Postcrossing

A friend from Fountain Pen Network - Philippines recently introduced me to my new passion: Postcrossing. Postcrossing is a project that allows anyone to exchange real postcards (not electronic) from anywhere in the world that can be reached by postal mail. As a start, one must register in their website, postcrossing.com. Once registered, a user can request for a maximum of five addresses (postcard recipients) from Postcrossing's member database. Each address has a unique code for identification later on. The user then mails the postcards. As soon as the recipients get the postcards, they will register the code in the system to signify that they have already received it. The new user then becomes eligible to receive his/her own postcards from other Postrossing members. Easy, right?

I never thought I'd spend more than a hundred pesos (~$2) in postcards. But because of this exciting project, B and I trooped to the nearest NBS last Saturday and picked a couple of postcards. I mailed my first batch of five this morning, and they're going to Belgium, Finland, Germany, Russia, and the USA. Oh, how exciting it is to send postcards to complete strangers from faraway countries, and later, to receive the ones sent to me by other members too.

The first batch of postcards I mailed today.

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A(nother) White Pen

What do you call it when you were searching for something and then you’d find something else that you weren’t actually looking for? Serendipity? Chance? Luck? It could be. But with my pens, I’d like to call it fate. And it was fate that brought me another white pen yesterday afternoon.

It was half past six already, and I was on my way home when I chanced upon an old, familiar school supplies store in San Pablo. I browsed through their selection of pens, notebooks and specialty paper, and even got several postcards for my Postcrossing project. As I paid for the postcards, something interesting caught my attention. Out of an old and battered box inside one of their glass cabinets, the silver clip of a pen is peeking out. I rushed the salesclerk to get the box for me. Lo and behold, the box had two identical pens of different colors: red and white. Yes. White. I prayed that it would be a fountain pen but I was disappointed to find out it was a ballpoint. And it had several dirt specks on its barrel. Then again, because it is a white pen, I asked to try it. It was my second shock that afternoon: it is a Cross ballpoint. And it is white. I tried it and it wrote smoothly. I checked the ink cartridge inside and it says A.T. Cross Medium. And so I went on to pay for it without even asking about its cost. And Holy Mother of Jesus. What a bargain it was. The original price tag says it is selling for 260 pesos, but since it doesn’t have a box anymore, and that it comes as an old stock item, they’re selling it for half the price. So I got a white Cross ballpoint for 130 pesos, or roughly less than $3. Oh, wow.

My white Cross ballpoint, on top of my Moleskine leather wrap. It's a joy to have this pen, never mind that it's a ballpoint.

If anyone is wondering why I got a Cross ballpoint when I have just indicated that I have made the switch to full fountain pen use, well, it comes from something personal. And of course, the pen is white. So I got interested. And it is a Cross pen. Then it gets personal. Because it is a Cross pen. Hm. Way back in college, one classmate had an army of Cross writing instruments: ballpoints, pencils, and rollerballs. He’d even come to class holding his pens instead of putting them in a pen case or pen holder, as if showing them off for all to ogle at. He would proudly display his pens on his writing desk and decline anyone who’d ask to try any of his pens. Hmp. I secretly wanted to have similar pens then. The glitter and shine of all those gold and silver pens with beautiful set cases is indeed difficult to take off my mind.

Through time, I got my hands on several Pilots, Parkers, Rotrings, Staedtlers, and even a Sheaffer 0.7 silver mechanical pencil that my classmates envied, because at that time, those were still hard to come by. (I still have the pencil now, and in very good condition, which should only be the case because being one of Tatay’s few gifs to me, its preciousness is unrivaled.) But I never got to own a Cross. Not one ever. And so this Cross pen is a surprise, a gift from a fateful encounter. My now chance to a past denied opportunity. And it’s a white pen! Aw, shoot. How many times have I already said that?

Here are several more photos of the pen (middle one), together with my other two white pens already, my Schneider Base medium-nibbed fountain pen (left) and my Parker Jotter (right). They are on top of a page off Esopus 8, Spring 2007, page 122. The painting is Gustave Moreau's "Salome Dancing Before Herod". For a better image of the painting, see it here.

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(Ice) Tray for my Pens

Everyone has his or her own way of organizing writing instruments. And everyone has their own pen holders to do this. I've always had pen holders on my work/writing tables at home and in my office. Some are gifts, like the Ikea pen holder set I got from someone's Singapore trip, or the wooden set I inherited from someone else; but most are modified pen holders, like mugs of all shapes and sizes, or large peanut butter jelly glasses. For long, this worked as long as my pens are organized. However, when I started collecting fountain pens, I realized that the previous pen holders could damage the barrels of my pens. I found relief when I got my flannel pen wrap. (More about it here and here.)

My pen wrap. I'm still using it to keep (and protect) my pens inside my backpack. Nowadays, its permanent residents are my precious fountain pens, some are pictured below, some I keep uninked for the time being.

