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Confession Of An Addict


mad_pharmacist

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Well it all started with rather unassuming, cheap, but good quality Lamy pen from my father when I was in grade 8. I think the precise model has been discontinued, but it looks very much like Pur. It has "Made in West Germany" on the rerverse side of the cap. This was the early 90's and the pen was made before the German unification and definitely the Internet. I filled it up with whatever ink that I could find. Back then black or blue was the only choices. Nothing much happened for a long time. It was just a pen that I liked, but it was just a pen or so I thought.

 

When I got into college, we moved to a townhouse which was near a shopping mall with a very good pen store. Just around this time, I got a part time job. With extra money came temptations. I fell in love with Faber Castell ebony pen with sterling silver cap, but I realized that the pen with cap posted was too unwieldy. It became a house pen. I couldn't just go back to Lamy now that I had tasted luxury. As someone said, luxury once tasted becomes necessity! I was able to buy a Pelikan M800 from much fangled new thing called eBay in 1997. After college, I got a job and gained more spending power. With great power came great responsibility need. I try to impose some disciapline by getting a pen case with 6 pen slots. Surely, any rational person would not need more than 6 pens. Well that case got filled up rather quickly. Then I was thinking that six is such a weird number. It's not as round as ,say 10, so I got another case which has 10 slots. If you read this far, you know pretty much what was about to happen. That eventually got filled up and the first case got filled up as well. Hmm. I can't have two cases. I need to consolidate so I can keep my pens neatly. A 20 slot case was needed. Everytime I buy one, I swear that it's the "last" pen I will buy and keep for the rest of my life. It's going to be my true love. Well now, I have an unspecified number of cases, but only the pens in the first 20 slot cases actually count. The other pens in other cases are, well, just working pens. They are more like tools so they don't really count. I really haven't broken the 20 pen rule, yeah?

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Thanks for the intro! Welcome!

PAKMAN

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Hello and welcome to this friendly corner of the universe from a fountain pen user in San Diego. There is such a wealth of information waiting for you to discover on this site. Write On!

...............................................................

We Are Our Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams

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Welcome to the asylum.

You clearly need counselling. That's what we're here for. So:…

 

What you have here is a prescriptive nomenclature disfunction. You've given your "Rule" the wrong name. It's not a "20 pen" rule. It's a "20 pen case" rule: i.e.: You're only allowed ONE 20 pen case.*

 

Feeling better now?

Enjoy.

 

-----------------------

* […to start off with…]

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I keep thinking, when I buy a pen, this will be the last. It still hasn’t worked. I bought a Retro 51 rollerball pen earlier this evening after my Edison custom Beaumont arrived today.

 

Welcome to the community. Buy buy buy more pens!

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Welcome. There are many types of collectors. Which ever you are, you'll find this community welcoming. :)

"Respect science, respect nature, respect all people (s),"

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Receive a warm welcome from sunny Puerto Rico!

That was a great introduction! In one way or another we all share and relate to your experience...

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What you have here is a prescriptive nomenclature disfunction. You've given your "Rule" the wrong name. It's not a "20 pen" rule. It's a "20 pen case" rule: i.e.: You're only allowed ONE 20 pen cas.

 

:yikes:

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I've been really good so far this year. Only gotten 3 pens (the fourth was a pre-order of one of the new Lamy Safari LE colors and it took a month to get through US Customs). But of course for the past two or three years I said "I'm limiting myself to one pen a month" -- and then kept running into too many cases of "Ooh, shiny!" and/or two many "can't pass up this deal". Especially since I dived head first down the vintage pen rabbit hole.... And ended up with something like 20 per year.

Oh, fair warning -- we are all shameless enablers here. And will happily help you spend all your discretionary funds on pens, inks, paper, repair tools, sealing wax (and of course seals), ephemera, etc. (I'd include pen shows in the list once the pandemic is over with and they start happening again).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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Welcome! Awesome introduction, we are glad to have you!

“Many boys will bring you flowers. But someday you'll meet a boy who will learn your favorite flower, your favorite song, your favorite sweet. And even if he is too poor to give you any of them, it won't matter because he will have taken the time to know you as no one else does. Only that boy earns your heart."

 

-Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows

 

Follow me on IG: Lenses.and pens_

Please do not assume affiliation for any stores I may post about, just a happy customer.

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What an interesting introduction. In late 2018, I decided to take a break from buying pens, for I now have 250+. Decided

to take time to enjoy what I already have, and weed out a few that I no longer have use for! Welcome to FPN.

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20 pen rule? Huh? (or Eh?)

Nobody tell my wife about that, OK?

Sometimes a technology reaches perfection and further development is just tinkering. The fountain pen is a good example of this.

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Recognizable conundrum, for lack of a fancier word. My last rule was pen in = pen out. My current rule is quality over quantity: less pens, more money. Let’s see if this one sticks. Hope to avoid a future rule of hoarding trumps collecting trumps using.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello and welcome to FPN.

Recite, and your Lord is the most Generous  Who taught by the pen

Taught man that which he knew not (96/3-5)

Snailmail3.png Snail Mail 

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20 pens is very manageable. You have a LONG way to do before hitting rock bottom, so don't worry too much and enjoy :D .

I really haven't broken the 20 pen rule, yeah?

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  • 2 weeks later...

You have found your people :D Please keep in mind that we are all enablers, and your habit will only get worse.

 

Welcome aboard! We have a snail mail forum if you want to put those....er, 20.....pens to use.

the blog:

{<a href="http://all-my-hues.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">All My Hues: Artistic Inklinations from a Creative Mind</a>}

 

<img src="http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/606/letterji9.png" border="0" class="linked-sig-image" />

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