Fountain Pen in Shotglass

I was using my inked fountain pens to write on my new notebook (to be posted later) when I found out that my Inoxcrom Vivaldi doesn't write properly. I thought the ink in the cartridge has ran out or dried, so I replaced it with a fresh one. But that did not help, as the lines coming from my pen's nib is still broken and wobbly. Hmmm... Time to clean it up, I thought. But my cleaning materials were at home, so I improvised. I took out a WOW Philippines souvenir shotglass and filled it with enough water to soak the pen's nib, and minutes later, after a second change of water and drying it with thick wads of paper towels, the pen writes perfectly and smoothly again! Whew.

This is how it looked when I used a shotglass to soak the Vivaldi's nib. I guess I found a better use for those shotglasses in my collection, huh? *Wink.*

My Missing Pens (Now Found)

I found them!!! Yes, I found my missing Pilot FriXion Ball gelpens. Phew! Remember this post last September? These FriXion pens should have been included in the Pilot pens collection photo, but they were missing the time I was shooting and I could not remember where I placed them no matter how hard I tried to recall. Surprisingly, while organizing my toy truck collection the other night, these pens turned up in one of those small plastic bags holding my Tomy toys. Whew. And all the while I thought I have lost them.

Pilot FriXion Ball pens belong to the large selection of gel pens from Pilot, using the new, clever Metamocolor technology, or what the chemists at Pilot Pens call, thermo-sensitive gel ink formula, which turns transparent when friction is applied to it. A small rubber on its tail serves as an "eraser", and the ink disappears neatly as no eraser dust is produced in the process. Pilot claims that this "erasing" process does not pose any damage to almost all types of paper at all. Because the ink in these pens is easily erased, they cannot be used on legal documents or on any other official papers. The ink on these pens turn colorless when exposed to extreme temperatures (<14°f;>140°F). Their color can be restored, though fading, when placed in freezer to cool.

For practical and obvious reasons, I won't use these FriXions to write on my Moleskine, though. That notebook is reserved for my Pilot G2s. But these FriXions are great, cool pens! Especially when you're around people who get impressed with the idea of erasable gel pen inks. *Wink.*

Yeah, cool. Cool pens, these FriXions are. They're very handy when doing crossword puzzles, or Sudoku. Want more cool stuff about these pens? Watch this promotional video released in the US. Now this is one cool video for one cool pen.

A Birthday Bouquet

From my friends at work:

This beautiful bouquet of flowers came with this extra special message:

Birthdays are celebrated to give a person time to think about life’s blessings and all the reasons to believe that God has put you there for a special reason. May you enjoy the solitude and peace as well as happiness and joy on your special day!

Lovely November (and My Birthday Loot)

So I wasn’t able to NaNo. Again. Sadly. Well, there are excuses, and there are reasons, and I have several of both. But to protect the sanctity of my sanity, I choose not to elaborate on these things. There’s another NaNo next year, and I’d like to look at it as my chance to make-up for all the years I missed NaNoWriMo. But so much for NaNo.

A lot of beautiful things happened in November. Tatay’s birthday came around during the first week, and we had a different kind of celebration this year. Nothing grand, nothing fancy, just a simple dinner at home for the family, yet it felt special.

And then last weekend, it was my turn to celebrate as I turned 35. Yee-ha! We feasted on traditional birthday foods: spaghetti, pancit, puto Biñan, and sweet chocolate cake from Mer-Nels. Yes, I got to have my own cake!!! What a treat. It was an adult children’s birthday party, as someone aptly called it. And with my three nieces around, it was indeed a riot!

My birthday cake's candles...

For my birthday loot, here in pictures are some lovely stuff from someone even Lovelier. Wink.*

Books. I got two Murakami books! Yay!

Pens. I got two Schneiders, a green XTRA and another blue Zippi, a black 0.7 Uni-Ball Signo Gelstick, and two blue Inoxcroms: a Kukuxumusu and an Agatha Ruiz de la Prada.

And before these, during early November, I got the two bottles of Private Reserve inks that Sir Butch Dalisay bought for me during his US trip, a green Avocado and a brown/sepia Copper Burst.

Some Perks

I've been out of touch lately, I know... And I'll start posting again by end of this week, to make up for all the missing posts. But for now I'd like to share something my good friend Consol sent me today.

We were talking about the stalkers who are making my life a bit difficult lately, and perhaps in her effort to cheer me up, she told me this:

With great power comes great responsibility. With fame comes unwanted attention.

Oo nga naman. Although the first line sounds borrowed, the second sounds a lot better. Parang... sikat na ako? Hahaha!!!