me.

I work in a shipping company, I have to take note of the daily operations of slightly less than 20 ships. Unlike most 9-5 jobs, I work in the office from 9-6 daily, but any other time, I am on call and have to check my email constantly on the go. The only time I get to not do that is if I don't work in shipping. FYI, it costs 2-3 times my monthly salary to operate a commercial oil/chemical tanker a day.

I lug my MTN around every where I go, especially on weekends when I do not have my office desktop in front of me.

This is how it looks like from 9-6. Too lazy to loop it properly. 

Pretty, straightforward, the gap is from the pen (uniball 307 with jetstream refill). It lives in the page as a book mark for the last written page. The stringy book mark is used on the vessel schedule page that changes weekly.

I have 3 booklets inside:

- Week in two pages (credit to Ray Blake) for my personal events, usually is nothing much. I do not record birthdays or anniversaries unless I'm doing something that day. Wishing someone happy birthday is not doing something so I do not write down birthdays.

- MTN Ruled notebook - this is where I write all my work stuff. I initially wanted to try bullet journal style, but quickly realise it is pointless. So everything is marked with either a "-" or "•". More important/critical stuffs will be underlined or boxed. when it is done or irrelevant, it gets 3 crosses (one at the front, one in the middle, one at the end). Don't strike it out, so that even if it is over, I can still read it.

As you can see, I printed some chronodex (credit to scription). I only use it when I have a very busy day or if I am sleepy and this helps me not think of what to do next rather than as a daily use thing to show people and blog about it.

- 2015/16 monthly view calendar (credit to Ray Blake again). I'm getting married in 2016 end. I use this monthly view calendar to note down important dates or things coming up. e.g. when we signed for our banquet, when we took our wedding photos, extra points to note. any our-wedding related things.

I cut the edges all at one go using scissors because I don't care how neat the edges are.

As you can see, it is boring, I do use a bit of semi translucent post-it stubs to mark out pages that needs constant referring. Or the current month/week in my two calendar styled booklets. 

I also used an old folder to make the folder thingy, it helps to make writing easy when I have no surface to write on, and it keeps the shape I suppose.

I am not saying that it is stupid to bring out colour pens all the time, it is your hobby/lifestyle to use your MTN as a decorative thing to put on blogs/instagram/facebook/twitter and show people your colourful pages. I see some use it as a wallet on their passport size which I understand, but what I don't understand is keeping paperbags, tickets inside. And also having so much pens that the pens takes up as much space as the MTN. But I do have to say, it is a very beautiful thing and I appreciate beauty...like a vase or whatever.

Broke Kids.

Getaways or Get Away?

This morning, I was pondering in the shower over an article I read a few days ago about a guy who doesn't get why youths these days blow so much of their savings on travel.

For the experience, for the people you meet and the amount of photos post-able in social media.

Seriously, please stop it.

This glam-travel BS has to stop. Spending your savings in a few days. After that only making you come back to the real life and making you want to save more to get away again.

Getaways ... get-away ... escape.

See the underlying meaning? All this, I want to travel, so fun, sunglasses, sand and sea is all a sand-coated veil of escapism at its costliest.

All we see is youth complaining that there is nothing to do in Singapore, but honestly, we are just missing out.

There are plenty of things to do and see in Singapore, if you looked as hard as you did for your air ticket.

This is in Singapore, I kid you not.

Next post, I'll be reflecting on the wiki-abstract of the famous book, The Richest Man in Babylon.

Wedding vs Marriage

Weddings last for a day but a Marriage lasts forever.

We say that all the time together with relationship goals, said as ideals when looking for their "bae", "SO", "HTB", "WTB". Funny yet when together, all of that isn't mentioned at all. Wedding bands that involves both couples, is now replaced with conversations about the shiny engagement ring. Girls tend to be referred as birds because of their tendency to like shiny things. And guys are referred to as blokes probably from sounding like broke. (jk jk lol).

What is the priorities?

What kind of percentage of money do you set aside for things like your house, furniture, wedding, engagement ring, wedding bands.


Just a school of thought, my disclaimer, my fiancee and I pays everything half half unless its things I buy for her or if I don't mind.