Fountain Pen in Shotglass

I was using my inked fountain pens to write on my new notebook (to be posted later) when I found out that my Inoxcrom Vivaldi doesn't write properly. I thought the ink in the cartridge has ran out or dried, so I replaced it with a fresh one. But that did not help, as the lines coming from my pen's nib is still broken and wobbly. Hmmm... Time to clean it up, I thought. But my cleaning materials were at home, so I improvised. I took out a WOW Philippines souvenir shotglass and filled it with enough water to soak the pen's nib, and minutes later, after a second change of water and drying it with thick wads of paper towels, the pen writes perfectly and smoothly again! Whew.

This is how it looked when I used a shotglass to soak the Vivaldi's nib. I guess I found a better use for those shotglasses in my collection, huh? *Wink.*

My Weekend Loot

Now here's my Monday morning show and tell: my weekend loot. *Grin.*

Just because I really, really, really love Haruki Murakami and I was left wanting for more after finishing Norwegian Wood, I rushed to the nearest NBS last Saturday and got myself The Wind-up Bird Chronicle. Later in the day, my B sent me this SMS: I got Kafka, which meant she has found me Kafka on the Shore which was unfortunately unavailable at the first NBS we went to.


Then a good friend who came home from a Holland trip brought me these beauties: two EFFEN vodka shotglasses. These shotglasses are the fourth addition to my collection with liquor design.

Lastly, someone has kindly donated this beautiful and precious elephant from India, taking it out of her display rack, forgetting about who gave it to her (who is somebody important) and lovingly added it to my display shelf. Can't thank you enough, B.

Show Off

And now here's my sweet shottie number 65 from Beijing.

If it Looks Good, Collect It!

I’m really not sure how I got into collecting, but I know my love for it started when I was a young first grader. Two aunts, one from each side of my parents’ families doted on me and supplied me with little things which later became two small collections. I remember I was the only kid at school with more than a dozen unused erasers, most of them coming from my Aunt Carmela. And I will not forget my classmates’ envious looks at my colorful Sanrio pins courtesy of Aunt Susan.

Through the years, I have left and started old and new collections as my interests changed. Some of the items I collected (and later on left for some reasons) include stamps, stationery, chocolate foil wrappers, bottle caps, liquor bottles, Coca-Cola bottles, old comic books, mugs, candle holders, pencils, and flavored lip gloss tubes. Unbelievable, isn’t it? But through time, a number of items remained close to my heart.

I am particularly fond of elephants. My father, who is the only person in our family who loves watching cable programs that feature animals and everything safari, knows I will easily join him in the TV area whenever elephants are featured. In 1997, while buying a gift for someone, a small elephant figurine caught my attention and I immediately bought it. I started collecting elephant figurines and similar items since then. To date, I have 25 pieces in my collection; some are bought, but most are gifts from friends. My smallest piece is a ceramic incense holder from China, while the largest is a stack of five elephants, one on top of the other, made of Kamagong wood, crafted by a skilled Pinoy sculptor from the Ilocos region. I have elephant figurines coming all the way from Bangladesh, China, and Kenya.

My first elephant figurine, the one on the right, is made of ceramic from China. It is 0.875 inch tall and an inch long. The small one beside it is even smaller, it's an incense holder from Indonesia, brought home by Popen.

As fond as I am of elephants, I also have a keen interest in breweriana. I am fascinated by glass items like goblets, steins, and shotglasses. Back in 2006, while I was doing research for my NaNoWriMo novel, one of my friends suggested that I create a character in my novel that collects shotglasses (simply because my friend collect shotglasses). In the course of my research work, I fell in love with shotglasses the second time around. My very first shotglass is my father’s sake glass from Tokyo. It’s a gift from a friend and he wouldn’t let go, but I’ve already fallen in love with the geisha on it because it reminds me a lot of Chiyo, or Sayuri, of Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of A Geisha. In less than two years, my shotglass collection has grown to 57 pieces. And like my elephants, these shotglasses are very dear to me because most of them are gifts from friends who do not mind bringing such exquisite pieces from their travels.

See the geisha? The design is so exquisite, so beautiful, so charming!

My latest (and most expensive, so far) collection is very young, started only last January. My interest on it was born out of another idea from another friend. When a friend showed me his remote-controlled toy car, I knew I got to have one too. But I didn’t like cars. So I gave it up, until one lousy day brought me to a ToysRUs outlet. I saw toy firetrucks! There was no turning back. My first toy firetruck is a scale-model, die-cast Tomica. It’s an aerial ladder firetruck with a retractable ladder set. Again, I got hooked. In less than a month, I got nine trucks, five of which are firetrucks. Amazing.

Other small collections stored in my cabinets at home are notebooks (I have items from China, India, Korea, and Peru), Pinoy soda cans, and liquor stirrers. I also have several items with Nefertiti design and print, and one of them came all the way from Egypt, with her beautiful face painted on real papyrus. Interesting piece.

Somehow, each one of us has a collection stashed somewhere. It could be anything! I have a friend who collects market scene painting and eggs. Yes, eggs. She said she likes them because they symbolize life and rebirth. I also read about a guy who collects real firetrucks. Yes, real firetrucks. And he has asked for help a number of times because he doesn’t have a place to park all his trucks. And who could forget the creepy guy in American Idol who collects his nail cuttings? Yikes! But the point is, what looks like simple, ordinary, everyday things to others (even garbage) mean a lot to those who collect them.

