What pen(s) are you using today?

[taimdala]

Platinum Preppy, (02), filled with Platinum Blue Black. It's the one pen and ink combo that works with the crappy Moleskine pocket notebooks I carry with me for my focus log. I use it whenever my focus changes (usually when I have to switch tasks). It's something I started last spring as a response to my frustration over "what the heck happened to my day? where did the time go?"

To make the habit work, I had to find something that was rugged enough to withstand my cargo pocket and daily carry, and it had to be inexpensive and plentiful enough to replace it easily if lost or broken.

It also had to have a nib that made my hands happy.

The Preppy checked all the boxes. I thought that my Platinum Procyon would win that top position but apparently the extra couple of seconds needed to turn its cap a turn-and-a-half was enough of a delay to disqualify it. I need to get that cap off as fast as possible to catch my fleeting changes of attention or tasks. It's really helped me stay on task and focus.

I decided it would be silly to post a picture of it, as everyone would know what it looks like.

 

Well ... wait. I should post for the sake of newcomers who may not have been introduced to the Preppy.

 

 

 

Edited to Add: The notebook isn't a crappy Moleskine, btw. It's a Fabriano Eco Qua pocket notebook with light cream pages and a faint grey dot grid. Its cover is rather robust, as are the staples in its binding, and I wanted to kick off the new year with something other than black. I haven't decided on the washi tape I'll put on the spine, but I'm thinking ... something marbled and if I can get gold foil accents, that's a plus!

[essayfaire]

28 minutes ago, taimdala said:

The Preppy checked all the boxes. I thought that my Platinum Procyon would win that top position

I like my Preppys but gave away my Procyon.  I didn't like the feel of the metal in the latter, I'm too tactile.

 

28 minutes ago, taimdala said:

I use it whenever my focus changes (usually when I have to switch tasks). It's something I started last spring as a response to my frurstration over "what the heck happened to my day? where did the time go?"

Do you use it when you catch yourself on the wrong thing or when you go to switch tasks?  Clever idea.

[USG]

6 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

Were they in northern New Jersey (around Hackensack, maybe)?  I think I went there once years ago with my dad, to buy an airbrush compressor for a college art course I was signed up for. 

Hmmm.  Wonder if I still have that, all these decades later....  And if I do, if it still works....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Paramus... I haven't been there in years.  I still have sheets of paper I bought there that I haven't gotten around to use yet...

 

BTW, I still can't upload a pic

[DiveDr]

7 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

Were they in northern New Jersey (around Hackensack, maybe)?  I think I went there once years ago with my dad, to buy an airbrush compressor for a college art course I was signed up for. 

Hmmm.  Wonder if I still have that, all these decades later....  And if I do, if it still works....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

They were all over NY including Long Island in the early through late 90s.

[taimdala]

4 hours ago, essayfaire said:

I like my Preppys but gave away my Procyon.  I didn't like the feel of the metal in the latter, I'm too tactile.

 

Do you use it when you catch yourself on the wrong thing or when you go to switch tasks?  Clever idea.

 

Do I use it when I catch myself on the wrong thing?

 

No, not exactly, though I do find it helpful in *staying* on task when my eye falls on the open page with my last entry written on it.

 

What I actualy do is:

I write down whenever I switch tasks and in doing so, leave a breadcrumb trail to trace backwards to the start of my day and thereby see how my day went when I cannot journal about it in longform.

See, before I picked up my current job, I was a SAHM for 20 years. I'd started longform journaling in 2013 when my kids were finally in school long enough during the day that I could actually sit down and write.

 

My daily journal is (still) an MS Word doc and I'd kick off the day's entry in the morning after the kids were in school, and I would map out my day in it: to do lists, project notes, writing assignments, etc.

 

(I think bullet journalers call this a "brain dump" and other journalers call it "morning pages". I call it a lifesaver.)

 

Once it's text on a page, my brain takes a snapshot of it and I can read the page off the inside of my eyelids as needed.

 

As my free time at the keyboard grew, my entry in my daily doc grew along wth it until I was adding to it throughout the day as things happened. My entries got longer and more detailed and before I knew it, it functioned as if I were "uploading" my brain to an "external hard drive" (i.e. my daily doc). Or a blog, complete with tags, that never got uploaded to the internets.

