What Missive Maven Sent to The Archer

After the suprise post about the postcard I sent to Missive Maven (read previous post), I didn't know I was in for another suprise: a postcard from Missive Maven herself.

The postcard is a photo of Rhode Island's Newport Bridge, a suspension bridge that connects the City of Newport on Aquidneck Island and the Town of Jamestown on Conanicut Island. Yes, it's a photo of a bridge, and I'm quite thrilled because I'm slowly building up a collection of postcards showing bridges.

Just like the postcard I sent to her, Missive Maven also wrote about the pen and ink she used in writing her message to me. She used a Sheaffer Agio with a Fine nib, filled with Noodler's Eternal Hunter Green. Beautiful.

And now, for this postcard's pièce de résistance: the stamps! First its got a vintage car stamp showing a 1957 Lincoln Premier. This stamp is included in the second part of the 'America on the Move' series launched by the United States Postal Service last year. And then... it's got an Edgar Allan Poe stamp. It's the commemorative stamp launched this year to remember his 200th birthdate. Both stamps are Holy Grails in my collection. *Wink.*

Awesome! This postcard is just so awesome! First, it's got a bridge photo, then the sender used fountain pen to write to me, and lastly, it's got awesome stamps! I'm putting it in a sealed plastic before placing it in my postcards album. I just want to be sure it is protected enough and won't be damaged as people go through the album.

Monday Morning Surprise

Imagine my Monday morning joy when I visited The Missive Maven's blog and saw this:

It's the postcard I sent to her last April!!! (Click photo to enlarge.)

Yes, I sent The Missive Maven a postcard in late April after a blog hopping spree brought me to her site. Of course I didn't tell her I'll be sending her a postcard. *Grin.* To my suprise, the postcard arrived in Rhode Island the first week of May. Surprised because it got there a lot faster than the other postcards I've sent to US addresses in the past. The Missive Maven is a blog dedicated to snail-mail and letter-writing. The blog owner calls herself The Missive Maven, from New Port, Rhode Island. She posts photos of the letters she wrote and received, and urges everyone to GO WRITE A LETTER! And so I sent her a postcard.

Here's what she wrote about it:

"A blog reader sent me this postcard of a funky old church from the Philippines. Though I am not much on old churches (or any churches, for that matter), this is a really lovely building. The other side was the rockin' side, though."

The rockin' side she's pointing to is the other side of the postcard where I wrote my short note to her. (Click photo to enlarge.)


Here's what she said:

"I don't know how I hadn't managed to see Parker Quink Ruby fountain pen ink before, but I hadn't. Gorgeous stuff! Wow. I have a couple Parker Vectors -- could it look that fantastic in mine?"

Aw, what a complement. For The Missive Maven to say that about my lowly Parker Vector (but it's white!), I'm truly elated. Now for a bit of info, the ink I called Parker Quink Ruby is part of Parker's Penman ink series, and not Quink -- apologies for the mistake. I got several of these ink cartridges -- Ruby, Emerald, and Mocha -- all from different National Bookstore branches around Manila. The discontinued Penman series have five colors: Ebony, Emerald, Mocha, Ruby, and Sapphire. I'm lucky enough to get hold of three in cartridges only, though. Here in my part of the world, getting hold of non-black, non-blue, and non-blue/black ink is close to impossible so getting the cartridges is just as lucky.

The Penman ink cartridges I got: Mocha, Ruby, and Emerald. (Click photo to enlarge.)

It was only recently that I realized these are not Quink inks, but Penman inks. The Penman logo went by completely unnoticed by my detail-obssessed eyes. *Winks.* Ruby, which I first used on my white Parker Vector and later on my white Schneider Base, is very saturated and I was scared it might cause some serious clogging problems later on. Then again, with a strict rule of cleaning and flushing with every ink/cartridge change, the beauty of this ink, its unique and incomparable redness is just... priceless. As priceless as the review post by The Missive Maven. Thanks, Missive Maven!

Christmas Came Early

Last Friday (and all Fridays, that is) was a terrible day for me. I had to beat deadlines, read references for my new writing assignments, finish 14 country maps for a book I'm designing, and process the never-ending subscription requests for the mailing list I manage. I was also feeling very lethargic, something that's been frequently happening lately.

I went to the cafeteria for a needed caffeine boost when I happened to pass by the Mail Room. I got all the mails from our slot, and whoa, I immediately spotted two postcards for me: one from Germany and another from Finland. I scanned the envelopes, and realized there's a big one for me. Oh, boy. It is postmarked Rogaska Slatina and I knew where it came from. Oh. My. God.

I went inside the cafeteria and carefully opened the envelope. Inside is an Oxford Activebook notebook and beatiful postcards from Slovenia. The notebook was sent to me by Robert Reich, a kind and thoughtful fellow I met through postcrossing.com sometime in March. When I requested an address to send a postcard to, I randomly got his name and sent him a postcard. His message to me when he got the postcard said that he is a photographer and graphics designer in Slovenia. He also said he'd be glad to send me a notebook from his country. After exchanging several emails, I gave him my mailing address, and here is the notebook now, along with printed postcards showing his photographs.

