Too Much Info ... WAY Too Much

[Fulcanelli]

I have injected bits and pieces about myself here already in the weeks I've been doing these FP boards, but perhaps this time I'll break down and follow conventions.

 

It seems I've always been drawn to just about anything that has to do with communications. Pens have been my main focus because I have had access to them, and many are cheap enough so I can gratify my urge for something new without having to slip into ramen noodle mode. Actually, I don't eat that stuff unless it's HIGH quality ingredients.

 

All my life (and the roads are far from new for me, most with pot holes needing repair in the roads I've travelled) I've been into pens, paper, typewriters, etc. I had technology overload when I got load of my first real computer, an old Mac IIe a friend donated to me so I could write some articles for a rubber stamp magazine. (I no longer rubber stamp, however.)

 

As a youth, I would wander into a few office supply stores as a regular, look through the catalog and order myself a new pen. Parkers and Sheaffers were the only ones I could afford, so that's what I bought. The main store I went to was really a cool store, which I can appreciate now since I've found nothing quite like it. They did a good job of getting oddball things (inks, too.) Back then, I felt a strong need to communicate with the world, but on a one-to-one basis, so I always had some sort of correspondence going, and if that wasn't working, I tried penpal services. I always felt better when I had that one-to-one connection, with ink as our life blood. I took my pens with me everywhere and had one of those plastic utility boxes filled with pens, FP, BP, a wide selection from cheap to 'hey, that's not bad.'

 

One weekend I left my pens in a metaphysical bookstore over a long weekend and suffered the worst withdrawl symptoms, waiting for it to open on a Tuesday morning. I don't want to think about that right now!

 

At a point, I put my pens away only to discover them years later and tried to resurrect them. A few came back to life but most (I had about a dozen pens) needed some help. I sent them off to Parker, a whole box of them, and those guys were true to their word on lifetime warranty and they got them all fixed up and going. I think all I had to pay for was the new ink storage devices. The rubber bulbs on the old ones were not doing so well.

 

After some years of not being in touch with my brother, the Internet and email drew us much closer together than we had ever been face-to-face. The temptation to tease, rooting in childhood, I guess is just too strong and primordial. Anyway, after we were writing for a while, we both learned of the other's interest in fountain pens. I would never have guessed my brother's interest in pens because as he was going through medical school, I used to type papers for him and couldn't read half his words. But I guess enjoying a good pen has nothing or little to do with how well you can write. LOL.

 

Since then I've been collecting a few here and there and somehow stumbled on Pelikan. I have five Pelikans now, including an M800 and my favorite, the M200 in blue. I also have pens by Waterman and Pilot and in just a few weeks, my first Sailor. I like strong rich black ink (Aurora Noir mostly) and on bleached white paper. If I were an artist, I would probably work in ink (but might also make a few etchings, just to draw prospective love interests up to my apartment.) With my interest in Japanese film (some anime, but mostly classic 1970s samurai or even older 1950s BW films), Zen, sushi, tea, Go (no longer active with that), I feel I might be drifting into collecting Japanese FP.

 

Nobody likes me and I don't have any friends (which gives me a great deal more time for reading, watching offbeat movies, talking to my cat about the meaning of life, brewing up strong black coffee, preferably a dark roast, and engaging in various computer activities. I probably spend the most time doing digital photography now, editing photos and getting them ready to post in my deviantart gallery. (I just turned over 25K page views, so I must be doing something right.) That brings me back to my pens...I only did not use them because I had no need, no excuse to drag them out, but with my photography, I have started a shooting journal with details of my adventures, exact locations, etc. and I write in my Moleskine everyday now. I am completely obsessed with photography and ALWAYS have cameras with me when I leave the house. I shoot mostly in Detroit, and I love cemetery imagery and Nature.

 

My journal focus has diffused a bit and I'm back to writing and exploring the meaning of life again. I'm preparing for that one final test, when my life's movies run backwards before my eyes, just like in the film Tampopo.

