I love my Moleskine. I have the pocket reporter’s notebook as I think it’s perfect for on-the-go writing, being it in vertical orientation and you can hold it in one hand. I always have it with me to the extent that it replaced my wallet by using the back pocket as such, holding few bills and an ID.

Another thing that I love is the G-Pass. It’s an RFID chip the size of a quarter which allows you to ride the MRT and pay for your fare using your mobile phone. I’m quite surprised that only a few people who ride the MRT everyday actually use one and they would rather fall in numbingly long lines to buy their tickets. Hey, for those who didn’t know, it’s actually people who sell you tickets here and not machines unless those people are robots which isn’t unlikely considering they’re always stiff and grumpy.

Combine those two together and you have your very own M-Pass. Hey, who says you can’t put an RFID chip in a Moleskine? All you need is some strong adhesive (a tape will do) and stick your G-Pass chip on the lower back of your Moleskine. The chip is thin and small enough to be unnoticeable so don’t worry about adding some extra bulk. I have actually tried putting the G-Pass chip in the back pocket but I just have too much stuff in there that the reader have a hard time finding it. Putting it outside makes it much easier to interface with the reader and you won’t hear the dreaded “tsk” from the person behind you as that one-second delay is very important in their extremely busy lives.

The next time you ride the MRT, proudly tap your Moleskine on the reader and watch the faces of other people wondering what was that cool thing you just did. Well, okay, you can stick it on a bunch of other stuff but Moleskines are just plain cool, don’t ya think?