Miki Shaw's blog

QotD: If I Never Hear That Again...

What is the one saying that your parents said to you that you absolutely hate? 
Submitted by victoriassecret.

Good qotd! It's fascinating reading everyone else's answers

1. "You should have done it earlier/yesterday/..." - which is my Dad's most annoying way of answering a question - as if that pointless observation helps! I hate the word "should" but I still use it despite all efforts to banish it from my vocabulary. "Should have"'s are futile because you can't change the past. Why beat yourself up about it?

The runner-up phrases (minor irritants)
2.  "Try it - it won't kill you" :- how my Dad would try and convince my brother and I to taste peculiar looking food that we had no interest in sampling. Not the most enticing approach.
3. "When did your last slave die?" :- my Dad's response to me leaving my dirty plate on the table (or some similar domestic faux pas) - a comment I've never really understood and now use as an opportunity to engage in a witty riposte, detailing the recent and tragic death of my latest fictional servant.

Two observations on the above:
1. The phrases my Dad says that annoy me are ones which lack logic or reflect misguided thinking. I can't abide by that. (I am a perfectionist, you know.)
2. Full marks to my mum for having no irritating sayings!

QotD: What A Character

Who is your favorite video game character? 
Submitted by Korgoth.  

Ulala from Space Channel 5!
She's such a funky chick and a great dancer - what more could you want from a fictional tv reporter? (The aliens are pretty cute too...)

My Stationery Obsession

My name is Miki and I am a stationery-aholic.

Or maybe I'm a connoisseur. Either way, I'm a picky customer when it comes to writing implements, notebooks, folders etc.

My current pen of choice is the Uniball Signo DX 0.38, which makes beautifully smooth fine line. But I can't find them on sale anymore (I used to buy them in Israel). This is very distressing. Pencils must be the retractable kind, with a 0.5 lead: elegant precision instruments. Already you gather I'm a bit of a control freak.

My notebooks are A5 ADOCs - a very nifty system which is similar to spiral bound but with a flexibility that allows you to swap the pages around and use subject dividers and other movable inserts. They don't have the same cachet as Moleskine, but for non-linear thinkers like me, they are much more user-friendly. The only comparable methods with this degree of flexibility are: a) regular ring binders (too clunky) and b) filofax (too 80's and overpriced)
ADOC isn't perfect though. Most of the range is only available by mail-order, and they don't do narrow-ruled A5 paper. Yet. (I'm hoping someone from ADOC might one day read this and rectify that oversight.)

One of my author-friends said my obsession with stationary was "positively writerly", which I take as the highest compliment. But isn't this compulsion just another guise of my incessant procrastination? Can there be any justification for this oft repeated ritual: deciding what colour Uniball Signo DX 0.38 would be most fitting to capture the thought currently scuttling through my head?

It has been said that "language is a tool of thought". Thus stationery, in enabling us to record and communicate our words, is a conduit of thought! The journey of ideas from the brain to the page is no easy task. Thoughts flit and fly. They are emphemeral. Only the best conduit will do. My obsession is not mere indulgence. It is a necessity!