callmedr: The pen is mightier...

To add to my list of geeky interests, lately I have found myself drawn to the Honjo Masamune of writing instruments - the fountain pen. Whenever I bring up my interest in fountain pens to anyone, I get pretty much the same response: "Seriously? Dude, you must be gay. A pen is a freaking pen. Here, I'll lend you my Bic."

I don't want your Bic. I want a glorious and powerful weapon for conquering the written word. I want my pen to be as mighty as the sword.... like it has been said. Okay, I admit that that sounds a little over-the-top. Perhaps a tad bit sentimental for an inanimate object.... But I like that sentimentality.

Everything we do nowadays is disposable or chopped into tiny fragments on a computer keyboard. I was want write stuff worth keeping.... with a pen. And don't tell me that the pen doesn't matter - that it's just the words. That's not wholly untrue but I want my words to appear as nice as they sound. Watch this video and see what I mean:

Now of course it isn't realistic to spend 2 minutes typing every letter you write but I want to take back some of the art in my writing that was stolen by computers. I want to learn how to make things beautiful on paper. Now, you may be wondering what exactly I intend to write with these mind-blowing fountain pens. That's a dang good question. I'm not quite sure. I enjoy writing in a journal occasionally and I also throw out some rhymes every once and a while... and by rhymes I mean the kind that Robert Frost threw down, not Slim Shady. Of course, I'm not Robert Frost and I may never create anything worth much to anyone... but I still want something that one day my children or grandchildren can pick up and hold in their hands and say, "You know what, Grandpa was a weird duck but he sure was passionate about something." That's good enough for me.

So, hence the fountain pens. Of course, I don't really have a nice one yet. I have some really cheap Pilot Varsity pens (which are actually more of a pleasure to write with than I expected) and I have a Lamy Safari waiting at home in CLE for me to try out when I finally get home. But, I WANT to own a nice pen. I have to admit that I have spent hours on Youtube watching videos by InkNouveau and sbrebrown and a bunch of others lusting after pens and inks and notebooks. Perhaps a graduation gift to myself will justify the cost of a nice pen next year.

My wish list is overflowing with pens right now but here are some of the ones that are on my 'yes please' list right now:

Waterman Carene - this is at the very top of my list. This is my lust pen. I've already named her in my dreams.