And the invasion continues...

[Daniel Shih]

Hi everyone,

 

My name is Daniel Shih, I live in the Chicagoland area, and I'm a senior in high school. I'm semi-new to the board; I've been a lurker for quite awhile, and finally got around to joining. This community seems to be growing at a very healthy rate while maintaining a close-knit and convival atmosphere. I've never been a prolific poster, but I'll contribute whatever I can!

 

My passion for pens started last year when the director of product development for Gillette--the parent company of Waterman, Parker, Sheaffer, and rotring--came over to my house for Thanksgiving dinner and brought me a Waterman Hemisphere, a Waterman Phileas, and a Parker Frontier. The addiction began; the boards became a staple source of distraction in my life; and kids at school realized, with horror, that my obsession with pens could dominate just about any conversation. Fortunately, because everyone knew about my pens, kids didn't see the pen clipped to my undershirt as a very prominent third nipple (or fourth, if I had two pens clipped to my undershirt that day). The board's beloved KCat--I mean, she's got her very own emoticon--has been a good friend and pen "mentor" to me, patiently answering my endless questions and guiding me towards a Blue Marble Pelikan M200 (which just found a brother in an Anthracite Pelikan M200 with a 0.6 mm Binder stub that I got in a trade) ever since I got started last year. KCat even made me an amazing EF right-footed demi-oblique sharp stub (get all that?) that remains one of my favorite writers. My other favored pens include my plain, black/lustraloy P51 that is buttery smooth, my Lamy 2000, my carmine Sheaffer Vac-Fil Triumph, and my Esterbrook with 9314-M nib. My pen collection of about 10 pens has just about reached its limit; I haven't purchased a pen in over 6 months. I guess I just feel guilty when I can't use all of my pens, and my favorite set of 5 pens keep me satisfied.

 

I use my pens, of course, for my endless mounds of homework. Fortunately, my pens offer some solace and enjoyment in even the most tedious of tasks. As for my other activities, I certainly do my best to keep busy. I'm an avid violinist; this is my third year as a member of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orhcestra. I've been playing since I was 5 (a good 13 years), and many of my years have been ones of intense practicing. My love of violin also extends to my taste in music: classical. My collection of classical CDs is at about 250, though one must keep in mind that many of them have been copied from the library. Someday I'm actually going to listen to all of them. I'm also a retired soccer player; with the ending of my final high school season, my glory days are over. Now begins my valiant effort against developing the paunch of the inactive. Outside of hanging out with friends on the weekends, I'm also a bookworm/neurotic journal-er (I believe that I might have just made up a word). My personality could most likely be classified as that of a silly, humorous intellectual. In one night, I'll likely discuss patriarchy and systematic racism before watching Zoolander. I suppose that would make me a dichotomy.

 

That's about it; I hope that I haven't been too dull and boring. I look forward to interacting with all of you pen-folk!

 

Best,

Dan

Edited January 13, 2005 by Daniel Shih

[Leslie J.]

It's great to see you here! I thought you were at least 2 years older than you are. I have a daughter who is a senior in high school. Unfortunately, she's not pen addicted.

 

Welcome aboard!

[KCat]

Hi Daniel!

 

Glad you finally joined us.

 

"Beloved" is a strong word - more like tolerated.

 

Anyway - it's great to have you here and i look forward to your posts which are as verbose as my own but much more eloquent and enjoyable.

 

Do you have a pic of your vac-fill? I'd like to see what "carmine" is. If you have or get a pic, please post it in the pictures forum.

 

take care, hon.

kcat

[Daniel Shih]

Thanks for the warm welcome, Leslie! Your daughter must be quite a strong gal if she hasn't succumbed to "the temptation" by now.

 

KCat, I actually do happen to have a few rough pictures of my carmine Sheaffer on my *new* laptop. However, when trying to post the picture, I realized that I can't upload the pictures onto the website; instead, I have to provide a link to the image. (Of course, this only makes sense--otherwise, FPN's server would combust or it'd be prohibitively expensive to maintain the site.) I don't have a hosting service right now, and I'm actually packing (I'm going to go hang out with my brother and visit Stanford for 9 days, and I'm leaving tomorrow! School is overrated, anyway )/studying for an AP Bio test.

 

**If anyone who's reading this happens to have a personality similar to my mother, chances are that right now you'd ask me, "Well then, Daniel, why aren't you working then? What are you dilly-dallying about for?" To which I would stutter for awhile and say, "Well, even the best of us need a break or three...It's not procrastination, honest!"**

 

What I was really trying to say--we are quite a verbose pair, aren't we, KCat?--is that I'll set up an account at imagebucket or something when I get a chance a few days into the future and then post my shoddy pictures. Or, if you'd like, I could always e-mail you the pics and you could appreciate "Carmen's" (yes, I named that pen) beauty. This carmine Sheaffer is actually the pen that, almost exactly a year ago, I said gave me a visceral reaction--actually, that's what you called my "gut reaction," and I filched the word from you--when I saw it (despite not placing much emphasis on appearances). I thought it was just a wild and beautiful pen, and you convinced me that when a person reacts like I did to a pen, it almost always ends up becoming a favorite. You were right; it is a one of my most loved pens, and it continues to give me that visceral reaction everytime I pick it up!