 

Why go through all that trouble?

 

Because:

 

If my husband asked when exactly the last time we had our washing machine repaired and what had been done, I'd just open the folder my journal docs were in and do a keyword search for the "washing machine repair" tag. Then I could drill down to month, day, time of day, time of repair, the repair company and their number, the repairman's name and their phone number, the diagnosis and repair, and how much it cost, along with any advice passed along. 

 

(Because I chat up the people when they come and fix things, so I can better call them by name the next time they come over, ask how they're doing, and oh by the way, our washing machine is doing that weird thing you told me about the last time you were here ...)

 

(Seriously, I keep action logs on everything. It **really* makes a difference with the dispatchers when making future appointments, to say nothing of cluing in the next repairman on the work history of the appliance if they've never been over before.)

 

My daily doc is where it all happens and my having the free time to type it all up is crucial to making it all work.

There. That's my secret weapon to looking like a genius. LOL!

 

So of course, when I went back to working a paycheck job full time, my ability to log my day went down the tubes. I couldn't keep it all in my head. Appointments? Dinner plan? Grocery lists?

 

Nyet, nein, nada.

 

Nothing to read off the inside of my eyelids.

 

Zip.

 

I needed something like a portable, non-laptop based daily doc. And that's when I made my Moleskine/Preppy focus log.

 

I'd stumbled across someone's blog post about keeping something similar, and while I don't assign all my tasks specific codes and then line them up on a spreadsheet and draw up bar graphs to map out *which* task was supreme over all others at any given point in the day (like the blogger did, yikes!), I *do* write down the time when I've noticed I've wandered off task or have had to switch tasks while at work. 

 

It goes something like this:

0700 - wake up and dress out

0705 - 0710 - thought spiral while brushing teeth

0730 - engines on, drive to work ...

0745 - clock in, start [assigned work waiting at my desk]

0746 - 0837 - [how long it took me to complete task]

0837 - 0912 - [next task, etc.]

.

.

... And so on.

 

I can fit a work day to a single page, even with the marginalia for the weather stats off my phone app, my to-do list, and my clock ins/outs. And once I'm home, my focus log entries generally stop, as I then have access to my laptop-based daily doc and can transcribe my focus log into it. And add to the doc as things happen.

 

It very quickly turned into a portable analog form of my digital daily doc and it keeps my head and fingers from itching too badly for my keyboard while I'm away from it.

 

It also reinforces my memory through repeated exposure to the material. While I cannot measure if my memory has actually improved, I can pull it out of my pocket and look it up.

 

Recently, I came into possession of an old iPad and discovered its Notes app can stand in for the daily doc. Work is slow enough right now that I can actually use it on the job. Had I acquired the iPad sooner, I might have used it to longform journal instead ... but my focus log had already become an ingrained habit and I still update my tasks and focus changes in it, iPad or no iPad.

 

My current method isn't free of irritations, however. 

 

Right now I'm wrestling with whether I should continue using the 16 sheet/64 page Moleskines/Eco Qua cahier style pocket notebooks or get something soft-covered with  more pages, like a Moleskine or Leuchtturm 100+ page journal in the pocket size.

 

On the one hand, it would have more pages and I wouldn't have to start a new one as often.

 

On the other hand, it would be thicker and take up a lot of room in my cargo pocket that I could use for other things ... Like my leather pocket protector that holds my EDC fountain pens. Can't journal or focus log without them!

 

Frustrating! If I'm not careful, I'll just get stuck wishing I could carry my laptop around everywhere and it'll never fit in my pocket, and ... and  .... and ...

 

I started in May 2021, made it to the end of the year with 7 of the notebooks. That was volume 1 of my focus log. This month, I started over with a fresh notebook and labeled it volume 2, no. 8.

 

(I decided against restarting at no. 1, bc I wanted each notebook to be unequivocally separate from all the others. No asking if that no. 1 was in volume 1 or 2 or 200? If I change my mind before February arrives this year, I can slap a fresh sticker on the cover, use white out on the internal title page, and relabel it.)

