#40863
09/10/2001 10:59 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 157
member
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member
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 157 |
flashlights and scissors and needle-nose pliers (why do I suddenly want to break into a chorus of "My Favorite Things"?).Flashlights and scissors and needle-nose pliers, Scotch tape dispensers and things to cut wires, Wite-Out and batt'ries and old keychain rings, These are a few of my oft-missing things! 
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#40864
09/10/2001 11:49 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Hey, that was good, Pi!  Didja eat some of your brother's birthday cake?
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#40865
09/13/2001 8:44 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 157
member
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member
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 157 |
Thanks!
Um...what brother's cake?
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#40866
09/13/2001 9:27 PM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409 |
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#40867
09/14/2001 12:47 AM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 328
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 328 |
Thanks!
Um...what brother's cake?
I think Jackie confused you with the other Pi, 3.14159 (the erstwhile JimthedogII), whose brother Jimthedog just celebrated a birthday.
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#40868
02/06/2004 4:43 PM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
Since there's a bit of thread resurrection going on, here's an old gem I always meant to revive since it's a wonderful read and understandably petered out through the distraction of 9/11/01. And it also, somehow, has been scarce in mention of past "best" threads here. I think new folks will find it a treat, and those around then will enjoy the reread, too. And, hopefully, some new posts will add to its treasure.
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#40869
02/06/2004 5:35 PM
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
wonderful. especially this, from Rhuby: Apart from these, I am surrounded by shelves of books and my computer table. There is a very small space in the middle of all this, where I sit in arachnoid stillness, watching for the screen to flicker, so that I can pounce. it reminded me of one of my favorite books: the View from Saturday, by E. L. Konigsburg. one of the boys learns calligraphy from his aunt(grandmother? I'll need to read it again. yippee!), and it always starts with the preparation of the materials, not with the pen first hitting the paper...
formerly known as etaoin...
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#40870
02/07/2004 7:50 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,004
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,004 |
One of my favourite writers - Kipling - wrote an idiosyncratic autobiography Something of myself in which he describes, at length and with great fondness, the act of setting himself up to write - the pen, the ink (ground India ink, if I remember rightly), and so on. Most enlightening is his description of his editing process. He let the dæmon take him and wrote whatever came, and then, over a period of time, he would sit with the draft, and his pen, and black out words. As he tells it, he never added a word, but always, over three or so revisions, deleted words. Some critics feel that this may be the reaon for the increasingly elliptical nature of his stories in the latter half of his life ("Mrs Bathurst" being so elliptical and enigmatic that even today most critics disagree on what the story is 'about').
Just thought I'd throw that in...
(And yes, my favourite ever pen was my Mont Blanc - pressie from my dad for my BA exams. Like most of my other stuff, lost a few years ago. I know have a few cheaper, but still rather nice, pens - a Pelikan and a couple of Lamys. Have never been able to get used to pens with balls in the tip, they slide over the page to promiscuously to allow for decent control. Only necessary for writing through copies, and shunned for all other purposes. I also affect a mechanical pencil - I love their versatility, even though the writing line doesn't have the density of ink.)
cheer
the sunshine warrior
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#40871
02/07/2004 1:06 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Do y'all do crosswords in pen or pencil?
I too love mechanical pencils, shanks, and wouldn't use any other kind. Unless I were on a desert island or something.
I also dislike ballpoints but sometimes I'm forced to use them, not only for forms with copies (love your use of "promiscuously"!). Since I'm left-handed, and unlike Leonardo da Vinci, write from left to right, if I use a felt or ink [sic] pen whose ink doesn't dry immediately I find the heel of my hand blackened or blued by the time I'm done.
Fascinating story about Kipling!
Here's a tidbit: I don't know what kind of writing instrument he used, but Goethe wrote everything standing up at a kind of draftsman's table.
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#40872
02/07/2004 6:48 PM
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 725
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 725 |
Mmm, pens! A favorite subject!
I prefer a ballpoint pen for writing. Its flow matches the speed of my writing. I have found that the ink pens, such as Uniball, Gel, liquid ink roller balls, etc. flow too fast for me and therefore cause my handwriting to get sloppy.
I love Sharpies and mechanical pencils, too!
Here’s my history on the love of the fountain pen: my mother has a beautiful Parker pen that she used to write with, and I admired it when I was a child. One year for Christmas I received my own Parker fountain pen. I used it all through junior high and high school until something happened to it and I could never get it to work right. After college, I bought my own Schaeffer pen – a lovely, slim design.
This year at Christmas my mother gave me a fountain pen (which I had admired on her desk). The pen is marked Conklin by ENDURA, and belonged to my great-grandfather, Harry Needham. It sits on a marble base, in a holder, and his name is engraved on a small plaque. It dates from the mid 1920’s. He died in 1948 at the age of 75.
I’m digressing here, but I also possess the flute which belong to his father, Winford Needham. Winford played in a Union regiment in the US Civil War. It’s a rosewood flute with an ivory headpiece. Interesting, huh? It’s quite a museum piece.
So anyway, this pen of Harry’s is the kind that has the little lever which draws the ink up into a rubber sac. I haven’t tried it to see if it works, since I’ve assumed it won’t and I don’t want to get it (and me) all messy trying.
To answer AnnaS, I do crosswords in pencil. My friend who is left-handed (a sinister fellow!) prefers the Pilot V-5 pens which, as was noted in an earlier post, dry quickly and do not smudge on his paper or on his hand. Maybe Goethe had a bad back???
