We spent a fortune on a Mac and I still write by hand in cheap 50 cent notebook diaries with cutie figures of little pigs or teddy bears… go figure. But since last year when Mom sent me handmade notebook covers, I have revived writing by hand. I write my diary as well as draft my blog entries in these notebooks.

“Handwriting is more connected to the movement of the heart.”

- Natalie Goldberg

Our apartment has two bedrooms. Every evening at around nine, or whenever I feel like it, I retire into the second bedroom and sit on the big wooden desk. This wooden desk is one of my favorite pieces of furniture that come with our fully-furnished apartment. It’s wide and spacious in French colonial style with metal latches and gold inlay on its two drawers. This is my ME time and the desk in the second room is where I write. By hand. In notebook diaries. Away from the television set. Away from the stereo. Most especially, away from the computer. Quiet. No multi-tasking. Just me, my pen, my notebook and this wooden desk. And then some.

Read more in Toe’s Kurokuroatbp.