 

*

You gave away your Procyon? Awww ... that's a shame, but I know: it happens. Not all pens suit all people.

 

The metal in the Procyon felt like a good weight for my hands and I love the matte finish on the pen--it's like a subtle pebbled texture that keeps the metal pen from feeling slick. And it's the reason why I didn't buy the white Procyon: it has a slick enamel finish instead of the matte pebbled finish.

 

Ack! I hate the slick residue that develops on a polished metal pen surface from body heat and--face it--sweat. I have several nice pens with metal grips that I just can't use as I'd like, because that slick residue is ...

 

Gahhhh ...!  I can't even.

 

(It's a sensory thing with me. Ugh.)

 

 

 

 

[taimdala]

8 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

Were they in northern New Jersey (around Hackensack, maybe)? ...

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

Oh Hackensack!

Man, I miss the Arena Diner.

 

I miss Pearl Paints on Canal St. (Manhattan)

I can't believe they're both gone.

[OldTravelingShoe]

On 12/30/2022 at 12:28 AM, inkstainedruth said:

I'd thought about bringing my Cisélé 75 with me on this trip east (after having it recently repaired) but decided that I didn't want to bring that expensive a pen with me in case I lost it

Oh, but it would have been a lovely pen to bring with you! I am very impressed with the Parker 75 Cisélé, find it particularly inspiring. 

 

But - shhh, it's a secret - I find these pens so beautiful that I have used them very sparingly. One of them sits on my desk, and I ink and clean them periodically, but I somehow find this pen is too good for my skill level and keep deferring actually using it. 

[OldTravelingShoe]

TL;DR: Yesterday and today I started to stretch my fountain pen legs. Cleaned up a bunch, inked another bunch. Today I spent some time with a Pilot Elite E95S - the 2013 reissue of their classic line of pocket pens -, Burgundy red, with a 14k-gold EF nib. Happy new year 2023, everyone! 

 

Figure 1. Look what the pen - cat - dragged in. 

 

Figure 2. What the pen looks like. Stop looking at my poor scribbles, the pen is up here. 

 

Figure 3. Details, details. 

 

Enjoy the weekend! 

[Just J]

7 hours ago, taimdala said:

Do I use it when I catch myself on the wrong thing?

 

No, not exactly, though I do find it helpful in *staying* on task when my eye falls on the open page with my last entry written on it.

 

What I actualy do is: ...

I'm really not quite sure [the coffee hasn't kicked in yet ha ha ] how to crack into this subject without it coming across as insulting -- but rest assured that is not my intent, so please, no hurt feelings? 

 

Basically, I just don't 'get' Journaling. In something like diary form, yeah, I can see & understand how that can be useful for a purpose -- actually kept one for awhile many moons ago (the Teenage Rebel years, LOL). I can see the need or utility for something like a shopping list, when the shopping trip involves multitasking thru several items or 'stops' while engaged, or possibly a trip planner, esp'y to a new destination. Like that. 

 

But honestly, the degree to which the 'true journalers' immerse themselves into the sport....frankly, I ain't got TIME for. If I sat down & started journaling like that, by time I got it all down the day would be over & I'd have gotten nothing done! 

 

I know each of us has our own wants & needs, but It's just not for me. 

 

I've told this before, I think in here, but I can remember times as I was approaching retirement, when I wondered (and actually, with some dread) how I was gonna fill in all the extra hours once I'd retired. Well I'm here now to tell (warn) ya -- there still aren't enough hours in the day!! 

 

~_/_/ 

 

 

 

 

[jandrew]

Franklin Christoph 20p / Nagahara needlepoint nib 

[Mercian]

5 hours ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

But - shhh, it's a secret - I find these pens so beautiful that I have used them very sparingly. One of them sits on my desk, and I ink and clean them periodically, but I somehow find this pen is too good for my skill level and keep deferring actually using it. 

I agree with you that a Ciselé Sterling silver 75 is a Thing of Beauty - and I certainly agree that my own deserves to be used to create writing that is far less incompetent than my own hamfisted scrawl - but I also think that you should not deny yourself the pleasure of using it.

