I'm A Sad, Pathetic Stationery Junkie.

[Runnin_Ute]

On 11/20/2022 at 6:16 PM, Misfit said:

@Runnin_Ute I have a Pelikan Twist in apple candy red with a lime green section. It’s a sneaky Christmas pen for me. I bought a converter for it probably from Jet Pens under recommended parts. I hope you like yours. Nice winnings too. I wish I could have gone. I did get out yesterday to Five Below and Barnes and Noble, which was at most two hours. Driving to Crown Center for the Hub would be close to two hours round trip. It’s more likely 45 minutes each way. A pen club friend picked up the Pelikan swag for me. 
 

My Pelikan Twist from 2015

My Twist is the Frosted Blue.

 

I get that. This year it was held in a room of the Student Union building at the University of Utah. I believe coming home was 24 miles. Most of it is interstate though. But trying to be there at 6:00 took me a good 30-45 minutes, and I know that part of campus well enough to not get lost. I would have preferred a location closer to middle of the valley, but I didn't get a say and won't complain.

[dragondazd]

I went to Powell's and was surprised to find oasis notebooks which I had not tried before so I got a small one to test.. Also found a Captain's Log in the scifi room. The inside is a bit disappointing but the price was ok 

[Misfit]

I have that Captain’s Log. I got mine online from this website. They have many fun notebooks. 

 

https://philosophersguild.com/collections/pocket-notebooks

I’ve seen a few of these notebooks at Half Priced Books. 
 

I used my Captain’s Log during the Great American Total Solar Eclipse of 2017. That and the Field Notes Night Sky edition and a Word Galaxy notebook were part of my Eclipse fun with pens inked with Diamine Eclipse.  Here is a photo from 2017. 
 

[Runnin_Ute]

Saw these in Costco today. I probably should have picked up a package of them, but didn't.  Weird size, bigger than A5 and smaller than A4. It was three for $14.99.

 

 

[dragondazd]

1 hour ago, Runnin_Ute said:

Saw these in Costco today. I probably should have picked up a package of them, but didn't.  Weird size, bigger than A5 and smaller than A4. It was three for $14.99.

 

 

B5/semi-b5?

[XYZZY]

4 hours ago, Runnin_Ute said:

Saw these in Costco today. I probably should have picked up a package of them, but didn't.  Weird size, bigger than A5 and smaller than A4. It was three for $14.99.

 

 

 

I wanted to find out more about that so just googled "Costco 1047461" (the SKU from the sticker in your photo).  After paid results, images, etc, the top result took me back to FPN 🙂

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/346167-review-of-6-different-a5-notebooks/

 

I think it's the one that @DrDebG referred to as "Spicebox Personal Notebook (aka Letterbox)"

 

 

[Josey]

I'm one of those folks who never got over the discontinuing/reformulation of the 52 gsm Tomoe River paper, and I treasure (and am afraid to use!) my 2 partial original Nanami Seven Seas notebooks and the 6 Seven Seas notebooks I had cut down to a6 size to fit in my Hobonichi covers. I'm currently trying to get used to the Sanzen Tomoe River paper in the new Seven Seas journals. It isn't as good and I can't consider it a replacement for the old stuff, but I'm afraid of using up my small stock of a paper I'll never be able to buy again. I'm more precious about the old TR paper than I am about my pens, as my pens are replaceable, at least!

 

(For the record, the Sanzen paper *is* the best substitute for the old Tomoe River I've found. It's much better than, say, Midori or Rhodia if the old stuff was your Holy Grail of papers. But it doesn't have that glassy smoothness that made writing in the old Tomoe River paper effortless. My hand and arm cramp easily from handwriting, so that smoothness was important to me from a practical perspective.)

[essayfaire]

4 hours ago, Josey said:

I'm one of those folks who never got over the discontinuing/reformulation of the 52 gsm Tomoe River paper,

I thought that group included everyone who was partial to that paper, including me!

[Chimera01]

Oh thank goodness I'm not alone.

 

I just bought three quarto medium Stamford Notebooks in the Cult Pens sale. Except I must have at least sixty unused and perfectly beautiful notebooks in just about every configuration. Ordning Reda Libra, handmade Tomoe River notebooks from Italy, Leuchtturm 1917 (standard in almost every imaginable colour and special edition 120 gms), Moleskine (plain notebooks in A5 A4 and A3, sketchbooks and leather), Semikolon, Paperblanks (in a selection of sizes from softcover flexes to dot-grid planners and hardcover grandes). Leather-bound Circa notebooks from way, way back, a few gilt-edged Aspinals, Liberty of London. That's not even starting on the 'bargains' collected from a host of street markets... all of which are unmarked... and in all of which I see infinite possibility... 

