Grail weeks come but rarely
Grail weeks come but rarely. This week, folks, was a grail week.
Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince was a life-changing book for me. Specifically, the chapter where the Prince meets a fox. The fox teaches the Prince that learning has a personal cost. The Prince also learns that meaningful relationships are the result of investing part of yourself into someone else. The fox calls this process “taming.”
Three statements by the fox drive these lessons home:
You’ll understand that yours is the only rose in all the world, once you’ve invested time.
One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.
You become responsible for what you’ve tamed.
That’s one smart looking fox
Montblanc released a series of special edition pens tied to The Little Prince. The pen that most suits my aesthetic preferences (muted colors and silver furniture) just so happened to be themed with the fox chapter. Take. My. Money.
I found an authorized dealer offering the pen at a substantial discount. They even provided the themed nib in an EF. Most Montblancs are sold in F or M. Other size nibs require an exchange through Montblanc proper. The stars, it appears, had aligned in my favor.
Welcome to the collection, Prince and Fox. I’m happy you’re here.
This week’s Inked Tines update includes my most recent currently inked writing tools.
Toolset
Pens. There was no true standout combination this week. That said, I have a strong suspicion for next week ::cough:: Montblanc ::cough::
Visconti Homo Sapiens — Empty. Bordering on too wet. Should shade far better in a dryer feed.
Lamy Safari — Feed. Excellent on poor paper. All sheen on good paper. Wet but controlled EF line. Scratch notes, marking papers, journaling, lesson plans.
TWSBI 580-AL — 1/8, will be dumped. Excellent pocket pen. Fun but subdued color. Meeting notes, reading notes, journaling.
TWSBI Vac700R — 1/5. Wrote well. Wet with a quick dry time. CI nib did not agree with a bullet journal stencil. Daily driver. Task management, lecture notes, reading notes.
Diplomat Aero — 4/5. Great accenting pen. The orange had fun shading, even in an EF feed. A tad dry in this Aero. Reading notes, accent color in lecture notes, journaling, lesson plans.
Franklin-Christoph 46 — Full. The ink darkened nicely throughout the week. Blue Guitar was a lovely deep blue with generous pink sheen by Friday morning. Hard starts in the 46. Project planning, lesson plans, meeting notes.
Notebooks. February started on Monday. Monthly reflections, selecting priorities for the coming weeks, and migrating tasks from January take up additional pages and ink. The process is fun. And I find it helps me to keep tabs on long-term and medium-term projects.
15 new pages bring me within a week of finishing the work bullet journal, and to page 260. Two-pages for a monthly spread: one for major events and a second for larger projects, organized by goals. Another two pages for the week’s task list spread. The remainder are: six pages of lecture notes on a socio-economic underpinnings of Jim Crow, two for meeting notes, and the rest for lesson planning.
Midori A6 Journal. 12 pages. I’m already halfway through this tiny notebook. Such quick progress encourages me to journal more often.
Small but mighty
I also used this journal for process notes as I planned the final session for my D&D group. Each of my players is getting rewarded with a customized magical item.
Field notes (US of Letterpress). Six new pages. After three days off campus, the final two days of teaching were a whirlwind of impromptu meetings and informal chats with students. Most of my pocket notes are eventually migrated into the work bujo.
Written dry. I wrote one pen dry this week. The Visconti ran out of Andy Warhol while journaling Thursday evening.
The TWSBI 580 isn’t empty. But it’s low enough that I feel comfortable dumping the small amount of ink that is left. Change is good. Changing ink is even better.
Newly inked. I inked my newest pen arrival the same night it was delivered. The Montblanc Le Petit Prince LeGrand has an EF nib. And with my Vac’s stencil challenges (which I describe above), I knew I wanted a grey ink. The EF nib would work better with a stencil than the Vac’s cursive italic.
It seemed fitting to turn to a Montblanc ink for the new MB pen: Montblanc Oyster Grey. Proved a great choice. Excellent shading, even with an EF.
Oyster Grey is one of my favorite inks. It’s a warm grey tone with healthy shading. And it plays well with both coated and uncoated papers. The reliable performance makes OG an easy choice for a daily driver.
Plus: a themed nib etching
The Collection
The metal piston knob adds weight to the back of the pen. And artwork from the fox chapter of the book adorns the cap. Foxes are etched into the cap’s resin.
The EF nib was in perfect condition right out of the box. The piston mechanic is smooth and well-sealed. My fussy eye couldn’t find even one issue to tweak or tinker. All pens should arrive in such excellent condition.
Outgoing / trades or sales. Nothing to see here, folks. Yet.
Currently reading and listening
Fiction. Finished Dracula! Dracula was finished off by Van Helsing and his gang of rich folk. Stoker tells his story at a slow, methodical pace. Old school.
The story is told through journal entries and personal letters — all biased by their author’s perspective on the unfolding vampiric events. It was inspirational for my own writing. Stuff You Missed in History Class has a lovely episode on the late Bram Stoker.
My spouse and I made no progress on Name of the Wind this week. Not for a lack of intent. We turned to reading too late in the evenings. There was more sleeping than reading as a result.
Nonfiction. I started Anne Applebaum’s most recent book, Twilight of Democracy. She explores new emerging forms of authoritarianism. This, in addition to a handful of essays on constitutional theory.
Music. GoGo Penguin radio. I dig this modern instrumental trio. Their drummer is insanely good. Balance having great energy without obstructing my thinking.
