I Have a New Hobby :)

I suppose I have two new hobbies, where "new" has some relationship with "haven't really appeared on the blog yet". The first is running, about which the less said the better (if you've been in person with me since about the middle of 2022, I haven't had much to say about anything else, for which I am sorry). The second is a twist on my longstanding fixation with office supplies, including notebooks and pens, my interest in journaling, and even my experiments with drawing.

(Current Status of The Collection)

What we've got here is:

1. Unbranded Wooden Pen
   A gift from a few years back! Writes nicely, now that I finally got it cleaned properly.
2. Zebra V-301, Fine Nib
   Picked this up at a drugstore during the height of my Zebra fixation a few years ago. It doesn't write very well comfortably—it's VERY scratchy—but is fun to draw with, for some reason?
3. Lamy AL-Star, Blue, Fine Nib
   Another gift! This is really the one that got me fired up about this stuff.
4. Kaweco Sport, Red, Fine Nib
   Bought this one from Flax, a local pen shop because I needed a pen in red. Unfortunately, in person, it's very orange, but it's also a pen I truly love, that writes beautifully in my current notebook (Traveler's, because now I'm That Guy).
5. Kaweco Liliput, Brass, Medium Nib
   A gift from Noodles for my bday! A beautiful object, that writes like a dream (on almost everything), fits my hand, fits my pocket, fits my life.
6. Lamy Safari, Cherry Blossom, Extra-Fine Nib
   I bought this one, haven't inked it up yet. I love the way this one looks, and am excited to try a different size of Lamy nib one of these days.
7. TWSBI Eco, Heat, Fine Nib
   My friends Abe & Sarah gave me a gift card to the local art supply store (hi again, Flax!) and so I treated myself to another orange pen, because ... I wanted a red pen and wanted to try a TWSBI, and for some reason, they just do not make a red pen?? Come ON TWSBI, make a dang red pen! Anyway, this one is fun af, because you can see the ink sloshing around in there, and it writes nicely and feels great in the hand.

A slightly strange side effect of this hobby is that it has made me much more interested in novelty. For years, my usual preference was to find a pen a liked and just use it forever and ever. Now, though, I find myself halfway through an ink cartridge and thinking "I want to try something new".

Yes, "I want to try something new" IS code for "I bought a ton of inks too", and obviously I picked up that excellent pen tray (thanks again to Sarah and the White Elephant Sale), and some other knickknacks, geegaws, and foofaraw.

(I also made a special spreadsheet to track my pens and inks, which required me to learn about both VLOOKUP and QUERY, but, in honor of the reason I'm writing this blog post—to be impressive and cool, natch—I will hold off on describing this spreadsheet at this time.)

I'm trying to be a bit disciplined about what I have inked at any given time, because I don't want to carry THAT that many pens with me. I also haven't quite figured out how interested I am or am not in trying to do anything like pen / ink reviews. But this is where my thoughts about my hobbies get published, so here have been some of those about one of those.