 

I am a sad, pathetic stationery junkie. I have found my people.

 

As far as throwing old notebooks away, I'm with Joan Didion: “We are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not.”

[essayfaire]

22 hours ago, Chimera01 said:

As far as throwing old notebooks away, I'm with Joan Didion: “We are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not.”

I never wanted to be her, as she always sounded if not unhappy, than not happy, but gee, do I wish I could write as well as she did!

[inkypete]

Money is a bit of a problem in my house tbh. Covid has not helped my income, so I feel I haven't been pulling my weight in this thread. Kudos to those of you who have kept this thread alive and active. Enjoy every post.

[OCArt]

1 hour ago, inkypete said:

Money is a bit of a problem in my house tbh. Covid has not helped my income, so I feel I haven't been pulling my weight in this thread. Kudos to those of you who have kept this thread alive and active. Enjoy every post.

Actual writing is the ultimate goal for many of us as is just enjoying the pens we have.

[Chimera01]

13 hours ago, essayfaire said:

I never wanted to be her, as she always sounded if not unhappy, than not happy, but gee, do I wish I could write as well as she did!

I think that kind of talent comes at a price. 

[ParramattaPaul]

1 hour ago, Chimera01 said:

I think that kind of talent comes at a price. 

I suspect that you are right.  I may be wrong, but it seems that most very talented writers, artists, musicians, and actors suffer from depression and other mental health issues.

[essayfaire]

3 hours ago, ParramattaPaul said:

I suspect that you are right.  I may be wrong, but it seems that most very talented writers, artists, musicians, and actors suffer from depression and other mental health issues.

I know so many wonderful and talented people without mental health issues.  I used to think tormented souls make great artists, but have changed my mind; I now believe that we only usually end up hearing the backstory about the ones who had problems.  

 

For example, when Robin Williams died, everyone's first reaction was that it was due to mental illness, and then it became apparent it was from terminal physical illness as opposed to a primarily mental disease.  If you start looking for authors, musicians, etc. who are fabulous first, many of their stories are of healthy and full lives.  

 

In terms of talents coming at a price, the price might be in the unhappy subject matter available.

[ParramattaPaul]

One hopes you are right.

[txomsy]

Actually the reasoning may be taken farther.

 

Many geniuses will lead successful lives in varying environments, but usually most of them (by virtue of their success) pass unnoticed. It is only a tiny portion that make it to the media. Of that, most live non-glamorous lives (yeah X is a genius accountant, scientist, teacher, janitor... but that does not draw public attention by itself), which reduces the list further, to those who for some reason are known and envied by everyone.

 

Of the ones who make it to the mass media, and draw attention, only a few will draw sustained attention, and these are either self-propaganda wizards or persons who undergo attention-drawing changes in their lives (they die, get sick, are disgraceful...).

 

Nothing is less appealing than witnessing others succeed. But seeing the Big Ones suffer makes many people feel comfortable. That is at the root of Tragedy, which was already a smash hit in ancient Greece, of epic legends like The Epic of Gilgamesh 5000 years ago and likely of oral folk tales from eons earlier.

 

So, much like with superstition, what we remember are anecdotes: the tragic lives of successful "heroes". Or, those successful ones who led a tragic life.

 

[Chimera01]

I think there's no doubt that artists are more likely to suffer from manic-depressive illness. If I'm correct, I think there's quite a good rundown of this in Kay Redfield Jamison's Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament.

 

And in this article in Scientific American (from 2013 admittedly) S B Kaufman notes:

 

"What was striking, however, was that the siblings of patients with autism and the first-degree relatives of patients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and anorexia nervosa were significantly overrepresented in creative professions. Could it be that the relatives inherited a watered-down version of the mental illness conducive to creativity while avoiding the aspects that are debilitating?"

 

If you have a moment to spare, the article is worth a look: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/the-real-link-between-creativity-and-mental-illness/

[ParramattaPaul]

👍

[Misfit]

17 hours ago, inkypete said:

Money is a bit of a problem in my house tbh. Covid has not helped my income, so I feel I haven't been pulling my weight in this thread. Kudos to those of you who have kept this thread alive and active. Enjoy every post.

You are not alone in this. Kudos to you for being an inspirational contributor to this thread.