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Pens Are Like Buses. (The Story Of A Free Pen)

CharlieTurtle

By CharlieTurtle
in Fountain & Dip Pens - First Stop

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CharlieTurtle Rare

CharlieTurtle

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So, as some of you know, I owned four pens - a red Safari, a purple Al-Star, a Faber Castell Basic, and a Parker Vector.

 

... I now own another Safari. A turquoise one, in fact.

 

My French Oral prof uses some kind of Vintage pen (it might be a Parker, I'm not sure) and today, she was setting us all these 'challenges', with stuff like paper, pens, etc for prizes.

 

She got out her FP and said "Anyone who can refill this, wins this." She held up the Lamy and I squealed because so. pretty. and the rest of the class (five people) kinda laughed.

 

Here's what people did...

 

  • Person A poked at the pen, and announced it wasn't refillable.
  • Person B took the cap off (progress!) then announced he didn't understand FPs and passed it on.
  • Person C managed to unscrew the barrel (sheer luck I think) but got no further.
  • Person D dropped it (GASP) and managed to remove the converter, but not use it.
  • Person E opened the ink and said 'eww, it's wet!"

I took the pen, refitted the converter, filled it up, wiped the nib on a bit of her blotting paper, and handed it back.

 

See, being a bit nerdy pays off!

You can spot a writer a mile off, they're the ones meandering in the wrong direction muttering to themselves and almost walking into every second lamppost.

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ravantra Vintage

ravantra

Posted
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Cool story. All of my random obscure "knowledge" has never caused me to win anything. Enjoy your prize!

Change is not mandatory, Survival is not required.

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Harlequin Collectors Item

Harlequin

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wtg! now you should write a thank you note for your prof. using that pen ^_~

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CharlieTurtle Rare

CharlieTurtle

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Just lucky....hahaha. How do you like your new pen?

 

Seems nice so far, though the poor thing is running on Lamy Black cartridges (exams, lovely) until I can buy a converter... Pretty sure she has a medium nib like my other Safari.

You can spot a writer a mile off, they're the ones meandering in the wrong direction muttering to themselves and almost walking into every second lamppost.

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OcalaFlGuy Museum Piece

OcalaFlGuy

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wtg! now you should write a thank you note for your prof. using that pen ^_~

^ What he said.

 

Congrats on your new pen!

 

Bruce in Ocala, FL

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inkstainedruth Ancient Artifact

inkstainedruth

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I never had a cool teacher like that.

Me neither.

I had one art professor who saved up all the BICs that had conked out and shipped them all back to BIC's headquarters (which at the time was, IIRC, in Milford, CT) and he got sent free pens from them.

When I was a freshman, the roommate I had was a sophomore, and she was taking calligraphy and using an Osmiroid pen. I thought that was really cool. But when I took it it was from a different person and we did everything with Speedball dip pens (although I was taught to fill it from the eyedropper in the bottle, not to actually dip the pen in the ink).

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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rochester21 Collectors Item

rochester21

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The story almost seems to be part of a "fountain pen joke". I can`t imagine someone not being able to figure out how to refill a pen using cartridges- on the other hand, i know people who just don`t know how to use fountain pens, so it seems that anything is possible.

 

As for myself, i feel more aristocratic by the day, by using "old" fountain pens- just like driving a miniature classic car. Congratulations on your new pen :)

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CharlieTurtle Rare

CharlieTurtle

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The story almost seems to be part of a "fountain pen joke". I can`t imagine someone not being able to figure out how to refill a pen using cartridges- on the other hand, i know people who just don`t know how to use fountain pens, so it seems that anything is possible.

 

As for myself, i feel more aristocratic by the day, by using "old" fountain pens- just like driving a miniature classic car. Congratulations on your new pen :)

 

If it was cartridges, they might have figured it out. It was a piston-fill converter (much like the one in my Faber-Castell, hence me knowing how it worked) and they just had no clue, I think the one that removed the converter was assuming it was actually a cartridge.

 

Sam (one of the other girls in that class) did ask me how to refill a pen and where I bought my pens, though, so I think she was keen to learn.

You can spot a writer a mile off, they're the ones meandering in the wrong direction muttering to themselves and almost walking into every second lamppost.

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Sasha Royale Museum Piece

Sasha Royale

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Fountain pens, of different colors, nationalities, and nib persuasion, comingle and reside

in my pen cases, without judgment. It's a great world.

Auf freiem Grund mit freiem Volke stehn.
Zum Augenblicke dürft ich sagen:
Verweile doch, du bist so schön !

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CharlieTurtle Rare

CharlieTurtle

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It's getting its first real test today - main pen in my written French exam. COME ON PEN.

You can spot a writer a mile off, they're the ones meandering in the wrong direction muttering to themselves and almost walking into every second lamppost.

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CharlieTurtle Rare

CharlieTurtle

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The pen did beautifully :) My French, on the other hand...

You can spot a writer a mile off, they're the ones meandering in the wrong direction muttering to themselves and almost walking into every second lamppost.

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