Oh no, I bought a pen!
I don't think this is a pen blog, but it might be! Last year I watched a video on the lamy safari, a pen that I'm certain that my Dad had in his office. I often think about how family history affects me. My Grandpa on my Dad's side sold office supplies for a living. I think I'll use that as my excuse to be overly interested in Pens and paper. The lamy safari is a great little fountain pen and a great way to get into the hobby. When I bought this pen, I vowed to not get too deep and start buying the expensive ink and get obsessed with paper.
So far, I have successfully avoided getting too deep, but this new pen will likely tip me over the edge of this rabbit hole. Basic Fountain pens work with little disposable cartridges. Instead of a disposable pen you have a disposable small tube of plastic. Lamy produces their own proprietary ink cartridges that you replace once dry. That has kept me from experimenting and honestly, I don't write enough to need to purchase new ink. I'm grateful for the store in Trolley square named Tabula Rasa for carrying the cartridges. I've made a major effort to purchase as much as I can from local stores and they are great!
Ultimately a fountain pen can be basically non-disposable. In the future I will be buying little glass bottles of ink to use with my pen. I wanted to buy some cartridges to test out small amounts of ink.
While waiting on the arrival of my new pen we stopped by Tabula Rasa and had an experience that made me feel connected. I asked the clerk if they carried international ink cartridges which are used by my new pen, and I asked for a recommendation for a beginner ink. He suggested a brand of ink and then asked what color.
My answer was blue-black. It's not quite blue and not quite black I'll show some writing examples once I get one. He checked his little drawer of international cartridges. No blue-black. He checked another drawer. Nothing. A woman got in line behind me, my nightmare, I was being a bad customer. He ended up pulling out a royal blue cartridge box and handing it to me! He said Happy new year and gave it to me!
I will be back there to buy more ink when I've done some research, but it was just a little act of anti-capitalist kindness. Maybe it was just to retain me as a customer but there is no guarantee of return on investment for him. I choose to accept that this was a small act of community.
I will try my royal blue cartridge, but I also got a cartridge converter which he also took time to show me how to use. One day soon I'll be back in that store and buy a little ink bottle and then I'll have to start writing more letters to experience my new obsession with writing instruments. My handwriting needs to improve dramatically as well.
My pen arrived and the Royal blue is kind of nice. There is my royal blue ink. It looks great but isn't quite what I'd like to write with permanently.
It's so beautifully made. The pocket clip rings almost like a bell. It writes so nice that I am writing down things that really don't need to be written. I hope this isn't fuel for a hobby that costs me too much money. One 100-dollar pen should meet my needs but sometimes I think my hobby is really researching what I should buy.
I just wanted to share my little shopping experience, and I want people to ask me about my pen so they can look at it and appreciate it. My journal writing is going better than ever in my life. I doubt I'll keep it up, but it has been good for me while it lasts.