My collecting habits may seem unappealing to others, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I will be branded as a hoarder instead of a collector, but what I have in my collections are not just material items that can be easily discarded later on. Each piece that goes into a collection was carefully selected, with its own memories and stories to tell. And no matter what anyone says about my collections, nothing can stop me from collecting and starting new collections later on. Right now, my eyes are set on tea and teabags. Later on, who knows? Wind chimes? Chopsticks? Tea cups? Old fountain pens? Well, I don’t know. As Andrew Zimmern said, if it looks good, collect it! (Err... I think he said eat it, right? Oh well, whatever!)

* To view photos of my collections, I have posted them on Flickr, although not all of my photos have been posted yet. It's a work in progress, so bear with me. To view them, visit my Flickr page.

New Additions to My Collections

Here are the new additions to my growing collections.

SHOTGLASSES:

US State Shotglass: Arizona

US City Shotglass: Chicago

TOMY TOY TRUCKS:

#42: Caterpillar Track Type Tractor. Scale 1/139

#118: Terex 72-81 Loader. Scale 1/137

Vintage Shotglasses?

Whoa. These two shotglasses were presented to me as gifts by someone I do not know. The shotties came wrapped in layers of old newspapers with a note: "I just cleaned out my cupboards and saw these. Thought they may be good to add into your collection."

Well, they may be vintage shotglasses, considering the design. But I'm no expert here. I will have to consult other glass experts later. After careful inspection, I saw water stains inside the glasses, and they have to be removed. Very minor flecks of water stains, though. Nothing that a vinegar and water solution will not remove. Now, whoever that kind person is, here's a big THANK YOU!!! And hopefully I can say my thanks in person someday.

My 50th + 1

Shotglass No. 50

Shotglass number 50 is the shotglass that almost didn’t make it to my collection. Its seller didn’t reply to my email even after the bidding was finished, and I had to wait for several days to pay for it. Luckily though, they shipped it on time. But shotglass number 50’s odyssey did not end there. The courier service delivered it to the wrong addressee who surprisingly received the package even though it is clearly not his. (The package is under my name, for Pete’s sake.) To end the story, I finally got the shotglass and here it is. It’s the 50th into my growing collection. Warmest welcome.

Shotglass No. 51

If shotglass number 50 is my most anticipated shotglass yet, then number 51 is the one that surprised me the most. It’s a gift from my good friend Popen, an avid shotglass collector who introduced me to this interesting hobby. I got it the same day I got number 50, and it was the first time I got two new shotglasses from different people in a day’s time! Whew!

Number 51 is my first shooter shotglass, also the first from Hardrock Café, and only the second to come all the way from Singapore. A new shottie to welcome. Hmmm… a new shottie to show off.

My 48th

This is my 48th shotglass and it's cool that it's from a local alcohol advertising campaign. I consider it a treasure because it's a gift from someone I least expected to be giving me a gift after all we've been through.

My shotglass collection has surprisingly grown in the past several months, and I have created a gallery at Photobucket.com to make public viewing a bit easier. It also makes it possible for me to view them from time to time, rather than open the huge box where I keep them. I do not have a display case yet (and I'm saving up for at least one), so I am keeping them in a huge carton with each shotglass carefully wrapped in white paper.

Last weekend, I added six more shotglasses to my collection through an eBay purchase. It was actually a bargain because I got all six of them for only 190 Philippine pesoses. Wow. I got a Vancouver, B.C. shotglass, a Niagara Falls shotglass, a souvenir shotglass from the 1986 World Expo in Vancouver, two from the UK showing St. Paul's Cathedral and the Tower of London, and an advertising shotglass from Hong Kong. All of them below. And also here.

Weekend Loot (Last Part)

This is it. The promised post for what I called 'massive weekend looting' in my two earlier entries. I call it that because I bought so much pens I'm wondering now how I'm going to use them. Besides, I have never in my life bought as many pens as the ones I bought last weekend. Add to that the Stradmore notepad and small reporter notebook I bought, plus the green shotglasses from Korea, and all the stuff EJ brought me from the US, Canada and China. I got three new shotglasses: my first US State shotglass (from Las Vegas, Nevada), a unique Hollywood shotglass, and another one from Canada. He also bought me a small pocket notebook in China. All of these items are in the photo below:

Saturday morning brought me to San Pablo to visit my niece Laicka who was in the hospital for dengue fever treatment. After a short visit, I grabbed lunch over at my parents' house and went back to San Pablo to look at the Pilot G2s my sister-in-law told are available at OSC Bookstore. Alas, the G2s are there, but what caught my attention are the MonAmi 'Love Pet' gel pens. They're just amazing. The product line has eight available colors, and the pens are square compared to the usual round shape. I love these pens so much I bought two sets!

After that, I hopped over to another supplies store, Expressions which is located at the city mall. I saw the MonAmi pens there, too. At Expressions, I bought a Stradmore notepad and a small reporter notebook.

After the pens and notebook/notepad shopping spree, I went to a thrift shop and saw the two green shotglasses from Korea. Ha. I had to buy them, too.

And not long after, I saw jelly cellphone housing for both my Nokia 1100 and 3100.

Ayayay, what a weekend!