miscellaneous

[truepenny]

I liked BtVS last night. That's all I'm saying.

Tho' it is true that heres_luck and I did important errand-y type things yesterday, the fact remains that I got no actual work done. This must change. Chapter 5 is waiting for me.

Fountain pen ink. If you're not interested, really, don't look.

On the other hand, if you, too, are searching for that elusive Soul Mate among inks, I can at least give you some data points.

The saga of my search for the perfect ink is a long and tragic one--although it looks like a provisionally happy ending may be in sight. I'd started, way back when, with the Pilot disposable fountain pens. (I know, I know, a disposable fountain pen is an oxymoron in virulent orange and blue stripes, but they actually write quite well and have nice intense inks.) I upgraded to a real one (Sheaffer) several years ago now, although didn't use it much (for reasons which now escape me) until last year. And then I fell in love. Hard. My passion is a torrid and shameless one.

But that still left the problem of ink.

After finding that Sheaffer's green just would not do, I used Sheaffer Lavender, but discovered after a while that (a) it's practically Day-Glo purple in direct sunlight, (b) it fades as it ages, to this Ghost of Purples Past tint, and (c) I did not feel myself, in my heart of hearts, to be a lavender-ink sort of person over the long haul.

Since I write a great deal by hand, this last consideration is more important than one might at first be inclined to believe.

So I branched out. Discovered, first off, that I hate Sheaffer's Blue-Black. I cannot be satisfied with pens that don't write DARK, an idiosyncracy which also causes fits and spasms in my interaction with ballpoints. Sheaffer Black is fine, except when the pen starts to run low, and it turns into gray, but black is also rather boring.

Then I found Sheaffer Burgundy, and adored it, just in time for them to discontinue it. Bastards! I said, and promptly discovered that there are no other burgundy inks. The closest I could come was Parker Penman Ruby, which--you guessed it--has also been discontinued. (The university bookstore apparently doesn't know this, as they have quite the stash.) My newest foray is Parker Quink Blue-Black. I don't love it with the same fiery passion that I loved the Sheaffer Burgundy, but it's dark, it's a nice color (just peculiar enough to appease my Inner High School Sophomore and her need to be Different), and they're likely to keep it around. So for the moment I'm happy, although I expect there'll be more grumbling on the subject in a month or two. I was ready to make the commitment to Sheaffer Burgundy, damn it all. Had the ring picked out and everything.



Still sleeping badly, with v. unpleasant dreams, which probably explains, at least in part, why I'm not getting any work done. I'd really like to stop that now.

Also? Cold. Extremely damn cold. If I add any more layers, I'm going to be like Willow in her Eskimo costume. Alyson Hannigan can make that look cute, but I am so not in her league.

Comments

[countrymouse.livejournal.com]

Hi! I found your LJ by googling for "Shaeffer lavender"! :-P I was seriously considering trying to find some of this. But after seeing your description of what the colour looks like in daylight, I realize I have been saved from a fate worse than...spending money I don't have at present, since I just bought other ink and pens and things! :-P

Thanks for the detailed description. :-)

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Serendipitously enough, I just had another ink geek (http://www.livejournal.com/users/truepenny/162376.html) moment over my new ink, Private Reserve (http://www.privatereserveink.com/) Black Cherry. They've got a color demo (http://www.privatereserveink.com/colors.html) page if you want to see if one of their purples might suit. I'm loving the Black Cherry.

But, yeah, the Sheaffer Lavender, not so much. I went back and looked at my old notebooks again and reaffirmed my opinion. It's not really a very nice shade of purple.