he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
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@syncallio
My dad read me stuff like the lord of the rings and the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy and Sherlock Holmes as bedtime stories when I was a kid and I dunno what sort of effect that had on my development but whatever it did I think I’m making it everyone else’s problem
do parents actually read their kids bedtime stories?
I always thought that was like a cheesy trope in a tv show or smth
Which of the three remaining european countries in the World Cup colonized your country?
Spain
France
England
OP you need combo options and "all of the above".
This Lady Sheaffer is a III Black Corduroy.
It also comes in white (II) and both are just so sleek! I didn't think I'd like the finish as much as I do when I first got them. Like all Ladies it's a small, slim pen with a bit of heft, and takes Sheaffer cartridges.
The conical Triumph nib on this one is steel. The sweet spot is a little fussy, but once you find it it's smooth sailing.
Look at that shiny milling! It's a fun visual effect.
Corduroys aren't as common as Paisleys or Tulles, and I think that's too bad. It's a great finish.
Here we have the Esterbrook Phaeton, an uncommon pen from the 1960s:
Look! It's hooded!
They were a bit late to the hooded nib game (the Parker 51 debuted in 1941), but as their customer base was being rapidly eroded by ballpoints, they had to try *something*. Unfortunately it also meant eschewing their famous replaceable nib units.
The decorative indent on the hood was originally gold, like the Parker 61. And like the Parker 61, the gold tended to fall out.
Also, this is a cartridge pen. Esterbrook cartridges were similar to Sheaffer's, and I guess you can use Sheaffer carts so long as you pre-drill a hole in them. I was lucky this one had an original cartridge. I've refilled it with Rohrer & Klingner Alt Bordeaux.
It's not the greatest pen. The build quality isn't up to Esterbrook's old standard. The hood is stained with ink, and the clutch ring on the barrel is loose. But it writes well, with a bit of feedback, and the cap still fits snug.
You guys, I'm becoming a pen nerd. I didn't mean for this to happen. My hands are stained and I keep wiggling my journal to see the shimmer in my new fountain pen ink.
Welcome to the rabbit hole! Pray you don't get into vintage.
I got another Wearever, and honestly, this thing writes better than it should.
The nib is gold-plated steel, and much of the gold is gone. But with a little tuning it's a pleasant writer with good flow.
The pen is quite small; I like posting it. The marbled red and green celluloid has a bit of glitter. It polished up nicely.
You know, a colored background seems to bring out the colors of the pen better. I still have so much to learn about photography...
Today in interesting celluloid, we have this pair of Arnold pens:
The R.L. Arnold Pen Manufacturing Company was based in Petersburg, Virginia. Founded in 1935, they lasted all the way to 2010 before closing their doors. By that point they were making cheap promo ballpoints, but they got their start with cheap fountain pens.
The nib writes well enough, but the flow sucks. It varies between too dry and dripping wet, and I'm not sure why. Maybe someday I could scrounge up a better feed and see if that helps. Oh well.
But the celluloid sure looks cool.
Arnold is one of the brands to look for when learning to fix old lever fillers, because there's a million of them and they're generally crap. But... maybe skip the eye-catching ones until you're experienced enough to make them better pens.
Swappable nibs are an old idea. How about a pen that has the second nib stored in the pen body itself?
To be honest, I'm not sure what they were thinking here. I mean, yes, it's nice to have some flexibility - the Esterbrook J is famous for its swappable nibs. But do you really need to keep it in the pen?
Here's what the advertisement had to say:
"It lets you write the style you want in seconds - tiny fine numbers with one point or bold, flowing letters with the other point!" Because people will totally swap an inky nib on the fly. Yeah, right.
The actual quality of the nib is great for being untipped steel. It writes soft and smooth with good flow. Considering how worn the rest of the pen is, I'm surprised both nibs are in such good shape. (The previous owner clearly favored the medium one.)
One drawback of the design is that there's not much room for the ink sac. So even with a #20 sac, capacity is low. I guess that's the price we pay for innovation.
If you want to read more about the Imperial Pen Company, and this pen in particular, PenHero has an interesting article here:
I just remembered that this was a thing that was HILARIOUS in 2006 and apparently that was ten years ago now.
Old people: join with me in remembering how funny we found this on LiveJournal.
Young people: look at this lolrus, it’s so happy, it has a bucket.
And then they stealed away the bucket and we realised we had fucked up a perfectly good elephant seal and given it anxiety.
listen this vintage meme is high quality and i will hear nothing said against it
20 years. I am not happy about this.
I’m delighted at the bucket reappearing but dismayed at the passage of time
Happy 20 years to Lolrus and his bucket!
oh wait just realized i can edit my own posts.
like you can't edit reblogs anymore but you can still edit your own post even after it has a thousand notes or whatever.
i have the opportunity to do the funniest thing.