 

I think that leaving it unused - ‘alone and unloved’ - while you use ‘lesser’ pens would be very sad indeed.

(Caveat lector: this feeling may solely be an artefact of the Pathetic Fallacy, which, yea, is Strong in me.)
 

[Mercian]

Pens currently in-use:

Parker 75 ‘Place Vendôme’ in gold-plated ‘Grain d’Orge’ finish (shiny).

14k M nib made in France.
Diamine Chocolate Brown (nom nom nom).

 

Lamy Safari in ‘Umbra’/‘Charcoal’.

EF nib.

Sailor Kiwa Guro.

[OldTravelingShoe]

1 hour ago, Mercian said:

Parker 75 ‘Place Vendôme’ in gold-plated ‘Grain d’Orge’ finish (shiny).

14k M nib made in France.
Diamine Chocolate Brown (nom nom nom).

Both pretty and tasty 😄 🍫

[OldTravelingShoe]

1 hour ago, Mercian said:

I also think that you should not deny yourself the pleasure of using it

Good advice. I'll heed it soon! 

 

(I'm currently spending all my pen-time indexing my set of vintage Japanese pens - all user grade, most 1960s and 1970s, most pocket pens. And, by indexing, I mean both researching what these pens actually are and cleaning-inking-trying them out.) 

[OldTravelingShoe]

TL;DR: I just received a Pilot Elite from the 1970s, with a lovely nib that @Andrew_L just used in a drawing, so I gave this pen a spin. The cat is out of the bag! (See Figure 1.)

 

And a puzzle: Richard Binder mentions that this nib is very similar to that in the first-generation Pilot Elite pocket pens introduced in 1964 [1, Pilot chapter], but in 18k (see Figure 2). Could the first-generation pen have lasted so long? If not, what model could this be? 

 

Figure 1. The pen with the cat. 

 

Figure 2. The nib. 

 

Enjoy the weekend! 

 

Reference:

[1] Richard Binder, Japanese pocket pens. Article, also book. Online: http://www.richardspens.com/ref/profiles/pocket_pens.htm

Edited January 7, 2023 by OldTravelingShoe
Forgot the nib image. Now added.

[northstar]

Hello everyone,

 

Omas Ferrari 348 Challange

 

[inkstainedruth]

17 hours ago, USG said:

Paramus... I haven't been there in years.  I still have sheets of paper I bought there that I haven't gotten around to use yet...

 

BTW, I still can't upload a pic

Thanks -- I couldn't remember all the town names in that part of North Jersey (I lived in Pearl River, NY, in Rockland County, when I was little, and about a mile from the state line -- my parents bought several cars in the Chevy dealership in Montvale, NJ, just across the state line from Pearl River).  And when I was around 5, and my mom was recovering from her cancer treatments, a neighbor took my brother and me down to I think Paramus to see Santa at one of the big department stores (Macy's, maybe).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[inkstainedruth]

4 hours ago, Mercian said:

I agree with you that a Ciselé Sterling silver 75 is a Thing of Beauty - and I certainly agree that my own deserves to be used to create writing that is far less incompetent than my own hamfisted scrawl - but I also think that you should not deny yourself the pleasure of using it.

 

I think that leaving it unused - ‘alone and unloved’ - while you use ‘lesser’ pens would be very sad indeed.

(Caveat lector: this feeling may solely be an artefact of the Pathetic Fallacy, which, yea, is Strong in me.)
 

I totally agree with both sentiments!  I just got my Ciselé 75, B nib, repaired recently (it had been leaking from under the collar) and I inked it up a few days ago with my "Christmas present" ink -- a bottle of the MB Great Characters Jimi Hendrix ink (because, well, Hendrix -- AND well, purple... ).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Mercian]

Well, hilariously, my gold-plated 75 ran out of Chocolate this evening 😢

 

So I have put it in to clean-up, and am now running in its stead my

 

Parker 75 in Ciselé Sterling Silver
14k ‘F’ nib made in USA
Rohrer & Klingner Scabiosa

😊

[Tashi_Tsering]

Some Duofolds:

- UK Duofold ND Demi

- Big Red

- Centennial Mk1

- DeLuxe Streamlined 

- Junior