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Name: Chris
Birthday: 3/29/1967
Gender: Male
Interests: Words, fountain pens, single malt whisky, wine, and sometimes anthropology
Expertise: None that I know of...
Occupation: Education/training
Industry: Education/Research
Message: message me
Yahoo:  if_language@yahoo.com
Member Since:
4/24/2006
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| A new pen?So, now that I'm a bit more settled in to life in Cambridge, I've been thinking it is time to get a decent pen to leave in the office (or briefcase). I have a Lamy there, which is fun, as well as one of my Pelikanos (also fun) but I want something more serious. I had been planning on another Pelikan M215, since that is my default editing pen. I may still go that route. But I came across the Sailor Sapporo today. I'm also quite happy with my Sailor 1911 (my other editing pen, basically) so wonder about getting one of those instead.
Ah, decisions, decisions. (Yes, one could just buy one of each, but that's more than I want to spend right now.)
Anyway, off to take notes for tomorrow's reading group with the Namiki Falcon. Not very suited for editing, since I tend to write small, cramped notes when editing, but nice for just writing notes and such.
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| Neither words nor pens...Although this will surely come as a shock to my friends (well, if I had any. Xanga still says I don't... - well, it did, but they were just self-adverts for parts of Xanga, so they don't count. Got rid of them anyway) I must be the most incurable optimist around. What else could possibly explain the fact that, despite repeated experience, I keep buying things the shops around here (Cambridge, UK) sell as "bagels" despite the fact that they taste absolutely nothing like a bagel should?
I guess some part of my brain must go "Ohhh.... look! Bagels! Maybe they've finally figured out how to make them!" despite the fact that they still haven't done so, and in my more lucid moments, I don't expect they ever will.
It's enough to make a person come unhinged, if you ask me.
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| Unhinged...Well, it's been not one of my best Christmases. While relaxing yesterday morning, I figured I would run some routine maintenance on the computer, stuff I've done dozens of times before on multiple computers. This time it decided to crash the system. Catastrophically. As in, reformat the hard drive and start from scratch. So much for relaxing...
Anyway, today I am reloading all the tons of files and what-not. I have iTunes reloaded, and am playing The Decemberists "The Crane Wife" while the computer chugs away. I'll have to write more about them and their use of language at some point. But I was quite amused - as I always am - with one particular passage in "Oh, Valencia!", a song they described in concert as being their "Latino gang war song" (or words to that effect). I am particularly fond of the passage describing, how after the guy meets the girl from the rival gang: "and your father came all unhinged." It just some how strikes me as rather unexpected in the larger context.
That's a great word: "unhinged". One of those that doesn't get used nearly enough. No, don't ask me why. I haven't really given it enough thought to be able to explain how or why it's such a great word. It just is.
Oddly, a quick search online for the etymology turns up nothing. (Well, ok, I didn't look THAT hard.) And my new Christmas present, "Chambers Dictionary of Etymology," doesn't give it either. Alas.
Lack of etymology notwithstanding, I think one of my New Year's resolutions should be to spend more time finding opportunities to use the word "unhinged" in everyday conversation.
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| And now for something completely different...Not about pens or words this time...
When I log onto Amazon.co.uk, this is waiting for me at the top of the home page:
I'm not sure how disappointed they would be if I said I wasn't...
But it is much better than being reminded by Xanga that I don't have any friends.
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| Oooh, aah...Just re-inked the Namiki Falcon with J. Herbin Eclat de Saphir - a lovely shade of blue. And a winning combination. Now I'll have to start writing people letters, or at least notes, to make best use of the pen and ink. They somehow seem wasted on shopping and to-do lists.
And to answer a question from foniyo in the comments to my last post, on shipping pens.
I presume a purist and/or a collector would say, yes, put them in their original boxes and then bubble-wrap or something. I didn't. The boxes are still in the US, in storage.
For the ones I carried with me on the plane - they went into a leather pen carrier from Levenger's that rolls up nice and snaps closed. I didn't see the exact one I have, but the one on their site called the "Bomber Jacket Pen Wrap," is basically the same thing, although mine looks to have softer, more supple leather.
For those I mailed - they got wrapped individually in several layers of bubble wrap each, and then were nested in an among a bunch of old books in Mongol bichig that I sent priority mail to myself.
But, of course, I removed the ink and washed all the pens first. The ones I've used so far (which isn't all of them yet) weathered the trip with no problem.
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