If you met someone with the same last name as you, how surprised would you be?
Not at all, it's very common
A little surprised, but wouldn't immediately assume a connection
I would be surprised and assume there was some relation
I would be very surprised that I *hadn't* met this person, we must be related
Does anyone else with this last name even exist?
For the record, you don't need "good" handwriting to get (or use) a fountain pen. Before rollerballs and gel pens were popular fountain pens were the standard- including for all the people who had messy handwriting. The benefit of fountain pens is how they feel not trying to flex your cursive or whatever else.
there's a lot of talk about reading comprehension and one thing i think is the biggest barrier to people on this site getting better at it is simply... rushing. rushing to share something you haven't understood, rushing to have an opinion without taking the time to think about it, rushing to declare that you don't understand something
take these tags, on somebody else's post (condolences pip)
the thing is. this is what i would call an inside thought. nobody would have known you didn't get it if you didn't tell them that. if you recognised that it was important but didn't have the headspace to process it, you can reblog without commentary for others, or to come back to later. or you can save it somewhere and wait until you DO have the capacity to read it over a few more times, ponder it, consider what it might mean, figure out how to understand it, and THEN reblog it
but no. rushing to reblog while it is still opaque. rushing to admit to ignorance rather than spend the time to achieve understanding. perhaps hoping that somebody will break it down for you more simply, though to my mind it was quite simply phrased in the first place. never stopping to take the time first
comprehension is not always instant! sometimes it takes a bit of time for something to percolate after you read it; sometimes you need to read it a few times; sometimes you realise you don't have the context for it and either go and get the context or accept that it's not for you right now
please just simply slow down. you don't always have to respond to everything within a second or two. it is okay if it is not an instantaneous understanding. we all need to get more comfortable with thinking more slowly and more deeply and more carefully, and not letting our instant split second responses drive us all the time, because they are a barrier to genuine reflection
This brings to mind my grandmother, and what she would say when you asked her advice or wanted her opinion. She'd begin with a drawn-out "Well..." that translated to "I heard you; I need time to think." She had a complicated childhood that gave her a unique perspective, that simple questions could have complex answers. She knew that speaking without thinking was a trap.
You don't lose points for taking your time. An instant answer feeds an anxiety that will never be sated. So turn your back on it. Take a breath, close the app, and let your brain get to work. You might even realize you don't want to answer. And that's fine. Choose your battles, ask questions, and do your homework. Then you'll have a solid foundation to stand on.
This pen sat on my desk for ages waiting to be fixed, and when I finished it? Surprise stub!
It writes beautifully smooth too.
Otherwise the build quality isn't that great, sadly. All the gold is gone from the trim. The clip has deformed the cap. The lever stands out from the barrel a bit, meaning it catches on things. But hey, it's the nib that matters, right?
I didn't care much for the black and white pattern at first, but it's growing on me. It reminds me of Jupiter's clouds. You know? Swirly bands with the occasional spot.
This pen is proof that it's worth picking up unbranded pens. You don't know what you're gonna get, and sometimes you get a pleasant surprise.
I penabled my nephew today.
My eldest nephew just got his bachelor's degree. Since he likes to draw and sketch, I gave him a fountain pen, an Asvine V126, as a graduation gift, plus a couple of inks. He called it an excellent gift and gave me a hug.
Yesss!
Here's a cute mini pen & pencil set I found:
The style suggests early 1930s. The box is made of very thin celluloid; I'm almost afraid to handle it for fear of breaking something. So thin as to be translucent! Amazing that it made it this long without any chips or cracks.
The pen writes a nice wet bold. The pencil lead is on the harder side. The lead is extended by twisting the pencil's gold point.
Do you suppose the pen and pencil used to be lighter, closer to the color of the box? There's some obvious discoloration in the pen cap, but not much.
I wish I knew who made this set. There's no branding anywhere. But it's well made, and the nib is gold. The pen holds hardly any ink, but hey, it's cute!
The other night husband and I were watching a documentary about the yeti where they were doing DNA analysis of samples of supposed yeti fur, and every one of them came back as bears.
Anyway, the next night we watched a thing about some pig man who is supposed to live in Vermont. People said it had claws and a pig nose but walked upright like a man. Now, I happen to know that sideshows used to shave bears and present them as pig men. So every piece of evidence they gave of this monster sounds to me like a bear with mange.
So now the running joke in our house is that everything is bears. Aliens? Bears. Loch Ness monster? Bear. Every cryptozoological mystery is just a very crafty bear.
Bears. They’re everywhere. Be wary. Anyone or anything could be a bear.
oh shit
As the OP of this post, I’m going to threaten that if this gets to one million notes by the 10 year anniversary on 1 June 2026, one year from today, I will get a lower back tattoo of the loch ness bear monster.
