Collaged Diary Cover Ages Well

I brought a 2010 diary eventually, despite hundreds of styles we offer in our stores, I couldn't choose one I like so eventually I settled to make my choice regardless of the cover design, just the content.  And I love Alife Design's content best, it has a vague resemblance of NAVA Design's font and layout which I also love.  Yup, I gave up using Moleskine diary, couldn't find the layout design beauty out of it.

Collaged 2010 Diary Cover – Front

Much the same as how I did a 1Q84 book cover (in progress, finished book one), I used scrap paper bag, butter paper, MT masking tapes, stamps and photos printed on coarse paper to create a collage cover I like.  It is durable enough for parts where butter paper is glued onto the surface.

Collaged 2010 Diary Cover – Back

The beauty of a collaged cover is that it ages well :).  You don't have to worry too much about protecting its appearance coz you already accepted that battered look as a design.  Fixing peeling corners is easy, just stick something on it by tapes.

Collaged 2010 Diary Cover – closeup

The problem with Alife Design's diary is that it lacks a bookmark, but this can be easily fixed by gluing a ribbon to the spine.  I chose to fix a soft leather strip on the back page which looks more like a real bookmark to me.  I looooove this diary 😉

Collaged 2010 Diary Cover – Leather bookmark

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To Prolong My 1Q84 Reading Pleasure – Make a Nice Book Cover

I'm gonna enjoy reading 1Q84 as much as possible and take it slow.  A nice book cover will do the trick.  Can you see the pleasure here?  I'm enjoying myself making the book cover and this tiny pleasure of picking up a pleasant object will probably last from book 1 to 2 and beyond.

Book Cover

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Relieve Oneself by Traveling Through Parallels – 1Q84

Finally Mr. Spring-Tree-in-a-Village's book came out in Chinese.  I was kind of waiting for the English version, you know Murakami thinks in English when he writes, but I need to get away from my world badly lately, so I got 1Q84 today anyhow.

1Q84 Today

While Aomame was listening to Janáček's Sinfonietta in an almost sound proof taxi, I was shielding myself from the disturbance of quietness with spa music playing through my over-the-head headphone.  I was stuck on page 3 because of the most long lasting and satisfying sensation of scratching an itchy spot over my lower left leg.  To be exact, it is where the anterior tibia muscle is, exactly 12 inches from the bottom of my left foot, …. ok you don't want to know but I'll continue in another direction.

Scratch my brain

This itchy spot started to appear a few years ago, doctor said it was not caused by fungus and its temporary, he prescribed antibiotics ointment, the itch keeps coming back however.  One day I had an epiphany, the spot appeared for a reason perhaps psychosomatic.  Suddenly I remember in my boy scout days I always hurt this area of my leg during outings.  In one particular instant, I was crossing a river stream over large rocks, I slipped and my left leg was stuck between two rocks under water.  That exact spot hurt like hell for almost a year.  Even though fully recovered, I carry the pain and shamefulness of not being fit enough for activities so common for young boys.  I didn't give up though, eventually became a troop leader and instructor.

That itchy spot now was the "painful" spot so light and seems insignificant yet lingering.  Today that spot lingers as a sign of distress and at the same time a relief mechanism I can make use of.  I use it to reduced brain activity in areas associated with unpleasant sensory experiences and memories, I made it a bodily chronic itch for the benefit of scratching away problems, scratching to the point of drawing blood to relief.

1984 was the year I began the transformation from self-doubt.  3 pages of 1Q84 brought me back to the parallel realms I was so good traveling across.

(google "why scratching feels good" and go deeper)

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