What Do I Have? Pens!

In case you didn’t know, I have many hobbies and interests. Including, fountain pens and stationery, mechanical keyboards, computers, photography, reading, music/podcasts, and movie watching. I wanted to briefly write about each of these topics and discuss what I either own or would like to own in the future. This post is specifically covering fountain pens and stationery.

First off, fountain pens: I own several fountain pens as well as a couple bottles of ink and even more ink samples. My favorite pen is the Pilot Metropolitan (yes, the makers of the Pilot G2) with its Medium Italic nib as its called on JetPens.com, currently it is inked up with Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-peki, a blue ink. The following pens are in no particular order. I have a Kaweco Skyline Sport in orange, inked up with Kaweco Royal Blue Ink, and a Lamy LX in rose gold, which is inked up with the Lamy Blue, I have two nibs for this pen, a Fine and a Medium. Finally, I have a second Pilot Metropolitan with a Fine nib, and a Pilot Kakuno in orange with a Fine nib as well, neither of these are in active use.

Now, the inks I use with these pens changes fairly regularly. I only recently inked up my Metropolitan with the Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-peki, which I have a 50ml bottle of. The second bottle of ink I have is a 55ml Organics Studio Nitrogen. I would call this ink a purple but it writes in more of a blue with hints of red, this trait is called sheen. GouletPens describes it as “a vibrant royal blue with a red sheen.” I hope to refill my Lamy LX or Pilot Metropolitan with the O.S. Nitrogen very soon. In addition to these two bottles, I have several ink samples. An ink sample contains 2ml of a specific ink. The benefit is you get to try the ink for only a few dollars and not buy an entire bottle! My favorite ink samples have been Diamine Writer’s Blood (no writers were harmed in the making of this ink) a dark red ink, & Robert Oster Tranquility a turquoise ink. Both are on my list of next purchase inks, which isn’t written down for some reason.

The stationery items I’m using is a much shorter list. My main use is the Large Classic Notebook Expanded by Moleskine, I have had it for about 17 months with a lot of on-and-off usage. Its corners are a bit beat up but I have been actively carrying it for the last 5-6 months and I think it is only a third filled. Another piece of stationery I have is the Rhodia DotPad Notepad, No16 (A5) Dot Grid in orange. Now, I haven’t fully figured out how to use the Rhodia because I don’t know what to use it with. The A5 size makes it tricky to travel with as a grocery list, and anything I need a reminder for will go in my phone or Moleskine. One idea I had was to use it to track characters in Stardew Valley, all I have to do is remember to play the game. Oh yes, I forgot to mention I enjoy video games. Another idea I had (while finalizing this post) is to use the Rhodia as a next purchase list. Not for grocery shopping, but for hobby purchases: new inks, pens, keyboard parts, PC components, etc. I’ll have to keep thinking about it. My final stationery item barely classifies, but it’s my list so I don’t care. It is the KODAK STEP. This is a mobile Bluetooth zero ink printer, that has helped my journaling game. I can take a photo, print it, peel the backing, and stick it in my journaling in just a few minutes. What I love is that it encourages me to take more photos too.

I am thinking of switching to a different notebook/journal soon. I have found that the Moleskine feels big to carry around and the paper feels too thin for my fountain pens and attracts grease too readily. Though it has done me very good thus far. I was specifically thinking of moving to the Traveler’s Company Traveler’s Notebook. The reason is the Traveler’s Notebook offers much more flexibility because it relies on refills. There are different types of paper refills you can put inside this notebook. If you want to have sections for different parts of your life you can! You can have a refill for journaling, one for drawing, one for your calendar, and whatever else you can think of! I think I just convinced myself. But I recently looked back at my last Moleskine and loved flipping through the filled pages seeing all of the different pen colors the completed tasks and school assignments. For now, I think I will hold on to the Classic Moleskine and when it is closer to being finished I’ll look at the Traveler’s Notebook.

While it is good to see the faults currently in my notebook and what should be improved. It is also important to see what that notebook looks like finished, which is much more rewarding when it is beaten up, scuffed, coffee-stained, and repaired with duct tape, I’m not there yet thankfully. A notebook isn’t going to be pristine when it’s filled and it shouldn’t be. It should hold the memories of what your life looked like. The good, the bad, the ugly, and most importantly the beautiful.