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#40873
02/07/2004 8:29 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,004
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,004 |
ASp
Being sinistral too, and having the habit of hooking my hand over the top of the page, I too have come across the smudging problem. My solution is too hook my hand even farther over, thereby giving me a run at two or three lines' worth before the bas of my hand comes into contact with the ink - thereby giving it a reasonable amount of time in which to dry. Not for everybody, though...
And I do crosswords with whatever implement comes to hand!
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#40874
02/07/2004 8:57 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
RE: this pen of Harry’s is the kind that has the little lever which draws the ink up into a rubber sac. I haven’t tried it to see if it works, since I’ve assumed it won’t and I don’t want to get it (and me) all messy trying.
This style of pen was still common when i was a child, and yes, the rubber ink bladder can dry out, and get small holes (try plain warm water.. and see if it leaks.--sometimes dried ink in the pen needs to be washed out too, and plain warm (baby bath temp) water is fine.
if it does, there are places that repair/replace the bladders (or it can be 'retro fitted' to hold cartidges.) --the pump lever will remain, but will no longer function.
you might find you also have to replace the nib(if you want to use the pen) , because as WOW pointed out above, nib of pens (like shoes) come to 'fit a hand'. many pens have easy to replace nibs and the best are gold (which quickly mold to fit you 'hand'.
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i tend to do crossword puzzles in ink.. occational they become messy as a result, but more often, i get most of the crosses done, and end up with one corner with several blank squares. (i manage to complete the sunday NYTimes puzzle about 1 week in 3)
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#40875
02/09/2004 8:08 PM
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154 |
I work in a hospital and we're required to write with black ink. They provide the cheapest pens available, you know, those clear plastic ones that crack around the point or explode. I tried taking decent pens of my own but they all disappeared. I complained so much about losing pens that my mom got me one that has a string on the cap to go around my neck. I felt such a fool walking around with the empty cap around my neck while I looked for the pen that I gave up. Recently some friends gave me a pack of click type pens in clear pastel colours which I velcro into my notebook. Between the velcro and the fact that my name is printed on them they have been finding their way home. I detest using a dull pencil so I bring my own mechanical pencils, cheap ones, from home. At home I use any pen that writes smoothly but I like to use gel pens as the colour emphasizes that I'm not at work, they also help me to slow down and think about my handwriting. Speaking of which, I still bless the high school teacher that told my parents that my handwriting was so bad because my hand couldn't keep up with my brain. After that when they complained I told them it was a sign of intelligence.
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#40876
02/15/2004 7:42 PM
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Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 15
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 15 |
I learned to write using a school pen and reams of blotting paper. The pen (hah!) had a wooden shaft and a replaceable metal nib - - awful. The ink was in a small bakelite inkwell recessed into the wooden desk. As ink monitor (?), it was my job to refill the inkwells every Monday morning. I had to mix a blue powder with water to produce the ink. Consequently, for the first half of the week, I had blue hands (woad).
Happy days
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#40877
02/15/2004 7:43 PM
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Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 15
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 15 |
I learned to write using a school pen and reams of blotting paper. The pen (hah!) had a wooden shaft and a replaceable metal nib - - awful. The ink was in a small bakelite inkwell recessed into the wooden desk. As ink monitor, it was my job to refill the inkwells every Monday morning. I had to mix a blue powder with water to produce the ink. Consequently, for the first half of the week, I had blue hands (woad).
Happy days
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#40878
02/15/2004 11:55 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
ah, dav-- i moved last year, and got rid of 90% of my worldly goods (a 6 room house(with attic, basement and garage) was condenced down to an 8 X 8 X8 storage locker!) but- i still have a extensive collection of just the pens you are talking about.. a half dozen or so wooden shafts, and whole box (a gross!) of nibs--they take up so little room!
my elementary schools had oak desks fitted with ink wells, but they were no longer being used when i was in school, we use fountain, or more likely cartrige loaded pens. (i have a collection of these too.. another half dozen, plus my cross pen (gold nib and cartridge style)
i also moved the bottle of india ink (a pint bottle, more than half full) --yes, i am kind of person that buys india ink in pint bottles.
my children are the same, they have fancy pens, and fancy inks, (and use them) too.
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#40879
02/16/2004 5:23 PM
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
We had the wooden pens, steel nibs and china ink wells let into the desk tops. The best fun was dipping little balls of blotting paper into the ink well and then flicking them across the room at a suitable target.
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#40880
02/16/2004 9:03 PM
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624 |
Yes, with a ruler if the teacher's back was turned. Gave them ... velocity!
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#40881
02/21/2004 2:34 PM
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Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 475
addict
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addict
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 475 |
My primary school was terribly old-fashioned so we did have scripture every day. We didn't have ink wells though, cartridge pens (which we called fountain pens, ignorant of any other kind) were the thing. Once at secondary school everyone used bics, to deface all available surfaces and shave their heads, and, very occasionally, to do their schoolwork. Looking at the work on the wall, it was easy to tell who had been to our primary school, we all retained a similar italic style. All my siblings went to differerent secondary schools, and this is very apparent in our accents, however, our handwriting is strikingly similar.
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#40882
02/21/2004 2:48 PM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
everyone used bics, to deface all available surfaces and shave their heads Two different sorts of bics, no?
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#40883
02/22/2004 12:33 AM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
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#40884
02/22/2004 2:24 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
From Faldage's link: Click here to discover our most recent advertising campaigns. Oh, gee, I can't wait... 
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#40885
02/23/2004 2:41 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771 |
Sounds like a sad-sack theme park, a la General Mills' Cereal Adventure at the Mall of America... 
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