 

**They say that I'm a divergent thinker, and my Latin teacher would say that this predisposition tends to make me take a constructionist approach when interpreting literature...**

Edited January 14, 2005 by Daniel Shih

[Guest Denis Richard]

My formal "Welcome", Dan.

 

Don't forget that we have an open contest in the Reviews & Articles forum

[dava]

Howdy!

Daniel Shih...Hummmm. That name sounds familiar somehow. But I don't think the one I know was a dichotomy. More like a teenager if I can recall with any degree of accuracy.

 

Very nice to see the youngsters taking over, perhaps they can finish bringing the revival of the fountain pen to the masses and conquer the world for wet ink!

 

Welcome to the board my boy!

 

David Snook

Edited January 14, 2005 by dava

[ednerdtheonly]

Sweet. Once we take the boards, the world shouldn't be too hard.

[Daniel Shih]

Hey Snook-i-nator. Did you know that, according to the dictionary, a snook is a fish that resembles a pike or a derisive gesture indicated by the thumbing of one's nose? Which are you? I'm not sure what I'm hoping for. I mean, for the sake of my sanity, I hope that I'm not snailing with a gesture. Yet, on the other hand, if you're a fish, how did you write me a letter and get paper samples together while in the sea? In the letter, you didn't only use waterproof Noodler's colors. But, David, I just have to know. Are you a fish or a gesture!?

 

Not to get your hopes up, but I very well might be writing you a snail from an airplane on the way to California. That's right sir; a handwritten letter penned from thousands of feet above the land. Certainly an absurd but altogether exciting prospect! Oh, isn't it exotic?

 

As for Edward: BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

 

That's it--I really need to learn the intricacies of DNA replication and protein synthesis...

Edited January 14, 2005 by Daniel Shih

[Maja]

Welcome to FPN, Daniel!

Wow, someone that talks more than KCat

JUST KIDDING!

 

But seriously, it's nice to have you on board. Have a safe trip and hope to see some pictures of your carmine Sheaffer (and perhaps your whole collection?) sometime after your return.....

 

Hope the biology test went well...

[dava]

Daniel My Boy...

 

What the blazes are you doing reading dusty old dictionaries? Thats something I like to do! Where else could you have discovered such a well hidden secret? I mean, everyone knows about the fish and until you spilled the beans...

 

Actually, what I am (to quote from Pinky and the Brain) is an "Iconoclast, an unconventional eccentric who marches to a different drummer... but you may call me Noodle Noggin".

 

Yes, the prospect of a snail fabricated aboard a flying machine is interesting but I'm not sure I can discuss "patriarchy and systematic racism" to your satisfaction. How about something more mundane like the five postulates of the germ theory of disease or the recent groundbreaking discoveries in Anthropology and Archaeology?

 

Looks like the fun is about to begin.....

 

David

[KCat]

But I don't think the one I know was a dichotomy. More like a teenager if I can recall with any degree of accuracy.

I thought teens were such by definition.

[KCat]

That's it--I really need to learn the intricacies of DNA replication and protein synthesis...

I new there was a reason I was hanging onto my molecular and cell biology texts. They're such beautiful books with such clear explanations that I cant stand to part with them.

 

ahhhh the joys of transcription and translation...

 

seriously - I love this carp. I can't speak to your other interests - but I'd love to brush up on my RNA/DNA knowledge.

[KendallJ]

Kcat, you're a biotech nut? That's my business!

[dava]

Well now Kcat, I wuz a tryin ta make widdle funny dere.

 

In botany, a dichotomy is a plant with branching characterized by successive forking into two approximately equal divisions, for example: corn.

 

Wouldn't ya know I never thought of teenagers and their highly contradictory ways --which as a parent of a 16 year old boy should have been formost on my mind. Is it any wonder my wife tells me I'm too much of a geek to attempt humor? :blink:

 

David

[KCat]

Well now Kcat, I wuz a tryin ta make widdle funny dere.

 

In botany, a dichotomy is a plant with branching characterized by successive forking into two approximately equal divisions, for example: corn.

David, I forgot the botanical definition of dichotomy very soon after getting out of my Plant Anatomy class. Though I enjoyed the topic a great deal - i was too wrapped up in immunology. And I would challenge you to a geek pun-off but I'm betting mine would be just as esoteric.

 

Kendall, I was a technician at the VA for an immunology research group. Specifically, I studied cell migration across endothelium and how that related to cardiac ischemia reperfusion injury. We also worked with HIV and how migration into tissues might be altered by variants. That was also enjoyable work. I love the work of being a technician. Funny because I hate cooking but a lot of biotech is "cookbook" stuff. With an element of creativity of course.

