I've been lurking and posting some but thought it was time to finally introduce myself officially! I've lurked and participated some on another site for a few years and recently discovered FPN. My pen history is a long one, if not particularly storied! It all started with a Sheaffer no-nonsense and an Osmiroid calligraphy set (that had 6 different nibs, which I thought was pretty darn cool in elementary school). My father kept me supplied with Skrip emerald green, peacock blue and Quink black ink and I started working diligently on mastering old english style calligraphy. I sort of dropped out of using a fp during high school and before going to college my father gave me a Targa flighter that I used pretty regularly through college. Sadly lost it sometime after college and didn't use a fp again regularly until well after I'd finished graduate school and was out in the work world. For the past 5 years or so I've used fountain pens as my main writers again, and was happy in my ignorance using a couple cheap vectors and several MB "classics" that my father gave me (two of which cracked at the nib).

Then I discovered fountain pen websites and discussion forums and I've never been the same since!

I use all my pens regularly and don't consider myself a collector since most are decidedly "user" grade (but all write well!). On a related note I have, like many, a "revenue neutral" policy which given a new job (great upside but a bit of a haircut to take it), 3.5yo at home and another due early in the new year, is about all I can afford! Thankfully, unlike my other interest watches, there are some great writing pens that don't cost an arm and a leg and a new bottle of ink will make an old pen feel new again! So the watches have been distilled to 4 that I like and meet specific needs (or have sentimental value), and the pens have been narrowed around a few that I really use.

As also discussed here, I have been the recipient of some very kind gestures from other users and I will, as I progress through life and this hobby, continue that tradition and pass on some of the kindess that has been shown to me! As you can probably tell from my post my late father was a huge influence on me in many ways, and my passion for pens is but one thing he taught me. The other thing was that a small gesture has wide reaching ripples in the pond!

Regards,

Phil (aka HesNot).

Hi again, Phil. Nice to be able to pin a name on HesNot.

Your life sounds good. That growing family will keep you going for a long time, probably for the rest of your life, but it's the best busyness in all the world.

Settle in and continue to enjoy the board.

Phil,

Here's an "official" welcome to FPN, even though its seems like I've seen your comments around here for a while.

BTW, tell us more about your watch collecting hobby? Do you seek out vintage watches? Or ones that have some unique features?

TMann

("What?!" says Ted's wife. "You want to start collecting vintage watches?! What about all of those expensive fountain pens that you have sitting on your desk? You PROMISED me that was going to be your last expensive hobby...")

Hmm...on second thought, maybe I shouldn't be hearing about your watch collection.

Phil,

Welcome (even though you've been hanging out for a while). You've been an asset to FPN and I'm sure you will continue to be. See ya around.

southpaw

Thanks everyone!

As far as watches go I've been somewhat there and back again. In high school I received two gold Hamilton tank watches when I graduated, one vintage that was my grandfathers (which I later gave to my wife as a wedding present) and one limited edition reissue which my father gave me. My father passed on a few watches through the years and then after graduate school I really started getting into it more than in my prior life (in no small part thanks to Timezone... ) So I really started with vintage american, went through a phase of buying/checking out a bunch of different things including some swiss (an Oris and a Glycine most notably) and a variety of Seiko and Citizen watches of different shapes, sizes and materials. Mostly these days I continue to have my Hamilton and a few Seikos - I've found that much like pens, vintage watches offer a real value for the $ spent and have a certain appeal due to their age. Seikos in particular tend to represent some interesting technical innovations and still be affordable. I've finally pared down to the 4 current watches I have - the Hamilton graduation watch, a Seiko gold tank, a Seiko automatic diver and a vintage Seiko Lord Marvel hand wind with an interesting high beat movement. Although the Lord Marvel may be on the trade block simply because I have 3 watches with white/silver dials and one with a grey dial, so a black dial of some sort may be in the future - although the Lord Marvel is a pretty interesting watch that was only sold overseas in Asia and doesn't appear in the US very often ... who knows?

Hi Phil and welcome to FPN

I like your idea of "revenue neutral" pen-buying!

Thank you for introducing yourself; it's always nice to know a wee bit more about our fellow collectors--esp. how they started collecting, why they started, etc. It took me a long time to introduce myself but now that we have the "New members, introduce yourselves here" thread, I see that almost everyone is making use of it. It took me forever to introduce myself (I waited 'til I had over 1000 posts ) so if there are any long-time members who still haven't introduced themselves, now is a good time to remind everyone that it's never too late