Grail Feeling: Aurora Internazionale Orange
This post offers a review of the Aurora Internazionale Arancio / Orange, and it is also about grail pens in general.
What separates a merely expensive and well-executed pen from a grail is not the price point so much — it’s a feeling.
The Gathering and the Menagerie
Over the years, I have gathered quite a few animal figurines; and just as my fountain pens are the Gathering, the animal figurines are the Menagerie.
10 things I’m grateful for, the fountain pen edition
This is a simple gratitude post, featuring ten fountain pen things I’m grateful for.
Whimsy is healing
Academia is not the only field where one is expected to perform seriousness. Whimsy gets a bad rap in quite a few industries. But my stationery habit does not make me bad at my job, and I am prepared to stick a sticker on that hill.
Pen frustration, pen magic
Our fountain pens and other stationery items are not just tools. They are artifacts, talismans against an overwhelming and cruel world. Pens can represent self-care and purpose, pens can bring delight and wonder. Pens are magic. That magic can come as a freebie gift, or in shape of a cheap, incredible, damaged antique-store pen.
How pens leave and enter the gathering
It’s easy to see how a person who spends years collecting pens ends up owning many of them - even if you only buy a few a year, the numbers begin to add up. For those of us who own under 20 pens, and yet spend time in the hobby, I’m always curious how this happens. For me personally, it’s some combination of restraint, considering exactly what pens I want to add to the gathering, and letting go of pens that do not rhyme with the collection.
Ink Thoughts: Montblanc Dragon Red
I’m fond of Montblanc inks - they often hit the sweet spot for me with the combination of great ink quality, shading and saturated colors, beautiful packaging, and story. I compare two rare Montblanc inks - the new Dragon Red, and the older, beloved Shakespeare Velvet Red.
The YosekaLab Planner, Part 2: Vertical Quadrant (Divided)
Earlier this month in the Method and Mayhem series, I wrote about my experiments with the YosekaLab planner’s Gantt layout. Today I am exploring the Vertical Quadrant (divided) on p. 26 of the planner as a tool to track my many, many projects.
Method and Mayhem: the YosekaLab Planner
What I especially love about the YosekaLab planner is the structural permission to experiment. Of course, any planner can be experimented with, but I think I’m not the only one who is often intimidated (and confused) by fancy readymade setups. In contrast, Yosekalab has many different layouts in a small, simple, yet perfectly designed package, with the idea to try out different layouts. Not every layout will work for everyone! Great! It’s built-in!
The Soft Long Story
I care about story and intricacy, and the pleasure of using an older technology. Writing itself is a very old technology, but it, too, is new in the grand scheme of things.