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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.
Namiki Falcon - this baby seems glorious and has a semi-flexible nib which makes it nice for doing some calligraphy work as well.
Sheaffer Valor - just an absolutely beautiful pen with an inlaid nib.
Yard-o-Led Viceroy Grand Victorian - this pen itself is a work of art... but is also a pipe-dream.
Pilot Custom 74 - a little more practical, everyday type of pen.
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