Then again, untying and retying a pen wrap and spreading it on my table didn't look very pretty at all. And so the quest for a better pen organizer went on... Until I went to a pen meet last December and saw fellow fountain pen collector Cindy Trinidad's pen trays. At first I didn't think it would work for me, these trays. Then again, when I saw them at a mall's kitchen supplies section, I got hooked on these beautiful ice trays made of soft rubber. Each tray has seven slots and each slot is long (and wide) enough to accommodate a pen. And what's best about these pen trays is that they're available in blue! Now, my pen tray looks like this:

(It's my Moleskine on the foreground, yes. That brown ink is Private Reserve Copperburst on my black Schneider Base.)

Up close, this is how my pen tray looks like on an ordinary day. *Wink.* My pens, from left are: white Schneider Base (Medium, inked with Waterman Florida Blue), black Schneider Base (Medium, with Private Reserve Copperburst), Rotring 600 (Broad, with Private Reserve Avocado), black Hero 616 (Fine with Waterman South Sea Blue), Inoxcrom P-200 (Medium with PR Avocado), green Schneider Zippi (Medium with Inoxcrom blue), and a white Parker Jotter with Medium Black ink.

And yes, I've completely shifted to full fountain pen use. I only got the Jotter there for signing documents that need ballpoint ink, or when I'm filling out forms. Otherwise, I'm enjoying full use of my fountain pens and enjoying their ink colors even more!

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Monday Musing

There is an unfinished story waiting for me and it's been waiting for far too long. It's one of those small things that I need to tie up after being left loose for so long. Why I left it like that, I don't really know. Perhaps because my story lacked a proper ending. Or maybe, because it simply began in a totally wrong footing. And so I will finish it. By beginning to end it.

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January's New Pens and Ink

New Year spells new beginnings, new hopes, new wishes. I say New Year brought me new pens. *Wink.* Some people welcome New Year with fireworks, 12 fruits, or money in their pockets. I welcomed 2009 with three new pens! While my brothers were busy setting up fireworks, I was busy inking my Schneiders with my new Waterman South Sea Blue and polishing the Hero616 that Sir Butch D. gave me during last December's pen meet.

The Waterman ink is a delight. After using Inoxcrom's blue and Quink's blue-black, this turquoise from Waterman is a new experience to write with that the moment I inked my black Schneider Base, I wrote endlessly on my Moleskine and completed three pages in a flash! (Photos to follow later, including pages of my Molie where I wrote with my PR Copperburst.) But what's also exciting is my Shchneider Base fountain pen. This German pen, inexpensive and so elegant in its design is a joy to write with. Its medium nib writes smoothly sometimes I forget I'm writing with a fountain pen! Here are some photos of the New Year's stash:

Delight, joy, ecstasy. That spells ink, fountain pens and notebooks for me. The bottled ink is Waterman South Sea Blue, and the pens are: Hero616, Schneider Base Medium in white and black barrels.

Ink and pens on the notebook my friend Sonny sent me all the way from Singapore as Christmas gift.

Ink and pen pageantry. My ink stash: Quink black and blue-black, Waterman South Sea Blue, and Private Reserve Avocado and Copperburst. Coming early next week: Noodler's Concord Bream!

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5 Random Thoughts While I Ate Lunch

1.
What ink should I get next? Pink or orange? I already got some dark ink shades: black, blue, blue-black, brown, and green. And just last week, I got myself a bottle of Noodler's Corcord Bream, a blue-violet ink from a fellow FPN-P member. So what should I get? Pink or orange?

2.
After Haruki, who could be my next?

3.
I need new bookshelves for all the Murakamis I got last year. I'd also love to display my shotglasses and toy firetrucks. Then maybe I could get someone to customize a bookshelf-cum-display case for me. Lovely.

4.
I need to write more.

5.
Why do beautiful couples separate? Why?

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A Confession

WARNING: This post is overly imeldific. So if you're overly sensitive, shoo away. ;)

I love shoes, especially sneakers. I wear sneakers everyday, I collect them, and I have more than 10 pairs at home. I try to wear them on rotation, or whenever my shirt color calls for a particular pair of sneakers. Aside from sneakers, I also have two pairs of running shoes and several leather loafers which I meticulously take very good care of. For my sneakers and rubbers, I clean the soles and rubber linings using mild detergent and a soft brush, then I leave them propped on a rug to dry. For my leather shoes, I use a special cleaner I bought from a local supermarket. All my shoes are returned to their original boxes after cleaning. I do this to ensure that they are well protected from dust, and also for organizing. (Just so I do not forget which pair of shoes went to which boxes. I’m a freak when it comes to organizing my stuff and that includes my shoes.)

Lately, because of the rains here in tropical RP, I’ve been considering getting a pair of reliable Boots. I can wear sandals when I'm outside because I also have a couple of pairs, but I can’t stand it when my feet are exposed and not socked within closed shoes. It's very uncomfortable. I’ve been on the lookout for a good but inexpensive pair to wear when I go out so I do not expose my canvas sneakers and leather loafers to mud and rainwater. We’ll see if I’m in luck in the next few days.

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