 

But I loved the intricacies of replication and protein synthesis when I was getting my degree. It's such an elegant and complex system. My classmates just thought I was nuts. Fortunately I learn as much by visual aid as by verbal instruction. IMO, understanding molecular biology (and chemistry for that matter) requires the ability to visualize three dimensions very well. I think it made the difference (for better or worse) for a lot of students.

 

Given that, I'm sure Daniel will do very well in that area as I think mathematicians can think in multiple dimensions quite well.

 

can you tell I miss my work?

 

Fortunately, I don't miss the dysfunctional "family" I worked with.

[Daniel Shih]

Hi everyone!

 

I just woke up in California--11:30 am central time; I didn't go to bed until 4 a.m. central time last morning--we were playing Mah Jong and my brother wouldn't let me go to sleep because he needed a fourth player...) Ah well, it's about time I got rid of my jetlag and adjusted to California time.

 

My flight went well, despite almost missing the plane and running like a madman to gate A14 in Midway Airport. They say that Midway airport is a small airport, but a) that comparison is relative to O'Hare airport, which isn't a valid comparison at all and it definitely seems a lot longer when you're running. I've run quite a bit in my soccer playing days, but I thought that I was about to explode by the time I got to the gate. I was so pooped that I dozed off in the first 10 minutes that I sat down on the airplane. (No, to my knowledge, I'm not narcoleptic!)

 

The Biology test went just fine. I didn't need to do all that well because I have a very secure A, and I'm pretty sure that I did well enough to keep my A. If I were to be a scientist, I probably would be a biologist of some sort. Learning how intricate and complex the life processes are is very interesting! (My other brother, a nocturnal, work-a-holic physicist on the East Coast, is probably weeping as I write.) But, I'm going to be a humanities major, so I don't know what all of my speculation is about! Therefore, just as Sherlock Holmes would do, I am going to do my best to forget everything that I just learned in Biology (However, I might need it for the AP test...). Otherwise, it might clog my brain and my reason! (I think that Sherlock was a cocaine addict, though; he might not have been entirely cogent when devising that theory.)

 

Snook, I did look in the dictionary (I've got a nice big one right by my desk; my Latin teacher--who does seem to come up in conversations quite often--would cringe because it's Merriam Webster and M-W endorses colloquialisms or something like it...but the school gave it to me, so I'm not about to complain) to find your definition. As for your own definition of yourself, I seem to recall a picture that I saw on Pentrace--quite awhile ago--of a guy who sports an exotic and intriguing mustasche. It was taken at a pen club meeting--I want to say the KC pen club meeting, but I'm not sure. Was that you!? By the way, I didn't get a chance to write you while flying; I fell asleep while reading Kafka, woke up and read Kafka, then got to talking to the person next to me. Fear not, it will be written--sometime.

 

Alright, off to journal, get my day started, and enjoy California! But my brother has to wake up first...

[ednerdtheonly]

Wow. I don't see how you find the time to write...

I have finals next week, and am cramming through textbooks with abandon. I hope AP Bio's fun. Is Mr. Champion still teaching it? I enjoyed his lessons when I took the class last year.

 

Have fun in the Bay Area!

 

Ed

[Daniel Shih]

Hey Ed,

 

I often don't have time to write--high school generally pushes me into somewhat of a vacuum of emotional existence. This is the main reason that I don't like school; so much of my time is monopolized by school and the homework that I often feel like I have ceased to exist as a human being. Instead, I feel like a robot.

 

This might surprise you, Ed, but this year we had our finals the week before Christmas vacation. When we came back, we had three more days of first semester. This week is the last 3 days of first semester, but all my classes were taken care of, so I came out to the Bay Area for a mini-vacation/educational adventure.

 

AP Bio's alright; I'm bored with the class (though I get more bored with the other sciences...), but it's certainly easier and a smaller time commitment than AP Chem last year. In retrospect, considering how brutal junior year was, I probably should have done what you did and taken AP Bio last year and AP Chem this year. Champ is still teaching it, and he's--of course--absolutely hilarious.

[Guest Denis Richard]

I often don't have time to write--high school generally pushes me into somewhat of a vacuum of emotional existence. This is the main reason that I don't like school; so much of my time is monopolized by school and the homework that I often feel like I have ceased to exist as a human being. Instead, I feel like a robot.

That's how I felt too atyour age. And then , as I got older, I realized how much time I had in my hands back then <_<

 

What does your physicist brother do ?

 

Denis.

[Daniel Shih]

My brother's a fourth year Ph.D. student studying String Theory.

 

I bet if I was able to channel all of my time effectively, I would have more time to reflect and feel alive. The only problem is that I'm often so tired that by the time I finish all of my work that I just go to sleep or go to the fountain pen boards. I've now realized that fountain pens are interesting to me, but most of their interest lies in the fact that they serve as a distraction. I rarely watch T.V., so they are my "rest periods" away from my unrewarding schoolwork.

Edited January 17, 2005 by Daniel Shih