ActiveBook in orange. It is so wanting of an orange companion. An orange Lamy Safari, maybe?

Great notebook! Now I'm thinking of what to use it for. But for now it's safe at home, among other notebooks I have received from kind friends. I cannot thank you enough for your kindness, Robert! Hugs to you!

When I went back to my office refreshed, excited, and ecstatic over my new notebook and postcards, a fellow fountain pen collector has just sent a message to our group about a shop she spotted in Parañaque selling Lamy pens. The group later agreed to do a Lamy pen meet on May 23rd, another Saturday, but which I cannot attend, for a more pressing reason. I sent a desperate message to the group for someone to please buy me any white pen. To my surprise, my friend emailed me and said she'll give me one storm-trooper pen because she got five of them and she'd be happy to give it to someone who's 'really into it'. Huwow!!! She sent it to our Makati Office and voila! the pen was delivered post haste to Los Baños in a matter of hours.

The box was inside a bigger box which I tore off as fast as I could.

Inside the Lamy box: pen, converter, a box of ink cartridges. The package also included a small notepad with cream colored paper that is ultra friendly to fountain pen writing!

My storm trooper pen. Another white pen in the throve. :) Finally. I have one. Courtesy of a kind friend who let go of it just so I could have one. I owe you one, May!

It's not everyday that I get gifts like this, but when I do, it feels like Christmas morning all over again. Now all I need is a cup of hot chocolate and a plate of suman, and I'm all set. *Wink.*

A Little Help with Organization

Saw these plastic organizers at a store recently. I bought several of them but it was only last night that I put them into use.

For my pens...

... and for my inks...

I didn't know I have so many pens!

My inks look like this inside the box. That syringe is what I use to transfer inks into cartridges.

The yellow box has the Camel 'Scarlet Red' ink from India. Below, and clockwise: Parker Blue-Black, Parker Black, Schneider blue and black short cartridges, Waterman South Sea Blue, and Cross Blue.

Here the Camel and Parker boxes are seen clearly.

The left end of the box reveals my Private Reserve inks: Copper Burst and Avocado.

Next to the Private Reserve box are smaller boxes of ink cartridges: Waterman Florida Blue, and Parker Quink Ruby, part of Parker's jewel tone inks.

It's such an excellent way to organize stuff! My pens are in a fresh new home, and my inks are well-organized. I got a separate box for black inks which I hope to build later on. I won't put my fountain pens in these boxes, though, but now I can easily organize my pens, pencils, markers, even my small notebooks, pads, and post-its. *Wink.*

Sea of HaPENess*

After postponing it for several weeks, I was finally off to Binondo one bright, sunny, refreshing Saturday. Wee!

Like most of my Saturday trips, I started late, because, there was a heavy downpour just before I was about to leave the house, and... because I woke up late. Gah. By the time I got to Sucat, traffic was moving very, very slow, and I had to endure the loud snoring noise of someone across me from my bus seat. Ew. But I still made it to Taft before 1pm. Great.

I got on a jeepney going to Divisoria, and though the ride took longer, I still enjoyed the cacophony of sounds, sights, and smells that is so Manila. Cosmos Bazaar, the store which I will visit, is just across Binondo Church, also known as the Minor Basilica of St. Lorenzo Ruiz.

The store was easy to find because of its proximity to Binondo Church, and when the jeepney driver told me it's my stop, I almost jumped off. I only needed to cross the street and voila! Cosmos Bazaar is right in front of me. Woo-hoo!!!

Once inside the store, I stood for a moment in wonder and awe. I mean it. Can anyone blame me? Cosmos Bazaar is a literal pen store! A big Pilot store!!! Woo-hoo-hoo!!! I've never seen so many Pilot pens like that. And the store reminded me of those Tokyo stationery shops I've seen in so many internet photos.

I browsed and peeked through the long cabinets and saw familiar pens, old and new to my eyes. Pilot ballpoints, G2s, Hi-Tec Cs, Frixions, and the new Coleto are just among the pens filling up the long cabinets. I was brought to a smaller stand alone cabinet in the middle of the store by one of their clerks, and there, right before my eyes, separated only by glass, are plastic-wrapped Pilot 78G pens. My jaw almost dropped when I saw them.


The 78G pens at Cosmos Bazaar were available in both fine and medium nibs, but the medium pens were available only in black, green, and teal barrels. No red for me. So I got all the three, since the store gave me a big discount off the regular price. I also got myself a green Hi-Tec C 0.4mm which is hard to get elsewhere. After an hour, (and several hundred pesos poorer), I was on my way out to scour the other stores in the area. My only regret though, is not having bought the Coleto, because Cosmos have all the available refills, and these are hard to find elsewhere. Then again, I still have a reason to visit the store again.

Here are some photos inside Cosmos Bazaar.

