don't just own it, clean it!

i've been hassled to update my blog by miss 'you-know-who'.
and blamed for other people's dirty fountain pen.
imagine that. heh.

well, this is for you, you dirty fountain pen owners out there.
if you own a fountain pen, learn to clean it.
else, give it to me.
i'll clean it and keep it away from you. :)

plenty of websites out there with instructions on fountain pen cleaning.
and i'm not about to repeat any of them.
so if you are not google-ing any,
here's one: http://www.marcuslink.com/pens/pen-cleaning.html

now go.
clean your fountain pens!

open the car door

i've always wondered,
why people open their car door
instead of the car's power window
to stick their hand out
to pay the toll
or touch their 'Touch n Go' card to the reader.

don't they know they have a car window?
don't they?
i mean, don't they??

fine if the power window is faulty or stuck.
but otherwise
what's the excuse?
i really, really want to know.

spock

last night, i was spock. and it feels real good. :)

detachment

loving and going through the pain of losing whilst growing up, i learned about detachment. i suppose i learned this at an early age.

i was the kid that kept my prized toys in my own special drawer, safe and intact. my brothers were the opposite of me. one day, i found my toy gun and my robot missing. i found the toys later that day, broken and 'well-used'. i cried. but i also knew it was useless to be upset for too long. it would not change what had happened and i would not get my toys back to how it was before.

so, i removed all my toys from my drawer, and let my brothers play with them. i know they would get it anyway, on a day when i'm not looking. effectively detaching myself from my possessions.

with people, the application of detachment is difficult though the principle is the same. i know that deep down, i am an emotional "tempest". unbridled, i know psychologists and psychoanalysts would name a syndrome after me in every psychology book. i can't have that, can i? :)

so, i learned to love, and detach myself at the same time. it made parting easier. it made loving less painful. my friends accuse me of being emotionless sometimes. stoic. unfeeling. i empathised but was always quick to come up with a logical explanation to things (by the way, spock in star trek, is my role model). the irony was, i attracted people who were less able to control their emotions. friends who were emotionally troubled. and in the process, became their 'secret keeper'.

now that i am older, detachment is becoming even more difficult. i find my walls being chipped constantly by my family. by my friends. and as if to make up for those years of 'keeping it in', i go through bouts of 'emotional release'. i think those close to me know when this happens. they say, i am not 'myself'; more quiet. more withdrawn.

why am i blogging this?

i want my family and my friends to know. for them to understand. if i am not 'expressive', it's not that i don't care or love them less. it is because i love them so much that every little thing they go through affects me (a lot more than they know), and a part of me is constantly in pain when they are troubled. losing them is losing a part of me.

and the only way i can cope, is to detach myself...

my Sailor collection

With the addition of the yellow 1911 Sailor to my collection, that about completes what I have been focusing on with the Sailor brand fountain pen. Granted the range of models available is more extensive. I was however, more interested in the nibs that Sailor's master nib designer Nobuyoshi Nagahara comes up with.

Of his special nibs, I have the:
1) Naginata Togi
2) Naginata Concord
3) Naginata Cross-point
4) Naginata Cross Music
5) Naginata Emperor

As with all the Naginata nibs, each nib allows a broad range of writing angles. Just flip the nib over and it produces a different line width, depending on the nib. So you actually get a fine line up to the double broad and on some, calligraphic, from just one nib.


Above: Naginata Emperor (emperor=the bar with its tip curled like a butterfly's proboscis, acts as an extra reservoir for large consumption of ink for smooth writing).




The reason I focused on the 1911 large series with differing colour, texture and finish was because the nib from one pen could be swapped to another and even to the Susutake (smoked bamboo) pen.



The Susutake (my favourite) is obtained from the roof timbers from old traditional thatched houses. The bamboo is naturally coloured to a red brown colour from continuous exposure to the smoke of the 'Irori' (traditional Japanese sunken fire/hearth). Different colour tones are seen on the surface of the bamboo depending upon its location and exposure to smoke over time.

There was one other Sailor I had in my collection. My brother, Izzat, bought it for me as a gift and he was planning to get one for himself. So when that didn't happen, I gave him the pen. It was called the King of Pen fitted with the King Eagle nib.

And that, is a tale for another day.

baby press ad

My mum and me, as a Johnson's baby

I found this piece on me.
As a ten pounder baby, I was a superstar.
Let's not discuss being a superstar now. :)

My Collection 090506

Update on my fountain pen collection.

1) Sailor 1911 large black, chrome trimmed, Naginata Concord nib
2) Sailor 1911 large black, gold trimmed, tombo dragonfly maki-e, Naginata Cross-point nib
3) Sailor 1911 large black ribbed, chrome trimmed, Naginata Togi nib
4) Sailor 1911 large yellow, gold trimmed, Naginata Cross Music nib *new*
5) Sailor 1911 large demonstrator, chrome trimmed, medium nib
6) Sailor Susutake, aged smoked bamboo, Naginata Emperor nib
7) Pilot VP Yellow
8) Pilot Fermo Green
9) Pilot Custom 823, gold trimmed, black ends, SE clear demonstrator
10) Pilot dragonfly wings maki-e
11) Danitrio Mikado raw ebonite, soft medium nib
12) Danitrio cum laude brown celluloid
13) Stipula LE Pinocchio #13/881 brown ebonite
14) Stipula Suprema Amber 52 degrees nib
15) Stipula Etruria Ocean Blue
16) Stipula Etruria Alter Ego
17) Aurora 88, black
18) Aurora Optima, burgundy, chrome trimmed
19) Aurora Talentum, black, chrome trimmed
20) Aurora Archivi Storici
21) Delta Dolce Vita Soiree, black
22) Parker Duofold Centennial True Blue LE #608/5000
23) Pelikan Souveran M1000, green
24) Waterman Kultur, blue demonstrator
25) Lamy Safari LE blue
26) Lamy Safari LE lime green
27) Lamy Safari LE orange *new*
28) Lamy Al Star Silver blue
29) Cross Townsend, chrome trimming
30) Laban Kaiser, pseudo ivory chrome trimming
31) Omas Green Arco

welcome canary sailor

at long last, i have my sailor 1911 yellow. :)
this was last year's birthday present from my bunch of friends.
as i picked it up from the shop, i decided to upgrade the nib from the music nib to nagahara's naginata cross music nib.
that did cost some, but what the hey...



so thank you jay, zaidan, zaihan, greg, saiful and polan!
love you guys!

some yes, some no

random questions with random answers.

"would you turn on that fringing alarm everyday please"?
"of course i would, if you asked me to".

"can i tease you for a bit"?
"no, you can't".

"is that ball out-of-bounds"?
"no, it isn't. the referee just had to take care of something".

"can you come over my place again"?
"i could, very easily, but i don't think i should".

"do you think my teddy is loveable"?
"yes, totally".

"do you love me"?
"no, because i'm in love with you".

M/F

My kakak could not tell the difference between the male and female sign. Could it be her eyes? In any case, guess which washroom she walked into... :)

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have you ever...?

have you ever fed yourself and missed your mouth completely? it happened to someone i know. wickedly hilarious, i assure you. especially since that person is an adult :D

kerja aida

slowing down

the excitement and drama in the past weeks is starting to wind down.
thank god for that.
big sister is back. and that means she rules the household now. pffft.
the other household that is. :)
see http://tunku.blogspot.com/2009/04/good-to-be-back.html
weather is still hot and humid, even early in the morning.