Eye Candies = Shotglass + Toy Truck

I said I will write updates, and I did one on my pens and notebooks the other day. I am yet to write about the books I've read and the movies we've watched lately, yet I'm so giddily excited about these two eye candies that I'm writing about them now before those books and movies. *Wink.*

First, this shotglass. A new shotglass!!! Yey! I haven't gotten anything new in so long I forgot when. This shotglass is a gift from W, a good friend who truly surprised me when she sent this through someone in a brown bag (another brown bag!) with a yellow Post-It tab as a gift tag that said: "To CSD, For your collection. From: W."

I held my breath as I opened the bag because it took me so long to rip out the newspaper it was wrapped with. *Chuckles.* Then after the newspaper wrap, it was again wrapped in a thick bundle of soft paper for extra protection. And I deeply appreciate that. And when I saw the shotglass... Ah, I was just speechless. It came from the Philippine Military Academy, the country's premier training school for future officers of the Armed Forces. The crest/seal states: Courage, Integrity, Loyalty. Wow. This is my second Pinoy shotglass, and it now sits among my growing collection. Thanks, W!

Now this toy. This truck is Tomica No. 36: Nexco self run type mark car, with an Isuzu elf body scaled at 1/64. This is my first toy in a long break off collecting toy trucks. My last toys were #51 (Toyota Crown Comfort Taxi) and #68 (Isuzu Snorkel Firetruck) bought in September last year. I know I've been left behind in my other collections, with my last elephant in August last year, and the shotglass and toys in September.

I got new stuff latety, though. Aside from new pens and notebooks and inks and papers, I also got Christmas stamps and tea. Yes, tea. The ones that come in bags with tiny colorful tags? But that's reserved for a another post. Later. Ahem.

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Pens + Notebooks = Things New and Wonderful

I have new pens... *Grin.* And I got new notebooks... *Grin.*

I wrote about my upcoming pens in my 23 February post. I was so excited about the four pens that I wrote about them even before I got hold of them. The vintage pens came within the week, thanks to Sir Butch Dalisay's prompt mailing and to LBC's efficiency. Just in time before my Dusit Thani workshop the week after, where I learned that I won't have the Lamys, yet, which is sad. They're out of stock, and have been like that for the last three or four months, according to my friends from Malaysia who scoured the shops in KL for me. But they assured me they will send the pens as soon as they are available.

Then again, as the old saying goes, lose some, win some. Huh? *Grin.* No Lamys from KL, but I got new pens from India! Yipee-yey!!! The same afternoon I learned the sad news about the Lamys, I was at the lobby of Dusit Thani when my Indian friend B handed me a brown bag with four pens straight from New Delhi. Huwow!!! I got four new pens!!! They have separate boxes, complete with their own converters and two short ink cartridges. My gifts are two Montex fountain pens (pink and green), a green Chelpark Moti, and a red/maroon Camlin Trinity. The Montex pens have plastic nib protectors and their nibs are very unique. (The pink one went to someone else, of course.) The Chelpark and Camlin both have brushed silver caps and plastic barrels, but all pens write well, very smooth, and very wet! But that is how exactly I like my pens to be. I love broad, wet pens!

New pens. From left: Parker Vector (F) from NBS Glorietta; Vintage pens: Superior 330 (F), Lamy Ratio 47 (XF); Pens from India: Camlin Trinity (F), Chelpark Moti (F); Pens from Corona: Youth 208 (both F, the teal and green ones), Hero 332 (F-M), Hero 442 (F), Youlian (F); and Pens from Cardinal: Hero 330 (XF), and Wing Sung (F).

The same week, on a stroll at Glorietta after a full day's workshop session, I passed by NBS and saw a white Parker Vector. I had to get that pen! And get it I did, together with a box of Parker Quink Ruby cartridges. I rushed back to my hotel room and wrote a whole page letter with my new white pen inked with Ruby. Amazing! But oh, I forgot that I was supposed to get dinner at Superbowl on that stroll, too, but because it was getting late already, I went to Wendy's instead (which is just across the hotel) and got myself a chili con carne and bacon mushroom melt. Whoa.

Two weeks after, we went to Sta. Cruz, Manila to visit Escolta. On our way there, we missed the stop to Escolta and ended up in Recto. Raffy, a fellow fountain pen collector, helped us via text messaging to go around the area and scour those bookstores selling Youth, Hero, Pilot, Lamy, and Wing Sung pens. Lucky we missed the Escolta stop. Our first store was Corona, where I got five pens: Hero 332 and 442, two Youth 208s (green and teal), and a Youlian pen. They also have a couple of Lamys but I did not buy any when I saw the ugly ink stains on their nibs. Napangitan ako bigla. I also got myself a Waltex 3x folding magnifier for closeups of my pens' nibs and also for my stamps. A few steps further and we were at Cardinal (which sadly closed a week after we were there), where I got a brushed metal Wing Sung and a Hero 330, which is exactly a modern version of the vintage Superior 330 from Sir Butch. They also have Pilot Birdies, and several Parkers. Our last bookstore/pen store was Merriam across FEU, but I didn't get any of their Sheaffers because they were too pricey for me.

Earlier on, I got lucky to have two Paperchase journals from Booksale. Booksale people said these notebooks are limited, so I'm really lucky to have gotten hold of two. For fountain pen users like I am, it is important that the notebooks and paper we use are friendly to our pens and their inks. Luckily, the Paperchase notebooks are super fountain pen friendly! I wrote on it with my pens, beginning with the finest to the broadest, including my calligraphy pens, and there was no feathering at all! There were minor signs of bleed though, but that's expected with medium and broad nibs like the ones from my Rotring 600 (B) and Schneider Base (M). The paper is white, smooth, and ruled wider than that of my Moleskine's, but that's okay, too. I'd need that if I am to use my medium- and broad-nibbed pens.

My Paperchase notebooks: looks elegant with their black leather cover. Like Moleskines, they also have lovely bookmarkers.

The inside pages of the notebook: white, large-ruled, fountain pen-friendly!

And just last weekend, another strike of luck came by while I was browsing shops at SM, where I found this Eagle notebook at Office Warehouse, the same place where I get my Schneider pens. Again, it's fountain pen friendly, but the best thing about it is its wire binding. And it's got an elastic band too. This notebook comes in A5 and a bigger version which is best for sketching despite its ruled pages.

Eagle notebook: 80 pages of ruled, white, smooth, fountain pen-friendly paper!

I tried writing on it and here's a sample page with scribbles of my fountain pens.

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1 Month

It's been a while. Actually, it's been a month. I've been here and there, I got new pens, new notebooks, new books, new postcards, and a hoard of Christmas stamps. :-) I've watched movies, sang new songs, made new friends from all over the globe. I've been to laharlandia and ruined a three-month old GBX sneakers. I've been to a ship on a trip I almost missed. I'll write updates, as I've always done before.

But what I really want to say is that, life has been very good these days. I've got a lot to thank for.

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