Edited April 21, 2005 by Fulcanelli

[ElaineB]

Hey, I used pen-pal services, too!! As a teenager, I wanted to correspond with someone as far away in the world as possible, so I requested people in Australia and New Zealand. It was such a thrill to get those envelopes covered in exotic stamps!

 

Thanks for the intro. Not TMI at all...

 

ElaineB

[Gerry]

Well, that was a humdinger of an introduction. I feel like I've known you forever.

 

Welcome aboard (although after 54 posts - perhaps that's somewhat unnecessary).

 

I'm sure you will find us all a little strange here in the asylum (as Wim and Keith are wont to say). I like to think it's what makes us special.

 

No, not that *special*, just plain special - as in worth knowing.

 

Looking forward to reading your posts Fulcanelli.

 

Gerry

[Leslie J.]

Awesome bio! I really enjoyed reading it. Welcome (belated) to FPN. I looked at your DA acct.. I love your photos.

[Keith with a capital K]

This makes me wonder if I ever posted any kind of intro or just strolled in and started yakking my fool head off?

[Titivillus]

This makes me wonder if I ever posted any kind of intro or just strolled in and started yakking my fool head off?

For me I popped up here when RS went under for the first time, think I'm a late teen member. I've got a bio over on Pentrace under the snail mail service so I didn't think to put one up here. I've been posting all over the place for about 10 years now so I'm suprised when people ask who I am!

 

 

Kurt H

[Fulcanelli]

I looked at your DA acct.. I love your photos.

Thanks a lot. You can see my obsessions in work there. LOL. It was my photography that gave me reason to dust off my FPs. As I said, I keep a detailed log of my adventures. It's really quite an experience to go into Detroit as I do and steal shots.

 

Thanks again.

 

I like this group and find that people know what they're talking about, which is what compelled me to spill my gutz. :bonk:

[ElaineB]

Fulcanelli,

I went to your gallery and was especially impressed by the spring muddy forest photo. (I think that was the name.) What a great shot! But even more, what a great eye you have, to have picked the scene out in the first place. Congratulations. I look forward to seeing more of your work.

 

ElaineB

[Leslie J.]

Well, as I said, I really liked the style of your photos. Maybe you can throw something together with pens in B&W. We do have a forum for pics too.

[Maja]

Wow, great intro Fulcanelli!

I've always wanted to ask about your FPN user name; does it have something to do with an alchemist with the same name? (OK, I Googled it) Is your avatar related to your FPN user name? If it's something personal, you don't have to answer...

[wimg]

Hi Fulcanelli,

 

Thanks for your great intro!

 

Warm regards from the asylum called FPN (just confirming Gerry ),

Wim

[Fulcanelli]

I've always wanted to ask about your FPN user name; does it have something to do with an alchemist with the same name?

Yes, it does. I have a few books by the guy and find his work fascinating. His main thing (as you may have found) is a book titled Le Mystere des Cathedrales[b/]. It's a fascinating examination of the alchemical imagery that can be found in the Gothic cathedrals.

 

There is another impulse that is linked to Fulcanelli about the Cross of Heydane and how it predicts the end of time. I am not interested in that diversion. It all relates to a chapter that had been added to his book about the Cathedrals at a much later date, when it was translated into English.

 

And this is the same Fulcanelli referred to by Frank Zappa in his song, "Who is Fulcanelli, Anyway?" or something like that.

 

BTW, I'm not Italian.

[Fulcanelli]

Hey, I used pen-pal services, too!!

Have you tried them lately? For a while, I tried to find some interesting people with whom to share words and actually did find a person in a specialized group. However, our writing was all electronic.

 

I've explored a few online 'penpal' sites and didn't find much going. I'm totally not looking for romance and even though I make that clear, I guess the person at the other end thought I'd change my mind when I got to know her.

 

As I get older, the idea of a penpal doesn't hold the same mystery. I'd love to share thoughts with someone who is into the same things I am, but not as interesting in exploring, if you know what I mean.