stickers, washi tapes, and more iv: i am beginning to think i have a problem

 But it's like, not a bad problem to have. You know? Of all the things I could possibly buy too much of, stickers don't really rank on the list of "things that could bankrupt me."

As you may have guessed, I broke under the weight of relentless pressure (my coworker asking me exactly once if I wanted to get anything) and ordered some items from LOFT, a Japanese chain (I suppose?) of stores that sells household goods and other necessities. As I'm sure you know, the yen is extraordinarily weak in comparison to the dollar right now, so it was an exceptionally good deal.

I've been to a LOFT exactly once and I could've spent an entire day there, if not for the fact that I was with my family and they have a lot less interest in things like "letter paper that matches the envelope." I can't really think of a suitable Western comparable for LOFT, other than trying to suggest that it's a mall if all the stores in the mall were operated by the same company. I've always visited eslite on my trips back to Taiwan, and as far as I can remember they're very similar concepts.

As usual, I got just a whole grip of stickers, which was obviously very good for my mental health. Seasonal depression who? I'll skip these though (unless you desperately want to see them) because I feel like I've forced you all to witness many pieces of my sticker collection, and proudly hold my hand out with this guy on my palm.

If I was weaker, the face on the polar bear cub would bring me to tears.

This is a stamp from Sanby, featuring an illustration of two polar bears by Shunsuke Satake. It's a message stamp, but my first thought was that it would be absolutely lovely to use on envelopes or postcards for addresses. Just look at those little smiles! 

Blob!

For some reason, sticky notes are an oddly coveted item in the office. Pretty much everyone on my team ordered a lot of sticky notes this year even though... I don't really think we use sticky notes that much? I suppose it's a bit like how teens started wearing Silly Bandz in high school. The prestige of a beautiful sticky note. Anyway, I picked up these seal sticky notes which are, unsurprisingly, from Mind Wave. I don't know, they've just been really knocking it out of the park lately. I think a solid 95% of my sticker collection is Mind Wave at this point. I won't apologize for it.

Look at these little rascals.

Last but not least! I'm no longer much of a washi tape coveter anymore, but I was so instantly charmed by this goat washi tape that I just had to get it. The white part of the tape blends in (more or less) with the paper surface, so it looks like the goats are ripping holes in the paper. I mean... come on. Look at these little guys.

So this year ends with a nice little collection of items in my stationery collection. This time, for real, I'm putting an absolute NO! on any more stickers or washi tape or anything else decorative until I use up a solid amount of what I have. I've already packed one sticker sheet album to the brim! I have a mini album and a sticker flake album, neither of which have been filled (thankfully), nor do I plan to. I mean, I'm sure we'll return to this in 3 months and raise an eyebrow. But that's another problem for future me.

I was chatting with my mom last night and she reminded me that when I was little, she would buy me little stickers from the craft store, and even at that time I was the type of person who would hoard the stickers and never use them. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's very hard to change unless you put your mind to it...

Also, as this will be my last post for this year, I want to thank all of you for following along. My goal was to post once a month and I sure did it, even if some of those posts came in at the last minute. I just felt like I wasn't doing much "expository" writing in my free time anymore, and I like writing these kinds of things, so I figured I might as well do it. As for the future, I'm not really sure. As you've likely noticed, I don't really collect much fountain pen stuff anymore, and that always seemed to be the biggest draw of the site. I doubt I'll write reviews ever again, but it's always nice to think about what I have inked up and explain why I like it if only for the benefit of future me. I think I will continue to do that until I run out of spirit for fountain pens, which... I mean. The chances of that happening are very slim.

I hope you all have a lovely holiday season and an even better new year!

Check out this squirrel stealing fluff from an old dog bed we have in our backyard.