So many pens! My pen friend Mona Caccam is right. This is truly a sea of *haPENess.

The Joy of My 2nd Pen Meet

Earlier last month, I attended my second pen meet at Cravings, Shangri La Mall in Ortigas. Incidentally, my first pen meet was also at Shangri La in late December last year, only that was held at The Dome. Like my first pen meet, I was very excited that I couldn't sleep the night before. In place of sleep, I re-inked my empty pens, especially the new ones, and arranged them neatly and properly in their slots inside my blue flannel pen wrap. I also thought of bringing my fountain pen-friendly notebook finds so I brought along the Paperchase notebook I got from Booksale and the new Eagle notebook I found at Office Warehouse.

There was a very heavy downpour as I was about to leave the house and I got delayed for almost half an hour. Then I was caught in a traffic jam somewhere along Sucat, so I was already more than an hour late, so I sent Sir Butch D. a message to let them know I'll be joining them shortly. When I got there, it was lunchtime and most of the FPN-P people have arrived.

The long table was near full, and I got seated near Sir Butch, JP Reyes, and Kurt Uy. It's an FPN-P pen meet tradition to try other people's pens and notebooks, but I have my own tradition: I try all the pens I could try but on my own Moleskine pages. I do this so I am able to try pens, write down what they are, what inks they carry, and who owns them. Neat.

Pens and inks from my first pen meet, December 2008.

Before I made the rounds of trying pens, I showed my Indian pens to Sir Butch, JP, Sir Nestor, Sir Chito, and later to Leigh. I think for most of them, it's a first to see (and try) both the Camlin and Chelpark pens.

The first set of pens I tried were those of JP's. He let me try his Pelikan M450 and two Mont Blancs. Woo-hoo!

Then I moved to the other end of the room and tried the pens of couple Vic and Cyn Icasas who are just as accommodating with their pens. I tried Cyn's Lamy ABC which is just awesome. Then I moved to Vic's pen case. *Grin.* I tried his Sheaffer No-Nonsense with a BB nib. OMG. That one is bold, broad, and wet. After that, I was able to try a pen with music nib for the first time - it's Vic's Sailor Sapporo Mini. But I did not stop there - I did not pass the chance to try the other residents of his pencase, too: Pelikan M215; a Laban pen; 2 Waterman pens: the Harley Davidson he just got from Sir Chito Limson, and a Phileas; 3 Pilots: M90, Volex, and a no-name Pilot pen; 3 Lamys: Safari (inked with Leigh's CDA Caribbean Sea), Studio, and Vista (both inked with Purple Mojo). Phew! Dami pens!

I also tried Sir Chito's pens: Danitrio, Visconti, Baoer Eight Horses, a Jinhao Sailboat Commemorative pen, and a white Parker Duofold! That last one had me drooling.

Then I tried Caloy Abad-Santos's pens: his Frankensnork from TAO, Danitrio Raw Ebonite Prototype, Platinum Longshort, Sheaffer Legacy, and a Moore Safety pen.

Dami talaga pens!

Pens and inks at my second pen meet, April 2009. This list goes on to the next page. Ganun kadami pens ang na-try ko!

After lunch and amidst the chatter, the raffle began. Yey! Raffle items included a large ruled Moleskine, a Rhodia notebook, several pens (including a Cross ATX set, a Lamy Joy Calligraphy set, a Waterman, green and orange Pilot petit), and inks. Ang daming raffle items! The raffle was done twice because there were more raffle items than the number of people to receive them. Ahem.

During the first raffle round, I got a blue M&G Joy Box pen courtesy of John Raymond Lim. I was ecstatic over that pen already, but the bomb came during the second round. As Nigs de Paula and Sir Chito raffled off the Lamy Joy Calligraphy set, I said a tiny prayer, and alas, my name was called! Huwow! I got myself my very first Lamy! Oh, boy. The set is courtesy of Johannes Sia. I didn't know what to say... Until Sir Butch joked, "hindi ka siguro makakatulog ngayong gabi nyan!" What he didn't know was that I've already lost sleep the night before. Hahaha!!!

And now, meet Joy. My very first Lamy, and it had to come as a set!

Opening the box reveals then pen, the cap with its red clip, a box of ink cartridges, a Lamy converter, and the nibs: 1.1mm, 1.5mm, and 1.9mm.

A closer look at the nibs, though this photo is way too blurry.

A closer look at the cap, clip and barrel end that also bears the LAMY logo.

And because I had a new calligraphy set (the first one is the Schneider set), I just had to learn the art now. So I got myself a Speedball Textbook pronto, and several packs of Oslo paper. I remember envying my brothers when they were learning calligraphy way back in high school and they each had their own Speedball Textbooks, inks, and Panache nibs. Now I have my own.

Below (and topmost, first photo) is a writing sample of my Lamy Joy Calligraphy set.

As Lamy says, Joy inspire creative writing. Mine isn't that creative, but I'll get there. I'm sure I will. *Wink.*