Moleskine – Devil or Genius?

I went a little nuts about a week ago, and picked up this bag from Moleskine’s Asia store:

 I ordered it through the Asia site – even though I live in Houston – because it simply isn’t available over here yet. I received free FEDEX shipping direct from Hong Kong, though, and that was enough for me to pull the trigger.

Except that I didn’t stop pulling the trigger. It just went on and on and on…

I found these City Notebooks, which have street maps and stickers and plenty of blank pages and three separate bookmarks and… well, you get the idea. For 44 different cities, everything from Athens to Zurich. So far, I’ve picked up Los Angeles, San Fransisco, Madrid and Milan. If you want to pick up all or some of these, make it quick; I have a source that tells me Moleskine is discontinuing all but 4 of them, only one of which is in the US (New York).

I thought the City Notebooks would complement the pocket size (plain) and large size (ruled) notebooks I also bought, giving me a sort of Hemingway-esque feeling. Appropriate, I suppose, since Moleskine touts him as one of their most famous users, along with Picasso.

Good thing I can’t draw too, or I’d be even worse off. Because, you see, it didn’t stop there, either.

This is just one of the “Passions” journals – of six – in their collection. Film (one, please), Wine (and another), Wellness (Ha!), Music, and Recipe fill out the remaining options. Each is packed with sections, stickers, bookmarks and places to jot down the best – and the worst – of whatever you see, read or drink.

So… yeah. As my friend Claire said, I’m now a walking advertisement (make sure to get the English pronunciation there) for the company. Which is fine, really. Because their stuff rocks.

The City Notebooks especially will be useful. They’re basically a way to create my own guidebook to wherever I’m at, which is exactly what I wanted to do for this blog. Lots of good “on the street” info, as it were. From 25 or 30 different cities. It’s like kismet or something.

And that’s totally a justification for spending a butt-load of $ on these things.  But as long as I use them, then it’s not ’empty’ justification. It’s prescience. And that is just fine with me.