Inform Me Again Why I Need a Moleskine

I've never fully understood the Cult of the Moleskine. I can understand the desire to have a notebook on you at all times; I suffer from it myself. The thing is, I've never been able to find a notebook that:

• Fits in my pocket
• Does the above and is not spiral bound
• Hard covered
• Not a Moleskine

This has proved harder than I had anticipated. Most notebooks that are narrow enough are too long, or too thick. Most that are the right size are soft covered. Many are spiral bound, with spirals that bend or break from living in the pocket. The only viable notebooks that I continued to spot in shops were the Moleskines, by which I felt strangely repulsed. Maybe it was the full-of-it advertising, or the dopey little rubber band, or the weird cult to the things I found on the web, but I just didn't want anything to do with them. I know this seems ridiculous since they're clearly good books, but something about them just turned me off. As such, I've made due with having to lug my backpack wherever I'll need my writing notebook or organizer. It's a pain, but I can't keep the damn thing in my pocket.

Today, I met my notebook. I'd gone down to the school bookstore to pick up what remained of the textbooks I needed, and caught sight of a pile of notebooks I'd never noticed before they rearranged the store. There, stacked (oddly enough) in the art supplies shelf, was a pile of #49358 Field Books. They were the right size, the right bind, and hideously (perfectly) orange.

I plucked one from the stacks (and boy, were there stacks of these things) and turned it over in my hands. They're cloth bound, and have a texture that's not slippery or tacky. The pages within are gridded, something I learned to like when I was majoring in computer science and had to make a lot of graphs and visually organized code on the fly. Even more appealing to my inner geek was the list of trigonometric formulas in the very final pages. I let the clerk know that I was going to briefly pocket it while she watched, so she'd know I wasn't just swiping the thing. It fit perfectly.

At about $6, it's a little pricey for 160 pages, but those pages are part rag paper and come in the nicest package I've seen thusfar.

Currently prepping it for use as my friend forever. Will introduce you to it tonight.